Category: Folksongs from halls

AKA	There was a little hen Little hen with a wooden leg
First published	1916

Lyrics

F.Clifford Grey

Music

Ayer

Roud

RN9607

Oh, there was a little hen and she had a wooden leg
The best little hen that ever laid an egg
And she laid more eggs than any hen on the farm
And another little drink wouldn't do us any harm

Another little drink, another little drink
Another little drink wouldn't do us any harm
Another little drink, another little drink
Another little drink wouldn't do us any harm

We had a little duck and a lot of green peas
A quart of ginger beer and some Stilton cheese
Then we felt such a pain in the shade of the palm
And another little drink wouldn't do us any harm

I went to a Ball dressed as a map of France
Said a girl, 'Show me how the French advance'
When she reached the firing line I shouted in alarm
And another little drink wouldn't do us any harm

Collected by Bob and Jacqueline Patten from the singing of Charlie Showers in 1973, and published in a number of collections of North American and Australian folksongs, Another little drink was sung in the Halls as part of the show The Bing Boys are Here with Clifford Grey and Ayers claiming authorship.

Bits of Another appear to be borrowed from earlier folk songs, so for example the following short ditty was collected in Mississippi in 1908:

There wus an ole hen with a wooden foot;
She made her nest by a mulberry-root;
She ruffled her feathers an’ kept her warm;
One more drink won’t do no harm.

Journal of American Folklore

Similar verses appear in the traditional American songs Turkey in the Straw, and The Old Geezer both of which may have originated around the time of the American Civil War (1862-65). It also bears a passing resemblance to the verses from the shanty Roll the old chariot along/A drop of Nelson’s blood which Stan Hugill suggests is of African-American origin. This seems to be a case when Music Hall songwriters have borrowed liberally from traditional material

The song was sung by the Robey/Loraine/Lester trio as part of a hugely successful review at the Alhambra Theatre in London in 1916: The Bing Boys are Here (soon to be followed by the equally successful Bing Boys on Broadway and Bing Girls are There). The initial production followed the adventures of wide-eyed boys from the provinces, Oliver and Lucifer Bing, in London.

Sources:

• Lyrics: monologues.co.uk
• Kilgarriff Sing us
• Entries in the Roud Indexes at the Vaughn Williams Memorial Library: https://archives.vwml.org/search/all:single[folksong-broadside-books]/0_50/all/score_desc/extended-roudNo_tr%3A9607
• Stan Hugill Shanties
• Additional verses in 23rd Feldman’s Annual, p14
• Ballad Index Entry

The original trio sing it:

AKA	The Girls Up Glossop Road The girls along the road The girls up the road

Lyrics

JB Geoghegan

Music

JB Geoghegan

Roud Index

RN13158

From a broadside printed by J. Robertshaw of Angel Street, Sheffield (date unknown) - see Mudcat thread

I’m just in the vein to sing a little strain so pin your attention down,
To a tale I tell of a Hallamshire swell I shall introduce as Brown.
He was in the Rifle Corps and I mustn’t say more to you that listens to my ode.
Do the thing that’s right all on a Sunday night with the girls up Glossop Road.

With the girls up Glossop Road, with the girls up Glossop Road
Do the thing that’s right all on a Sunday night with the girls up Glossop Road.

Now Brown was a spark, rather fond of a lark, and a married man though not chaste,
And little he cared how his own wife fared if another girl took his taste.
So himself he dressed in his regimental best, and proud as a peacock strode,
Admiring the curls, crinolines and pearls of the girls up Glossop Road.

Of the girls up Glossop Road, of the girls up Glossop Road,
Admiring the curls etc.

Well he accosted a fair with dark wavy hair, blue boots and a red leather belt,
And he smiled and he talked as they onward walked, endeavouring her heart to melt;
Then this gay volunteer gave a wink and a leer, enquired her name and abode,
And he felt as grand as a lord of the land with the girls up Glossop Road.

With the girls etc.

Well at length Mr Brown and this girl settled down in a neat little inn close by,
Where he called for a drain of draught champagne and a quarter of a cold pork pie;
Then his arm he placed all around her waist, for his heart with love o'erflowed
",
"Oh!" says he, "It's all right I'll merry be tonight with the girls up Glossop Road.

With the girls etc.

When this fair maid said -"Are you marr-i-ed?" He boldly answered -"No!"
It's all serene, and you'll be the queen of my heart in a month or so."
Then he hugged and pressed, cuddled, coaxed and caressed, and of kisses he let her have a load,
And he plumped on her knees, as spooney as you please, with the girls up Glossop Road. 

With the girls etc.

Now, this gay little man had scarcely begun his love tale out for to pour,
When who should he see but his own Mrs B peep in at the parlour door.
With the bound of a bear she fastened on his hair, saying as her anger showed,
“I’ll tear away your eyes if you come to exercise with the girls up Glossop Road.

With the girls etc.

So to set the matter right the women had a fight and a first-rate tumble up and down;
They smashed to smithereens hats, gowns and crinoleens, and then they went to work on Brown.
Well he was jolly well thrashed and his head got smashed, while the crowd their anger did bestow,
And his fine uniform went to blazes in the storm with the girls up Glossop Road.

With the girls etc.

So a lot of the police, as he had broken the peace, took Brown to the Town Hall cells,
Where he had to ruminate on his unlucky fate like many other fast young swells,
And his wife ran away on the very next day, yet the close of this little episode,
He’s a volunteer still, but he never goes to drill with the girls up Glossop Road.

With the girls etc.

Another song by JB Geoghegan, with a very specific link to Sheffield as Glossop Road was for many years the red light district of Sheffield, a place Geoghegan was working in the early 1860s ( 1860-64.). Before he became a full-time manager and occasional chairman in the halls, Geoghegan was known as a comic singer, so it’s quite likely he sang this one himself.

There is a report of the same song being sung by a Mr D Smith at the Sheffield Temperance Hall in 1879:

Temperance Hall.—There was a good attendance here Saturday night…… Mr. D. Smith greatly pleased the company. The character of his songs, the ease of manner, and his open, cheery countenance combined stamp him a the favourite. He sang three songs, ” The Girls up Glossop-road,” Perverted Proverbs,” and “Bold, Boy ” Mr. H. Holroyd acted as pianist with his usual ability.

Sheffield Telegraph, Mon 2 June 1879

A decade or so later and 30 miles west there is a report of a performance of The girls up Mottram Rd, which seems likely to be the same song

ANCIENT SHEPHERDS BAND – On Saturday evening, the annual meeting of the Ancient Shepherds Band was held at the Friendship Inn. About 90 were present at tea. After the room had been cleared Mr. Alfred Taylor took the chair and remarked that they had come to celebrate a double event, the anniversary of the band and a presentation to Mr. John Kilroy, their respected leader. This was the 56th anniversary of the band. ……. In the course of the evening Mr. H. Taylor sang “The girls up Mottram-road” Mr. J. Buckley “The plough boy” Mr W. Lord, “The mountains of fame” Mr. J. Kilroy “The song of songs.” Mr. T. Fletcher gave “Jackey pull the string” amidst roars of laughter and then gave “The old trombone.” Mr. Wm. Platt also gave several good songs. Dance music was supplied by Messrs. C. Pemberton, Andrew Walker, Needham, Richardson, and Kilroy. A hearty vote of thanks to the host and hostess concluded one of the best anniversaries for years.

Stalybridge Reporter – Saturday 17 March 1888

The Girls up Glossop Rd was collected in Devon from singing of Ken Hinchliffe in 2007. Ken learnt it from the singing of Mary Butler at the Royal Hotel, Dungworth. (If you drive up Glossop Road from Sheffield, you’ll soon come across the turning for Dungworth). The song is heard regularly in sessions in and around Sheffield.

The song is also remembered in a form which doesn’t specify the locality, as “The girls along the road” or “The girls up the road” and there are early 20th century reports of amateur performances of the nonspecific variant in Maidenhead (1901) and Ballymena (1908). It seems likely that this was a song designed to be adapted to any locality (or none). The non-specific form has been found in a number of broadsides and been collected from singers in County Antrim – where it was particularly associated with the traditional performer John Kennedy.

Ray Padgett sings The Girls up Glossop Rd:

Patrick Street sing The girls along the road:

Sources

• Yorkshire Garland group: lyrics, story, recording and score of Glossop Road song
• VWML records of The Girls Along the Road
• Mudcat thread especially contribution of Malcolm Douglas
• John Kennedy The girls along the road (Mustrad CD Review by Roly Brown
• BNA:
  • Sheffield Telegraph, Mon 2 June 1879
  • Stalybridge Reporter – Saturday 17 March 1888

AKA	The Trees
First published	1880

Writer/Composer

Harry Linn

Roud Index

RN1863

From Harry Linn's Fire-Side Song Book (1880)

I am a happy fellow, my name is Tommy Bell
I don't care for your billiards or games at bagatelle.
Rambling in the country, that's the thing for me,
Listening to the little birdies singing on the tree.

The birds upon the trees, the birds upon the tree.
Oh what a pretty sight it is, the little ones to see.
Talk about your music, the sweetest song to me,
Is the warbling of the little birdies singing on the tree.

What a pretty sight see the birdies in their nest, 
Early in the morning shake the dew from off their breast. 
Skimming through the wild woods, happy gay and free, 
Or loudly singing hymns of praise while sitting on the tree

I often lose my temper; it puts me in a rage,
To see a little dickie birds imprisoned in a cage.
Burst the bars asunder and let your prisoner free,
And hear the song of liberty when sitting on the tree.

There's little Maud the miller's maid who is to be me bride
We often take a ramble through the meadows side by side.
And when we settle down in life, our cottage it shall be,
Where we can hear the little birdies singing on the tree.

The song was also sung in 1877, by a teenage male impersonator Little Robina at a showcase for Scottish performers, “A Great Gala Gathering of Hibernian Entertainment” at Crowder’s Music hall in London (The Era, July 8 1877) .

John Weldon Rowley (1847-1925) was born in Bradford but spent much of his life in Huddersfield. He was famous for knowing the words to 103 different songs, and performed in Halls all over Yorkshire, later becoming very successful down in London. He initially worked as a miner and then trained as a “whitesmith” (a metalworker who does finishing work on iron and steel such as filing, lathing, burnishing or polishing). At the same time as learning his trade, he was performing as an amateur in various “free and easies”. Its not clear exactly when he made the transition to full-time performer, but by 1870 he was being feted as a star of the London Music Halls.

Like other successful performers of that time he made several attempts to move into management, taking over several venues in the late 1880s and 90s. These ventures were not successful and he had to sell them on at a loss.

According to Call Boy magazine:

He became called ‘OVER’ Rowley when he sang ‘Going to the Derby’ and would complete a one handspring supported by a walking stick. It became so popular that the audience would shout ‘OVER ROWLEY’ to get him to perform the feat.

Call Boy Magazine, Summer 1987

He clearly moved a number of people with the words and music, which seem to have been picked up by a number of traditional singers. The Birds upon the Trees was collected by around 20 years later, by the eminent folk song collector Percy Grainger, from the singing of Joseph Taylor. That seems a relatively fast turnaround time from date of publication to entering the tradition, but I guess remembering a song you heard 20 years ago is not so unusual…

A number of JW Rowley’s songs are still sung in traditional circles, including: Out in the Green Fields, Eggs for your breakfast in the morning, Down in a Coal Mine, Ten Thousand Miles Away and As Welcome as the Flowers in May

When Joseph Taylor sang The Birds upon the Trees for Percy Grainger, he sang it much as it is written and sung in the halls. As far as I can tell most subsequent traditional singers sing a version which has lost the second verse.

As sung by Kennedy’s Kitchen:

Sources:

• Lyrics and info: Mainly Norfolk
• UK Sheet Music: Linn, H., Rowley, J. W., Williams, W., & Spalding, W. (1880). The birds upon the trees. Francis Bros. & Day.
• Library of Congress: 1882 US Sheet Music
• Killgarriff: Sing us
• Early Doors
• Worldcat entry
• Call Boy magazine in biographical notes quoted here

Jon Boden makes it his own:

AKA	Johnnie I hardly know you (and other variations on the spelling)
First published	1867

Lyrics

JB Geoghegan

Music

Louis Lambert? Trad?

Roud Index

RN3137

Johnny I hardly knew you
 
From JB Geoghegan's 1867 Sheet Music

While on the road to old Athy, A-hoo! A-hoo!
While on the road to old Athy, A-hoo! A-hoo!
While on the road to old Athy,
The harvest moon was in the sky;
I heard a dolorous damsel cry -
Och! Johnny, I hardly know ye.
 
Wid drums and guns and guns and drums
The enemy fairly slew ye;
My darling dear, you look so queer -
Och! Johnny, I hardly know ye.
 
Where is your nose, ye pitiful crow? A-hoo! A-hoo!
Where is your nose, ye pitiful crow? A-hoo! A-hoo!
Where is your nose,
Ye had it when going to scatter the foe,
The loss of it has disfigured you so –
Och! Johnny, I hardly know ye.
 
 
Where is your eye, that looked so wild? A-hoo! A-hoo!
Where is your eye, that looked so wild? A-hoo! A-hoo!
Where is your eye, that looked so wild?
When my pour heart ye first beguiled 
Why did ye skedaddle from me and the child
Och! Johnny, I hardly know ye.
 
 
It broke my heart to see you sail, A-hoo! A-hoo!
It broke my heart to see you sail, A-hoo! A-hoo!
It broke my heart to see you sail,
And seeing ye here has raised a wail –
The cut of your head would embellish a tale -
Och! Johnny, I hardly know ye.
 
Where are the legs wid which ye run, A-hoo! A-hoo!
Where are the legs wid which ye run, A-hoo! A-hoo!
Where are the legs wid which ye run,
When first ye went to shoulder a gun
I fear your dancing days are done -
Och! Johnny, I hardly know ye.
 
Ye’s haven’t an arm, ye’s haven’t a leg, A-hoo! A-hoo!
Ye’s haven’t an arm, ye’s haven’t a leg, A-hoo! A-hoo!
Ye’s haven’t an arm, ye’s haven’t a leg,
You’re a noseless, eyeless, chickenless egg,
Ye’ll have to be put in a bowl to beg
Och! Johnny, I hardly know ye.
 
But sad as it is to see you so, A-hoo! A-hoo!
But sad as it is to see you so, A-hoo! A-hoo!
But sad as it is to see you so,
And to think of you now as an object of woe,
Your Peggy will still keep ye as her Beau,
Though, Johnny, she hardly knew ye.
  

[Updated November 2024.]

This song is closely related to When Johnny comes marching home (RN6673): both were widely sung in the Britain and Ireland in the 1860s and both were extremely popular on both sides of the Atlantic. The balance of probability seems to be that the broadly pro-war version, When Johnny… was the original, and that Johnny we hardly knew you is a parody of it. They are sung to the same tune, which seems to draw on earlier, perhaps Irish, melodies.

The earliest reports of When Johnny comes marching home (RN6673) being sung on stage in Britain or Ireland that I can find are in 1865, in the repertoire of the blackface entertainers The Christy Minstrels. The words appear in the US publication O’Hooley’s Opera House Songster in 1864, and sheet music for a march version in 1863, but is quite likely have been around a few years before that.

A number of parodies of When Johnny Comes seemed to have been in circulation in the mid 1860s, but the first report I can find of Johnny we hardly knew you being sung on stage in Britain or Ireland are in late 1866:

Later that year Liston was described performing at London’s Metropolitan music hall, telling the tale of a disabled soldier to the tune of Johnny Comes Marching Home:

This seems to be a reasonably clear indication that in December 1867 Liston was singing the Johnny We Hardly Knew You to the tune of the earlier song When Johnny Comes Marching Home – assuming he didn’t have another song about a disabled soldier. (It is interesting that there were earlier reports of Liston having some success with When Johnny Comes Marching Home – The Era, 13 Aug 1865)

The Freeman’s Journal (Dublin) also carried advertisements for Johnny We Hardly … being sung by The Christie Minstrels late in 1867:

The words for Johnny we hardly knew you were written by Joseph Geoghegan, long-time master of ceremonies at the Star and Museum Music Hall in Bolton in the late 19th century. (He may well have also drawn on elements of an older song John Anderson My Joe, Roud 16967.) Geoghegan was responsible for writing a number of songs which entered the folk tradition, including the Sea Shanty 10 Thousand Miles Away.

The British Library catalogue has an entry Johnny, I hardly know you (Song begins “While on the road”) by Joseph B Geoghegan, published in London in 1867. This is the earliest confirmed date that I can find of this song appearing in print. The earliest that I can find this song appearing in print in America is in Henry De Marsan’s Singer’s Journal in 1869. Thanks go to Bryony Mitchell for sending me a scan of this sheet music, which was used as a source for the original lyrics given above.

In the late 1860s and throughout the 1870s the song was widely advertised as part of Harry Liston‘s repertoire.

Johnny is another Victorian song written in “stage Irish” – drawing on Irish stereotypes for comedic effect. Contemporary audiences, both in Ireland and England are reported to have found it hilarious, and this description of a performance by Harry Liston’s concert party in North Wales suggests that Liston was definitely “playing for laughs”:

Johnny we hardly knew you appears uncredited in numerous broadsides and songbooks in Britain, Ireland and the United States, with some variation in verses.

Still to come: the story of how Johnny we hardly knew you ruined a politician’s life… When I’ve got time…

Post Script: Since writing the original version of this page I have come across the booklet: “The Best Anti-war Song ever written” by Jonathan Lighter. It’s an interesting article, and he goes into much more detail of the later history of the song, but the story of its origins as a comic song written by Geoghegan for the Halls is broadly as outlined here. I enjoyed reading the piece, but at times I was worried that the author seems to be implying that all subsequent leftist and pacifist folksingers have somehow got it “wrong” in seeing this as a vehicle for powerful anti-war sentiment. I think what is interesting is how the meaning of songs (and other art) can change over time and what this tells us about ourselves and our society. It seems to me that songs change both as a result of changes performers make in the words and music, and changes in the way that listeners hear them. It’s certainly the case that what Victorian audience found hilarious, would not necessarily amuse modern ears… Speaking personally, knowing that this song was originally written to amuse does not undermine its ability, in the right hands, to move this leftist, pacifist folkie.

Sources:

• On the origins of both songs: Mudcat.org
• Lyrics: JB Geoghegan Sheet Music courtesy Bryony Mitchell
• When Johnny Comes Marching Home in Levy sheet music collection
• Poole: Music Hall in Bolton
• British Library catalogue entry.
• British Library Newspapers (various dates)
• See also JB Geoghegan’s Facebook Page
• Jonathan Lighter, “The Best Anti-war Song ever written” Loomis House Press 2012

Joan Baez sings

AKA	Jolly roving tar

Lyrics

Edward Harrigan

Music

David Braham

Roud

RN2807

1885 version 
Oh Ships will come and ships will go, just as long as waves do roll
Each sailor lad, likewise his dad, will love the flowing bowl.
Afloat, ashore they do adore  a lass that is plump and round
When the money’s gone tis the same Old song: 

Get up Jack, John sit down!
Heigh laddie, Ho laddie
Swing the capstan round
When the money’s gone it’s the same Old song: get up Jack, John sit down
 
An old sheath-knife and souwester are staunch old friends at night 
A glass of grog in rain or fog will steer a sailor right
From old Brazil to Bunker Hill we scatter dollars round
When the money’s gone tis the same Old song: 

Go take A cruise on a man o war to China or Japan,
In Asia there, the maidens fair all love a sailor man.
While Tom and Joe palaver oh and buy some the girls a gown
When the money’s gone tis the same Old song: 

When Jack’s ashore he steers to some old boarding house
He’s welcomed in with rum and gin, and fed on pork and scouse.
he’ll spend and lend and he'll ne’er offend 
and lay drunk on the ground:
When the money’s gone tis the same Old song: 

When Jack is old and weather-beat, too weak to roust about,
In some rum shop they’ll let him stop, at eight bells he’s turned out.
He cries he cries up to the sky “ I’ll soon be homeward bound”,
For my money’s  gone tis  the same old song:


Peter Bellamy sings:
Ships may come and ships may go, just as long as the seas do run
And a sailor man, likewise his dad, he loves his pork and rum.
Now a lass ashore he do adore one that is plump and round;
But when your money’s all gone it’s the same old song:

Get up Jack, John sit down!
Come along, come along me jolly brave boys,
There’s plenty more grog in the jar;
We’ll plow the briny ocean with a jolly roving tar

When Jack’s ashore he makes his way to some old boarding house
He’s welcomed in with rum and gin, likewise with fork and scouse.
Now he’ll spend and he’ll spend and he'll never offend until he lies drunk on the ground;
But when your money’s all gone it’s the same old song …

He then will ship aboard some ship bound for India or Japan,
Or in Asia there, the ladies fair all loves the sailor man.
He will trip ashore and he won’t scorn to buy some maid a gown
But when your money’s all gone it’s the same old song …

When Jack is old and weather-beat, too old to sail about,
In some grog shop they’ll let him stop ’til eight bells do ring out.
Then he’ll raise his hands high, and loud he’ll cry, “Thank God I’m homeward bound”,
But when your money’s all gone it’s the same old song … 

This one has certainly has entered the folk tradition after being sung on the US vaudeville stage. Kilgarriff lists it in the repertoire of the Moore and Burgess Minstrels, an American blackface troupe, who appeared continuously on British Music Hall stages from the 1860s until the early twentieth century. So seems very likely that they sang this song on the British stage.

It was collected by the great American folksong collectors Frank and Anne Warner from the singing of Lena Bourne Fish in New Hampshire (USA) in 1940/41. There are a number of recordings this song by folk artists of the British Isles, though the precise lyrics vary.

I have found several references to this song being given Roud Number 913, but looking at the versions in the VWML, these seem to be a different song also called the Jolly Roving Tar, collected from the singing of George Hiscock in Hampshire (UK) by George Barnet Gardiner in 1906, and featuring on many broadsheets going back to the 1870s and possibly earlier. Harriman’s version has Roud number 2807 and also has been collected on broadsheets going back to the 1870s

Sources:

• Sheet music and original lyrics from Lester Levy sheet music collection
• Lyrics: Peter Bellamy’s version from Mainlynorfolk
• Kilgarriff Sing us one
• Records in VWML
• British Music Hall, An illustrated history

Jeff Warner and friends sing:

AKA	No Irish wanted here An Irish labourer

Lyrics

Mrs FR Phillips

Music

Thomas Hudson

Roud Index

RN1137

Sure I was out the other night on such a wild goose chase
 I saw an advertisement about a decent place
 It is myself the place will suit, but I cannot tell you why,
 The lady said did you not read, no Irish need apply!
 For tis my country you dislike, I’m sure I don’t know why, 
 Faith tis all blarney when you say, no Irish need apply
  
 Just take a trip to Ireland, they will treat you like a man,
 The whiskey they will put into you as long as you can stand,
 With heart and hand their welcome you, tell me the reason why, 
 Our ears offend with that dirty end, no Irish need apply,
 So just look out and mind yourself, for I say, by the by,
 You all you lose your senses when you say, no Irish need apply
  
 You talk about your soldiers, now tell me if you can,
 If the bravest of them all are not Irish men,
 In Russia, and in China too, and India by the by,
 You never say when you want men, no Irish need apply,
 For if you want good soldiers, listen to me by the by,
 Would you ever have a Wellington if no Irish need apply.
  
 Of generals and statesmen, old Ireland can boast,
 her poets too, tis well known to you, are universal toasts,
 There’s Campbell, Moore and Lover, and Goldsmith by the by,
 You would not get their equals if no Irish need apply,
 You talk about your country, but you know tis all my eye,
 For the best feather in your cap is when Irish do apply.
  
 When the Queen was in Ireland, enjoying the jaunting car,
 the true hearted boys they shouted out “ Cead mile failte”
 To defend their majesty they would fight and die, 
And to prove to all the world at Irish need apply
 So to conclude, toss off your glass, I see the reason why
 You should put in your advertisements no Irish need apply

This song was allegedly originally written as a response to the widely held belief that Irish men were banned from working on the great exhibition of 1851. It was popular in the early halls until the 1870s. Mrs Phillips wrote the words to the Thomas Hudson tune, The spider and the fly.

Reflecting the attitudes of the time, married women were not known by their first names, but despite the fact that we do not know her first name, Mrs Phillips was one of the very first female music hall singers and something of a rarity in that she wrote her own material.

In the later stages of her career, she became Ma Phillips, and was described in the trade newspaper The Era:
This lady has been long before the public and she is, without question, one of the greatest public's greatest favourites. Strange to say, she has achieved her position without the aid of a good voice. [But] Mrs Phillips has a style peculiarly her own and her songs are invariably so well written and are given with such expression that she never fails to take her audience by storm.

The song appears to have been rewritten for an American audience in 1863 by Kathleen O'Neill (without crediting the original British version). It was probably this version which was adopted by number of singers drawing on traditional Irish and American music including Pete Seeger. It is just about possible that it was written in America first and then adopted in Britain, but from what I can see, this is unlikely.

Sources:

Original lyrics from Jolly Dogs Songster, available from VWML

British Music Hall, an illustrated history

Kathleen O’Neil’s version from the Lester Levy sheet music collection at https://levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu/collection/053/009

Pete Seeger does it:

Lyrics	Fred Terry	Music	Fred Terry	Roud Index	RN21953
Pub	1914

From the sheet music 
 
I've been sent out by the missus just to do a bit of shopping
In every blessed public house for pickled pork have I been popping
I've been in Dunns the hat-shop, not to buy myself a bonnet
But to get the wife some pickled pork with lots of pimples on it.

But you can't get many pimples on a pound of pickled pork
Whether it comes from China, Japan or Carolina
You can go to Pimlico, Chicago or New York
But, you can't get many pimples on a pound of pickled pork.

I stopp'd listening down the street where several suffragettes were shouting
I raised me hat and clapped me hands each time they started spouting
At last I said to one old girl, all thoughts of black eyes scorning
You can get a vote, then get a month, then get let out next morning.'

When I started out this morning I had sixpence wrapped in paper
I've only got three-halfpennies now, the rest has gone in vapour
When I get home I'm sure the wife will start her crockery flinging
It's ten to one she'll kill me, then I'll hear the angels singing 

I went into Cross and Blackwell's, but they made me feel so silly; 
The nearest thing to pickled pork they'd got was piccalilli
The manager at Selfridge's said "Try the lace department"
But the lady said as she dug me in the "third class compartment"

Ernie Mayne (1871-1937) – born in Devon but lived but lived in London most of his life. It’s hard to find out much about him, but he was a larger than life comic with a number of novelty songs – including Where do flies go in winter time, I never wronged an onion, and Lloyd George’s Beer. He also sang What do you think of that? which was reversioned by Lonnie Donegan into My old man’s a Dustman.

I first heard the chorus of this song by sung in Sheffield by Jim McDonald and I had to find the verses. When I sing it I tend to miss out the verse about the suffragette and replace “Mrs” in the other verses with “mother” in an attempt to minimise the routine sexism which reflects the time that the song was written. We all have our red lines, and there is a long tradition of modifying songs to make them fit more closely to the sensibilities of the time…

The song was first published in 1914, and is another example of early 20th century Music Hall songs remembered in the pub singaround’s of south-east England in the 1950s and 60s.

Sources:

• Lyrics and sheet music: Terry, F. E., & Mayne, E. (1914). You can’t get many pimples on a pound of pickled pork. Francis, Day & Hunter.
• Kilgarriff Sing us
• Entries in the Roud Indexes at the Vaughn Williams Memorial Library: https://archives.vwml.org/search/all:single[folksong-broadside-books]/0_50/all/score_desc/extended-roudNo_tr%3A21953

AKA Ten weary years

Lyrics

Will Godwin / Leo Dryden

Music

Will Godwyn

Roud Index

RN1749

 It’s been 10 weary years since I left England’s shore
 In a far distant country to roam
 How I long to return to my own native land
 To my friends and the old folks at home
 Last night as I slumbered I had a strange dream
 One that seemed to bring distant friends near
 I dreamt of old England the land of my birth
 To the heart of her sons ever dear. 
 
 I saw the old homestead and the faces I loved
 I saw England’s valleys and dells
 I listened with joy as I did when a boy
 To the sound of the old village bells
 the log was burning brightly
 Twas a night that should banish all sin
 For the bells were ringing the old year out
 And the New Year in
 
 As the joyous bells rang, swift I wended my way
 To the cot where I lived as a boy
 I gazed in the window, yes there by the fire
 Sat my parents, my heart filled with joy
 The tears trickled fast down my bronze furrowed cheek
 As I gazed at my own mother dear
 I knew in my heart she was saying a prayer
 The sun she was dreamt not was near
  
 At the door of the cottage we met face-to-face
 Twas the first time for 10 weary years
 Soon the past was forgotten, we stood hand-in-hand
 Father mother and wanderer in tears
 Once more in the fireplace the oak log burned bright
 As I promised no more I would roam
 As I sat in the old vacant chair by the hearth
 And sang the song home sweet home 

  Herbert Campbell parodied the song. The first verse and chorus were:

It's nearly a year since I had a clean shirt
 It's a treat that I cannot afford
 And I doss in Booth's shelters at two D's a time
 Or I take on the casual ward
 Last night as I slumbered, I had a strange dream
 For the plank bed on which I was laid
 Had very few feathers they hadn't planed off
 And I fancy it had not been made

 I saw the back kitchen in which I was born
 I saw the old slum in the dials
 Where I played as a boy, with a brick for a toy
 And was known as a moocher for miles
 Papa was boozing nightly
 And Mother was shifting the gin
 And the Lodger was taking the old girl out
 And the old man in

Dryden almost ended his career in poverty singing on the streets, but experienced a late career boost in the 1920s touring with the Veterans of Variety.

Herbert Campbell wrote a popular parody of The miners dream, a fragment of which I have included above..

The song seems to have been popular with traditional singers on both sides of the Atlantic, there is a good summary of traditional versions at the Mainly Norfolk site.

Sources:

Sheet Music: Bumper Book of Music Hall Songs and New York Public Library

Lyrics: monologues.co.uk
Dryden’s story from Willson-Disher Winkles and Champagne

John Kirkpatrick sings it:

AKA	Blow the wind high-o! The treadmill song Botany bay I’m off on the morning train

Lyrics

JB Geoghegan

Music

JB Geoghegan

Roud Index

RN1778

From Sheet Music held in Bodleian Library:

TEN THOUSAND MILES AWAY
Written and composed and sung by JB Geoghegan
Published for the author by Hutchings and Romer

 Sing Ho! For a brave and valiant bark
 And a brisk and lively breeze
 A bully crew and a captain too,
 To carry me over the seas
 To carry me over the seas, my boys
 To my true love so gay
 She has taken a trip on a government ship
 Ten thousand miles away
  
 So blow the winds, I, Oh!,
 A-roving I will go
 I’ll stay no more on England’s shore,
 So let the music play,
 I start on the morning train,
 To cross the raging main,
 I’m on the move to my own true love,
 Ten thousand miles away.
 
 My true love, she is beautiful,
 My true love, she is young;
 Her eyes are blue as the violet’s hue,
 And silvery sounds her tongue.
 And silvery sounds her tongue, my boys,
 But, while I sing this lay,
 She’s doing the grand in a distant land,
 Ten thousand miles away
  
 Oh! That was a dark and dismal day
 When last she left the strand
 She bade goodbye with a tearful eye,
 And waved her lily hand. 
 And waved her lily hand, my boys,
 As the big ship left the bay,
 Adoo, says she, remember me,
 Ten thousand miles away.
  
 Oh! if I could be but a bos'n bold,
 Or only a bom-ba-dier,
 I’d hire a boat and hurry afloat,
 And straight to my true love steer.
 And straight to my true love steer, my boys,
 Where the dancing dolphins play,
 And the whales and sharks are having their larks,
 Ten thousand miles away
  
 Oh! The sun may shine through a London fog,
 And the Thames run bright and clear,
 The ocean’s brine be turned to wine,
 And I may forget my beer.
 And I may forget my beer, my boys,
 And the landlords quarter day,
 But I’ll never part from my own sweetheart,
 Ten thousand miles away    

As mentioned in my post about JB Geoghegan, the great sea shanty expert Stan Hugill suggests this is a song that predates the Music Hall. He suggests that it was widely sung in the early 19th century under the title Botany Bay. It is possible that Geoghegan embellished an earlier song to make it his own, though I can’t find evidence of any thing very similar being sung before 1868. The balance of probability is definitely on the side of Geoghegan having written it in the mid- or late- 1860s and it having spread very quickly around the English-speaking world in the early 1870s. Hugill may be referring to one or other of several different songs written in the 1790s called Botany Bay, though I cannot find one that features a chorus similar to this version.

My searches in the 19th century newspaper archives suggest that the song was being sung several years before publication – songs were often only published as sheet music after they had proved successful in the Halls:

• Notices in The Era state the song was sung on the British music hall stage by Harry Liston on his Provincial tour in the summer of 1868 (The Era 19 July 1868).
• Later that year The Era reviewed Liston singing it at Sam Collins’s Hall in South London: “Mr Harry Liston, who looks quite fresh after his provincial tour… [dressed] as a sailor, singing lustily and merrily “Ten thousand miles away” which is new to us, deserves to become popular.”
• The earliest report of an amateur performance of a song called Ten Thousand Miles away occurs on 29 November 1869 in an Irish newspaper in a report of a “weekly entertainment of readings and music at the military barracks of the 54th W. Norfolk Regiment” by “Private Russell” (Northern Whig 29 November 1869)
• According to the Freeman’s Journal, it was sung by “Miss Markham”, the leading character in the pantomime Robinson Crusoe, at the Theatre Royal Dublin in December 1869.
• The words were printed as “Poetry” in the April 1 1870 edition of The Waterford Chronicle, an Irish newspaper. The words are essentially identical to those given the sheet music, except that “bosun bold” verse is omitted and I’ll stay no more on England’s shore becomes I’ll stay no more on Ireland’s shore.
• Ten years later it was revived: The great favourite Mr JW Rowley gave “Heigho, says Rowley” and new words to the old song “I’m off by the morning train” or “10,000 miles away” at The Sun Music Hall, London. (The Era 11 Jan 1880)

The song was published in several different British broadsides usually with lyrics very close to the ones given above. One early undated British broadside version replaces the verse about the final goodbye with its waving of “the lily hand” with something which makes it much more explicitly about transportation:

Oh, that was a dark and dismal day, when last I saw my Peg,
She had a government band around each arm and another one round each leg; Another one round each leg, my boys; togged in the suit of grey,
Goodbye said she, remember me, ten thousand miles away

Music Hall performers routinely modified the songs they were singing, adding and taking away verses for example. It’s possible that Geoghegan, Liston, Rowley, Miss Markham or another performer added this extra verse.

The song was circulating in America from the early 1870s. It appeared in Henry de Marsan Singer’s Journal No. 42, which I estimate was published between Dec 1869 and April 1870. It included the verse about Meg in her “government bands” and stated that it was being sung by “Wm F Sinclair certainly the Greatest Serio-Comic Singer now in the United States”.

The earliest verifiable dated instance of the song in Australia seems to be a humorous anecdote published in Melbourne in 1874, describing how:

..the party had to take shelter at a low pot house filled with noisy station hands, who made the night hideous with a dreadful song, with one verse concerning Rattling Meg:

[With] a government band around each hand
And another around each leg,
So let the music play, my boy, so let the music play,
For she’s doing the grand in a distant land
Ten thousand miles away

Melbourne Punch, July 9 1874

Other publications from Melbourne in the mid 1870s advertise the song as Billy Emerson’s Ten Thousand Miles Away “as sung by Miss Maggie Moore and Billy Emerson” (The Australasian January 19, 1875). Several parodies occur in later editions of the Melbourne Punch, indicating that in Melbourne at least it was a well-known song.

Ten thousand miles away was a very widely parodied song, and the parodies seem to be reflected in a number of the versions collected from traditional singers. One parody which seems to have had a particular impact often appeared under the title A capital ship (Roud 24507). I am currently investigating this song – watch this space!

Ten thousand miles away was was also sung in America in the 1870s by an Englishman, Charles Vivian (a.k.a. “The Great Vivian”). Vivian arrived in New York in 1867, apparently already an accomplished musical variety star specialising in comic songs and playing roles in Gilbert and Sullivan. In 1868 he established the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He seems to have spent the 1870s touring various theatres in America and Canada, and died in 1880 in Colorado. Vivian’s version has the subtitle: “The Treadmill Song” – not sure why!

For more on  JW “Over” Rowley follow the link

The song has appeared in broadsides and songbooks from Ireland, Canada, Australia, America and England, going back to the 1870s. It has been collected from the singing of a range of source singers in the UK and Canada.

Sources

• Lyrics, story, details of folk versions Mainly Norfolk
• Sheet Music: “Ten Thousand Miles Away: Popular Song & Chorus, Written, Composed & Sung by J.B. Geoghegan, … Symphonies & Accompaniments by J. Batchelder.” 1870
• Sheet music credited to JB Geoghegan Scottish Students Song Book 1891
• The Harry Liston Merry Moments poster is dated 1878 , copyright British library
• Sheet Music credited to C Vivian (1871): Levy collection
• Story of Vivian from the history of The Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks and Upstarts and Outcasts: Victoria’s Not-so-proper Past
• More links: JB Geoghegan page
• Fresno Ballad Index entry
• Mudcat thread

A lively version by Bellowhead