D'ye Ken John Peel?

The Hunter

John Peel ( 1776 - 1854 ) was a famous English huntsman, known for his enthusiasm, skill and hospitality. Fond of Drink he hosted large popular post-hunt celebrations. Peel has been immortalized in the song "D'ye ken John Peel" written by John Woodcock Graves ( 1795-1886 ).

The following quote is from "The American Song Treasury: 100 Favorites" by Theodore Raph (Dover, 1986). The book was originally published in 1964 as "The Songs We Sang: A Treasury of American Popular Music"

"This is the song of a fox hunt, a sport originating in the British Isles around 1700. John Peel was a real person, the English novelist John George Whyte-Melville, formerly a captain in the Coldstream Guards. He was an expert hunter during the middle 1800's and was considered the laureate of fox hunting. On the occasion of his death on the hunting field in 1854, Whyte-Melville's friends attended the funeral after which they went for drinks. Here was the setting for the birth of "D'Ye Ken John Peel". After a couple of drinks one of his close friends, John Woodcock Graves, scribbled some verses in tribute to Whyte-Melville. He used the melody of an old folk song "Bonnie Annie."

John Peel hunted in the Lake District where the hounds are followed on foot, nothing like the commonly exported pictures of mounted "unspeakables in the pursuit of the uneatable". His coat so grey (not "gay") as is sometimes recorded refers to the Hoddden grey cloth woven from the fleece of the Herdwick sheep that grazed in the area.

MIDI Music
D'ye Ken John Peel?
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Sheet Music
D'ye Ken John Peel?
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The Songs
The songs in this book which is sung to the tune of
"D'ye Ken John Peel?"

1. Cats on the Rooftops
2. John Peel
3. My Sister Lily

D'ye Ken John Peel?

Do ye ken John Peel
With his coat so gay?
Do ye ken John Peel
At the break of day?
Do ye ken John Peel
When he's far, far away
With his hounds and his horn
In the morning

Twas the sound of his horn
Brought me from my bed
And the cry of his hounds
Aas me oftimes led
For Peel's view holloa
Would wake the dead
Or a fox from his lair
In the morning

Do ye ken that hound
Whose voice is death?
Do ye ken her sons
Of peerless faith
Do ye ken that a fox
With his last breath
Cursed them all as he died
In the morning?

Yes, I ken John Peel
And auld Ruby, too
Ranter and Royal
And Bellman so true
From the drag to the chase,
From the chase to the view
From the view to the death
In the morning

And I've followed John Peel
Both often and far
O'er the rasper fence
And the gate and the bar
From Low Denton Holme
To the Scratchmere Scar
When we vied for the brush
In the morning

Then here's to John Peel
With my heart and soul
Come fill, fill to him
A brimming bowl
For we'll follow John Peel
Thro fair or thro foul
While we're waked by his horn
In the morning?