Another new song – we really are spoiling you! Here’s our music video for ‘The Old Dun Cow’.

 

 

The Old Dun Cow is a well-known and popular song, widely sung in folky singarounds, and it’s been recorded by many artists – from Bellowhead to The Futureheads. It’s a music hall song, written in 1893 by Harry Wincott, which tells the story of a pub catching fire. Rather than flee for their lives, the regulars of The Old Dun Cow set about trying to drink all the booze on the premises before the firemen arrive. Much hilarity ensues.

 

We’ll let Stuart explain how The Old Dun Cow holds a lot of significance for him personally:

 

“It’s a song my dad sings, and it was my favourite from his repertoire when I was a kid. (I loved shouting ‘MacIntyre’ at the appropriate point.) It’s also the first “folk” song I ever learned to perform acapella in pubs, long before I joined Blackbeard’s Tea Party.”

 

A few years ago, our eccentric friends Ian and Margaret from the band Vertical Expression converted their living room to look like a traditional pub, complete with fully-stocked bar, pub stools and no end of weird and wonderful trinkets hanging from the walls and ceiling. We’ve been looking for an opportunity to film a music video there ever since, and The Old Dun Cow was the perfect fit (Ian even makes a cameo as the mischievous barman). We roped in Omar Khan to direct the video which is inspired by old silent comedies – a homage to the song’s music-hall origins. Stuart even revived his role as “The Old Man” from our video for John’s Gone to Hilo, paving the way for a potential Blackbeard’s Tea Party Cinematic Universe. Watch this space!

 

‘The Old Dun Cow’ is now available to stream everywhere:

 

• Spotify >>
• Apple Music >>
• Amazon Music >>
• Deezer >>
• Bandcamp >>
• Watch on YouTube >>

 

The Old Dun Cow is the third single from forthcoming album Kick the Curb, following Roll and Go and John’s Gone to Hilo. The album is released on 30th September.

 

<< Back to Blog