A popular song from 1922.
Words and music by Mike Fitzpatrick.
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
- I had a dog and his name was Tray
The dog-gone dog he ran away
Ev’rybody listen to my tale of woe
This thing happen’d not so very long ago
He lived in a house on a great big hill
Where he could eat and drink his fill
An old tin can hung on a nail
And someone tied it to the old dog’s tail
Chorus
Who tied the can on the old dog’s tail?
Did YOU tie the can on the old dog’s tail?
Who made the old dog hit the trail?
Who tied the kittle on the old dog’s tail?
Patter
He was a setter pup, set around all day
And you couldn’t get him up
Stretched out behind the barn
Sleepin’ in the sun and he didn’t give a darn
- Old dog Tray got an awful kick
And someone hit him with a brick
When he started bolting for the old side door
That old kittle kept a bouncing on the floor
Oh! he ran a mile in just nothing flat
Then on the second mile beat that
He ran and ran, let out a wail
The dog-gone can a-hangin’ from his tail
Patter
He had two pedigrees
Half was St. Bernard and the other Pekinese
He’s found his speed, you bet
Since he got the can he’s forgotten how to set BUT
- That wasn’t all, when he reached the town
Most ev’ry thing was upside down
Sticks and stones were flying all around the street
All he needed was an extra set of feet
The baker he fired a pumpkin pie
He hit a cop right in the eye
They all got pinched, locked up in jail
The judge said, “Tell me or you’ll get no bail”
Sung here by Fred Feild: