Tamaroo (M.C. 32)
Said to be taken from an English ballad in which it is supposed to express the bold and fiery nature of a certain hackney coachman.
According to Notes and Queries (x. 1), this was sung at Winchester School some seventy or eighty years ago. The following is quoted as the first verse:
Ben he was a coachman rare
(‘Jarvey! Jarvey!’ ‘Here I am, yer honour’),
Crikey! how he used to swear!
How he'd swear, and how he'd drive,
Number two hundred and sixty-five.
Tamaroo! Tamaroo! Tamaroo!
Dr. Sweeting, the present music-master at Winchester, says, ‘The song “Tamaroo” is quite unknown here now, and if it was sung here seventy or eighty years ago, I should imagine that that was only because it was generally well known. Dickens' allusion to it seems to suggest that it was a song he had heard, and he utilized its character to label one of his characters in his own fanciful way.’
Tarry Trousers (D. & S. 39)
An old folk-song. A mother wants her daughter to marry a tailor, and not wait for her sailor bold, telling her that it is quite time she was a bride. The daughter says:
My mother wants me to wed with a tailor,
And not give me my heart's delight,
But give me the man with the tarry trousers,
That shine to me like diamonds bright.
Tell Me, Shepherds (E.D. 2)
Mazzinghi.