Image from TEXANS UNITED Presents TEXAS
The Dutchman’s Song.
THE DUTCHMAN LOSETH HIS DOG AND SINGETH.
Oh, Vare! and oh, vare!
Has ter leetle toggy gone?
Oh, vare! and oh, vare!
Can ter raschal tog pe gone?
He’s gone unto ter tivel,
He’s gone mit him I fear;
He may be one pig sausage –
Mine tog — oh, tear! oh, tear!
Oh, vare, and oh, vare!
Can te yaller tog pe gone?
Oh, vare! and oh, vare!
Hash ter schoundrel tog pe gone?
I vood give you von goot tollar
To him ash tells to me
Vare I can find ter toggy,
Or shows me vere he pe.
His bark was full of musick,
It goes just like ting tong;
His ears vere cut off short,
His tail vas cut off long;
He ush’d ter drive ter schickens,
And say to tem pow-wow;
But he’sh gone unto the dickens –
Vy! here comes Schnapps now!
Oh, vare! and oh, vare!
Hash ter good-for-nothin’ peen?
Oh, vare! and oh, vare!
Can ter rascheal toggy peen?
I tink he’sh peen koon hunting –
I tink he’sh goot for koons,
Cause tere’s nothing else he’sh goot for
Under the stars and moons.
Come here, you tam vagabond! — vere you been, eh? O mine noshe! you smells vorse ash one schunk; I vips now mit ter proom, for having to do mit so pad people as schunks. If you runs away agin, I puts you in ter papers, and you ish ruined forever.
The Mountain Democrat (Placerville, California) Sep 9, 1854
*****
From Wikipedia’s entry for Septimus Winner:
Another of his successes, and still familiar, is “Der Deitcher’s Dog”, or “Oh Where, oh Where Ish Mine Little Dog Gone”, a text that Winner set to the German folk tune “Im Lauterbach hab’ich mein’ Strumpf verlorn” in 1864, which recorded massive sales during Winner’s lifetime.
The first verse of “Der Deitcher’s Dog” is particularly noteworthy as its first verse has become a popular nursery rhyme:
Oh where, oh where has my little dog gone?
Oh where, oh where can he be?
With his ears cut short, and his tail cut long,
Oh where, oh where is he?
Modern versions occasionally change “cut” to “so”.
The original song is written in German dialect, and subsequent verses praise lager but lament the fact that “mit no money” it is not possible to drink, and praise sausages and thence to speculate on the fate of the missing dog:
Dey makes un mit dog und dey makes em mit horse,
I guess dey makes em mit he
