"Daddy Wouldn't Buy Me A Bow Wow" belongs to my childhood and it was often sung by my family when sitting round the fire in our tiny back room in winter. The version I now sing can be found in 101 Pub Favourites for Buskers. It is as inane as you can get as most of these one-verse pub songs are. No medley is complete without it.
The full three-verse version, written and composed in 1892 by Joseph Tabrar, published by Francis, Day & Hunter and as sung by Miss Vesta Victoria, can be found in 60 Old-Time Variety Songs. This is much less inane because the singer has the chance of explaining what all the fuss is about. In this full version, we learn that a child is denied by her strict father the possession of a canine friend and the child looks forward to adulthood and being able to buy a whole zoo. To whit, a dozen bow-bows (dogs, for those that don't know), a parrot and some bees.

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