Awfully Jolly

AKA The Christmas party
First published 1868
Lyrics Harry Clifton Music Harry Clifton Roud RN24480

Music Hall Performers Harry Clifton
Folk performances  Source Singers
Submitted as words to “old song” for “Sprite’s Article”, Eastern Evening News (25 Sep 1929), Norfolk England

I sat in my chamber one cold Christmas Eve,
A bachelor wretched and dreary,
A friend of mine bearing the name of Jack Reeve,
Call'd on me with greeting so cheery;
'Old fellow, it's Christmas, so shake off that frown,
You certainly look melancholy,
Pack up, I've an invite from friends out of town,
And I know 'twill be awfully Jolly!'

It's a poor heart that never can rejoice they say,
And fretting is nothing but folly,
As Christmas it doesn't come ev'ry day,
We'll try to be ' awfully Jolly !'

Jack call'd a Hansom—-we started direct,
Full speed to the Paddington station,
And met with a misshap we didn't expect,
And not to our gratification;
The horse it fell down and over its back
I was thrown, and Jack roar'd frantically,
As I rose from the gutter, all cover'd with black,
"Old boy, you look Awfully Jolly."

Arriv'd at our friends in the country, we found,
There were visitors there by the dozen,
The Smiths and the Whites, the Joneses and Browns,
And many a country cousin.
Such a bevy of girls--with beautiful curls,
To flirt with beneath the green holly,
And kisses bestow 'neath the bright mistletoe,
Says Jack, " This is Awfully Jolly."

But really and truly the 'cream of the fun,'
To you I will now be relating,
Was when old Major Johnson who weighs sixteen stone,
Insisted on going out skating.
The ice being thin the old fellow slipp'd in,
Which made us at first melancholy,
But the sight that he look'd-—as Jack with a hook,
Fish'd him out—-it was " Awfully Jolly."

The mistletoe soon was brought into the room,
And oh! what a laugh and a giggle,
When jolly old Sprig, who wore a brown wig,
Insisted on kissing Miss Maggie;
A sour old miss-—so prim and so staid—-
Who frown'd on such innocent folly,
In the struggle, the old fellow's wig it came off,
And of course he look'd ' Awfully Jolly."

Thus merry and gay, a week soon pass'd away.
We wish'd it had lasted much longer,
For Jack he declar'd, as to town we repair'd,
It made him feel seventy years younger;
So may ev'ry one here spend, a happy new year,
And with fun drive away melancholy,
And dull care defeat—-until we next meet,
Again to be ' Awfully Jolly."

A less well-known Harry Clifton song which appeared in only one 19th-century songster listed in the Vaughan Williams Memorial library. It appears in a local newspaper article of 1929, so clearly someone remembered it. However we don’t have strong evidence that it was sung at the time, so whilst this is a borderline case, I suggest it should not be classed as a song which has “become traditional”.

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