Been looking for the poem that this quote goes with "Don't let's go to the dogs tonight/for mother will be there."

Don't Let's Go To The Dogs Tonight is the title of a book by Alexandra Fuller about growing up in Africa. She quotes the fragment above on her first page. Any leads at all will be appreciated very much. I read all the poetry by A. P. Herbert at oldpoetry.com but I think they or I may be missing something.

Thanks!

--Caroline

Got a lead, for anyone who is interested. It was in a poem, as yet undisclosed, in a volume entitled She-Shanties published in 1926. Still searching for more info.


--Caroline

Caroline, you can buy it online here: [www.abebooks.co.uk] and here:

[72.14.253.104]


Les



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/2022 12:38PM by lg.

Maybe a bit disappointing, compared to the promise of those two lines:


DON'T LET'S GO TO THE DOGS TO-NIGHT
                by A.P.Herbert

"Come," said he--"a night for dancing,
            Lips alight and bright eyes glancing.
Come!" the young man cried;
"Youth should never pause from pleasure,
Fill the cup and trip the measure!"
            But the girl replied--

Don't let's go to the dogs to-night,
    For mother will be there.
Auntie chooses all the tunes,
Uncle bags the best balloons,
And all the roundest men in town
Are dancing mother's figure down;
            Puffing, panting,
            Barging, banting,
        Bless their snowy hair!
    Night-clubs now are simply spas
    For our young Methuselahs,
So don't let's go to the dogs to-night
        In case my granny's there.

"When I see my oldest aunties
Kicking heels and singing chanties
            Then I have to stop;
All the uncles dance like ladders,
All the aunts are built like bladders
            Just about to pop.

"Don't let's go to the dogs to-night,
    For mother will be there.
When I see the ball-room bulging
With my ancestors indulging
Then I've done with Mirth and Mammon.
Let's go home and play backgammon.
            Pushing, shoving,
            Lurching, loving,
    Bless their silvery hair!
  Let the old ones have their fun;
  Some day we'll be sixty-one.
But don't let's go to the dogs to-night,
        In case my granny's there."

    

Nice catch, Ian.

Just a note for anyone who wishes to read the work in their library, it may also be found in a collection of Herbert's work called "Ballads for Broadbrows, and Others" published in 1931.


Les

Before I knew any more of this poem than the two famous lines quoted by Caroline, I always thought the expression used in it, 'go to the dogs', referred to going to watch night-time greyhound racing (that being implicitly regarded as a disreputable pastime only to be indulged in on the sly, and the joke being that 'mother' was sure to be so indulging). The other slang meaning of 'going to the dogs' - disintegrating or deteriorating - didn't seem to fit.

In the context of the poem however, it seems clear that going to the dogs just meant going to dance halls or nightclubs. Can someone tell me whether that was a common meaning for it in the late 19th/early 20th century? It's not a meaning of 'dogs' that I have encountered before, and it's not given in the entry for dog in the New SOED of 1993.

Ian



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/10/2021 09:03AM by IanB.

This is what I had always understood it to mean, was unaware of any other meaning:


Gone to the dogs
Meaning: Someone who has worsened in appearance, character or behaviour.

Origin: This is an analogy to the scraps of waste food etc that were thrown to dogs from medieval baronial dining tables. They were of no other use. Thus, if someone is said to have 'gone to the dogs', he is also regarded as worthless.

[www.joe-ks.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/10/2021 09:38AM by JohnnySansCulo.

then there's this. basically the same:

[www.onestopenglish.com]

According to this website, going to the dogs, as used in this poem might mean something similar to "putting on the dog" as explained here: [www.etymonline.com]

Les

like Puttin' on the Spitz ?

Hmmm - that may inspire me to compose a facial limerick. Oops - meter is not anapestic. Well, shoot!