Lauder, Harry

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By the early 20th century the writing songs for music Hall had become an industry with teams of writers churning out songs and selling them on to the artists. There were one or two artists that continue to write their own songs: Harry Lauder was one of these, though Kilgarriff …

Harry Lauder (1870-1950) was the son of a potter and one of eight children. At 14 years old he started work as a miner, and spent 10 years in the pits. Like many artists that started in the halls, he began singing as an amateur, entertaining his workmates and others in the community. After a while as a part-time/semiprofessional entertainer he began performing full-time at some point in the 1890s. Eventually, he was billed The Laird of the Halls, and was perhaps the most famous Scottish comedian ever. He made the trip to London in 1900, and very quickly became a huge star, staying at the top of the bill until he stopped performing in the 1940s. He is credited with writing many of his own songs.

His songs have often been collected from traditional singers, in many instances they will have been perfectly aware that they were singing a “Harry Lauder song” but it’s possible that some of the lesser-known numbers had sneaked their way in anonymously.

A provisional list of songs for Lauder wrote or co-wrote which have been collected from traditional singers:

  1. Australian girls are good enough for me
  2. Back back to where the heather grows
  3. Hey! Donal
  4. I love a lassie
  5. I love to be a sailor
  6. I think I’ll get wed in the summer time
  7. Its nice to get up in the morning
  8. Jean M’Neil
  9. Just a wee Deoch-an-doris
  10. Killiecrankie
  11. My bonnie bonnie Jean
  12. Piper MacFarlane
  13. The Portobello Lassie
  14. Queen among the heather
  15. Roamin’ in the Gloamin’
  16. Stop yer tickling, Jock
  17. Tobermory
  18. The Waggle o the kilt
  19. We all go hame the same way
  20. Weddin’ o’ Lauchie M’Graw, The,
  21. The wedding of Sandy McNab
  22. Wee Hoos Mang the Heather
  23. Wee Jean MacGregor
  24. We parted on the shore

A selection of other songs from Lauder’s repertoire which have been collected from the singing of traditional singers (ones for which he does not have writing credit) are:

Lauder included a small number of traditional Scottish songs in his repertoire:

  • Bide ye yet (RN8411)
  • Corn rigs are bonny (RN8670)
  • I’m owre to young to marry yet ( RN6142)
  • Oh why left I my hame (RN30030)

Lauder wrote many songs which parodied or otherwise drew on material from earlier Scottish traditional songs, some examples include

Sources

  • Image : Harry in 1922 Wikimedia Commons
  • https://archive.org/details/history-collection/Arthur%20Herman%20-%20How%20the%20Invented%20the%20Mod_%20It%20%28v5.0%29/page/n420/mode/1up?q=%22The+lass+o%27+Killiecrankie%22
  • https://archive.org/details/50peoplewhoscrew0000brow_w6k3/page/155/mode/1up?q=lauder
  • Francis, Day & Hunter’s 1st Album of Harry Lauder’s Popular Songs(1905)

Last Updated on July 15, 2023 by John Baxter | Published: May 14, 2023

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