songs for your dog: "daddy wouldn't buy me a bow-wow"

british library pd

I've got a little cat
And I'm very fond of that
But I'd rather have a bow-wow...

London, 1892.  (I have a friend who says "You can always tell when you're at a chick flick when the first things you see on the screen are the words 'London, 1895.' ")  Songsmith Joseph Tabrar writes a cutesy little tune for comedienne, clog-dancer, and music-hall star Vesta Victoria.  It's about a little girl who has a cat, but really wants a dog.  She performs it dressed in a child's frock and holding a kitten. No one is fooled (she was not a small lady).  Here's a snippet of Vesta performing the song.  I've also found a wonderful blogpost containing Vesta Victoria's own story of how she received the kitten who costarred in that first performance.

"Daddy Wouldn't Buy Me a Bow-Wow" was a popular song in and out of the various decades.  For extra hilarity, check out this clip of Helen Mirren and Peter Sellars singing it in "The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu" (1980).

You can see the lyrics here at Wikipedia.