HARK THE COCK CROW'D. Engish, Scottish; Air (6/4 or 6/8 time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABBCCDD. The air goes to a song beginning "Hark the cock crow'd, its day all abroad" that appeared in the first volume of Thomas D'Urfey's Wit and Mirth; or, Pills to Purge Melancholy (1719, p. 310). It was used for songs in ballad operas such at The Village Opera (1729) and Genuine Grub (1731), and was printed on songsheets. Edinburgh publisher James Johnson used the tune in his Scots Musical Museum as the vehicle for a song by Allan Ramsay, entitled "When I think on my lad." However, the melody has an English provenance, for it was composed by London organist Jeremiah Clarke [1] and published by Henry Playford and published by him in Wit and Mirth (1698). The words begin: Jeremiah Clarke
Hark! the cock crow'd, 'tis day all abroad, And looks like a jolly fair morning; Up Roger and James, and drive out the teams; Up quickly and carry the corn in. Davy the drowzy and Barnaby bowzy, At Breakfast we'll flout and we'll jear boys; Sluggards shall chatter with Small-beer and Water, Whilst you shall tope off the March beer, Boys.
Additional notes
Printed sources : - Oswald (Caledonian Pocket Companion, Book 10), 1760; p. 1 (or Book 2, p. 87, depending on the edition selected).