Source Singers Chaplin, Ted no date England : Suffolk Knights, Jimmy 1971 England : Suffolk Brown, Tom 1979 England : Norfolk
The other night I took my wife down to the music Hall.
And ever since that night it has been my downfall.
She sat besides the bandsmen they filled her with delight
and the fellow who played the trombone he stole my wife that night.
With his rum-she-ra-ra, rum-she-ra-ra ray
That fellow who played the trombone he stole my wife away
With his rum-she-ra-ra, rum-she-ra-ra ray
He made her feel so gay
he really tickled her fancy with his rum-she-ra-ra ray
She said she liked his music, she’d go there every week.
I said it would be her downfall, she said what a bloody cheek.
She took no notice of what I said and went from Tyne to Tyne.
I stayed at home to mind the kids while him and her did shine
Now the other night I woke up and found she’d gone with all her clothes.
She’d gone off with that man’s man to a land that no one knows.
But if I ever find them, I’ll spoil their honeymoon.
I’d smash that bloody instrument if I catch him playing that tune
A turn-of-the-century song from the Halls remembered in the pubs of south-east England in the 60s and 70s . I had spent many hours trawling for songs with “trombone” in the title, but Martin Nail kindly reminded me of the work of John Howson, who discovered that the original title for the song was Um-ta-ra-ra. His thoughts are summarised in the sleeve-notes of the Veteran CD Comic Songs, Music Hall Songs & Parodies, available from Veteran Mail Order:
‘Um-ta-ra-ra’ was published by B.Feldman & Co. in 1896, when it was sung by its composer Walter Kino. Although the chorus has remained fairly intact, it seems that the verses were not remembered and others have been invented … This was a popular song in Suffolk and Keith Summers recorded a version similar to Ted’s from Jimmy Knights of Hasketon (Sing, Say and Play – Topic 12TS375), which was published in Roy Palmer’s ‘Everyman’s Book of British Ballads’ (1980). In fact it could have been from Jimmy that Ted learned it, as Ted told me that he got the song from a chap who sang it in Swilland Half Moon: “That was in the days when I could hear a song once and then sing it the next night!” Ted always sang this song while walking around the room and impersonating a trombone player.
John Howson, see above
I have spent some time in newspaper archives looking for any reports of Walter Kino singing this song, but I have so far been unsuccessful. So I can’t add much to what John Howson has said, other than to provide a bit more information about Kino…
Walter Kino (1867-1902) was a “comic vocalist” who had a relatively short career. He does not appear in the standard histories of the halls , and what little I know is gathered from the pages of The Era and other contemporary newspapers. Sometimes billed as The Modern George Leybourne, he toured the UK widely between 1890 and 1900 – appearing more often in the provinces than in London. He seems to have written and composed a number of his own songs. His reviews seem very positive, like this one welcoming his return to the Britannia Glasgow, which implies he was particularly popular there:
The Era Aug 11 1900
(I will add to this biography when and if I find out more)
Mrs Caulfield 1840s (Mrs Forsyth 1850s-60s, USA) Jenny Hill, 1870s
Folk performances
Source singers Wilbur, Mrs. Marie 1926 USA : Missouri Lunsford, Bascom Lamar 1935 USA : N. Carolina Macauley, John Henry 1936 N. Ireland : Co. Antrim Alderman, Walter 1937 USA : Virginia Brady, Hubert 1939 USA : California Fish, Lena Bourne 1941 USA : New Hampshire Ewell, Miss Maud A. 1941 USA : Virginia Coutts, Willie 1948 Scotland : Shetland Isles Judkins, Mrs. Clarice 1951 USA : Oregon Smith, Mrs. Horace 1958 (3 Nov) USA : Arkansas Larner, Sam 1958-60 England : Norfolk Jones, Nancy 1968-73 USA ; N. Carolina Woodall, Mrs. Lucy 1974-77 USA : Alabama Modern performances Sung by Dolly and Shirley Collins, John Kirkpatrick and others.
They marched through the town with banners so gay
I rushed to the window to hear the band play
I peeped through the blind very cautiously then
Lest the neighbours should say I was looking at the men
I heard the drums beat and the music so sweet
But my eyes just then had a much finer treat
The troops were the finest that I had ever seen
And the captain with his whiskers took a sly glance at me
Took a sly glance at me,
Took a sly glance at me,
When the captain with his whiskers took a sly glance at me
When we met at the ball I of course thought it right
To pretend that we never had met before that night
But he knew me at once I could tell by his glance
And I bowed my head when he asked me to dance
He sat by my side at the end of the set
And the sweet words he spoke I shall never forget
my heart was enlisted and could never break free
When the captain with his whiskers took a sly glance at me
Took a sly glance at me,
Took a sly glance at me,
When the captain with his whiskers took a sly glance at me
Now they’ve marched from the town I will see him no more
But I think of him often and the whiskers that he wore
I dream all the night and I think all the day
Of the love of the captain who is now so far away
I hold it in my mind how my heart did skip a beat
When the captain with his whiskers took a sly glance at me
I remember with superabundant delight
How we met at the ball and we danced all night
How we danced all night
How we danced all night
How we met at the ball and we danced all night
And I hold it in my mind how my heart did skip with glee
when the captain with his whiskers took a sly glance at me
This song probably started with an English song by TH Bayly(1707-1839), a version was published in 1827 which states that it was perform in an operetta called The Grenadier at the Royal Olympic Theatre. It also turned up in America in 1838, allegedly written by Sydney Nelson and called Oh! They Marched Through The Town. It was sung on the American stage in the 1850s by Mrs WJ Florence who appeared to add a final verse which implied a happy ending.
The song was a hit for Mrs Caulfield in the 1840s in the Cider Cellars of London and elsewhere. On this side of the Atlantic it became better known as The Captain with his Whiskers. It was further adapted lyrically and musically by Alfred Mullen, published in London in 1863. The 1863 version was sung on the British Music Hall stage by Jenny Hill, with something like the words included here. Various American sheet music versions of the songs are available, almost all printed in the 1860s, reflecting the huge popularity on both sides of the American Civil War.
The folksong has been collected from source singers in England, America and Ireland. The music has appeared as a Morris tune from Brackley in Northamptonshire, and may be related to another tune The wearing of the green.
Sheet music for Jenny Hill version not found yet, for Mrs Forsyth’s version see the Levy collection (the Union version) and a Confederate version from the Library of Congress.
Kilgarriff Sing us one
Some of the story of the song can be found at Mainly Norfolk but some of the dates/ details have been (I think) corrected above.
