Felix McGlennon (1855-1943) was born in Glasgow, son of an Irish shoemaker. He had some success printing penny songbooks in Manchester before moving to London in the late 1880s where he established himself as a successful songwriter on an industrial scale. He visited America and forged lucrative links with publishers there.
He was an early proponent of what we would now call black humour in his songs, and had an early success with His Funeral’s Tomorrow sung by Tom Costello. He wrote hundreds of songs but was not a trained musician, according to Richard Baker he would “pick out his melodies on a toy piano”. He was famously cynical about his songwriting:
‘It is not the kid-gloved critics in the stalls, the eminent literary men, who do the trick for you, but the people in the pit and gallery, who are not afraid to shout their approval or disapproval. And they like simple pathos or homely humour—something to do with wife and mother-in-law, and so on. The main thing is catchiness. I would sacrifice everything—rhyme, reason, sense and sentiment to catchiness. There is, let me tell you, a very great art in making rubbish acceptable.
McGlennon quoted in Blanning (2008)
His songs were often popular in both the Halls and Parlours – and he had a tendency to write sentimental songs of Empire. At same time he was a patriotic 2nd generation Irishman and a supporter of Irish Nationalist causes.
A tentative list of his Music Hall songs which have entered traditional singers repertoire (confirmed if link is available):
Words and music by McGlennon:
- And her golden hair was hanging down her back (21393)
- Back to the old home again (25902)
- Comrades (1494)
- Diggin’ lumps of Gold/Muirsheen Durkin(9753)
- Down at the Farmyard Gate (23909)
- Grace Darling (1441)
- Once more in the dear old land (34908)
- One touch of nature makes the whole world kin (12909)
- Ship I Love, The (17057)
- Sons of the sea (32467)
Music by McGlennon, lyricist(s) as indicated:
- Daddy’s gone to London (25353) Tom Browne
- Dying Exile’s Return, The (37225) T.D. McGee
- I handed it over to Riley (9080) Albert Hall
- I’ve been to gay Paree (20814? 4582?) Tom Conley; Henry J Sayers
- Oh! What a difference in the morning (32784) Norton Atkins
- She left the man who loved her for another (17403) George Bruce
- Ship that belongs to a lady, The (24228) Edgar Bateman
- Up came Johnny with his camera (34939) Orlando Powell, Albert Hall
Mcglennon wrote a number of Irish Nationalist songs and musical settings for older Irish Nationalist songs/poems which have been sung by traditional singers – the music was often arranged by his collaborator JS Baker. These do not seem to have been regularly performed in Music Halls:
- Awake and lie dreaming no more (36766)
- Croppy Boy, The (1030) C. Malone
- Green Flag, The (32886) MJ Barry
- ON THE HILLS OF IRELAND (33062)
- Soggarth aroon (35530), John Banim
- Who fears to speak of the ’98 (34257)
FLOATING DOWN THE STREAM OF TIME (6629) is song which has been credited to McGlennon by Meade, but I have been unable to back this up
All the known songs: This list probably underestimates his full output, but represents my most complete list of his songs that were published as sheet music, with cross-references to the Roud Indexes where they exist.
Sources
- Kilgarrif Sing Us
- Richard Baker British Music Hall
- Tim Blanning The triumph of music (2008)
- Meade, Country Music Sources (2002) p.597
Last Updated on August 14, 2022 by John Baxter | Published: September 13, 2021
