Dear old pals

I like my share of pleasure, and I'll have it while I can
I love a loving woman, and respect an honest man
I like to find true friendship in the life that's rolling by
And such is always found between, my old Pal Tom and I.

We're dear old pals, jolly old pals
Clinging together through all sorts of weather
Dear old pals, jolly old pals
Give me the friendship of dear old pals.

We've tasted of the ‘ups' of life, we've also felt its ‘downs'
Sometimes our pockets held bright gold, and sometimes only ‘browns'
And be our drink bright sparkling ‘cham', or merely humble beer
The grasp of friendship's been the same, through each succeeding year

We do snug little dinners, and they pass off very nice
I put my old pal in the chair, he makes me take the vice
We toast her Gracious Majesty, we don't forget the ‘gals'
But the toast of the evening is ‘Success to true old pals'.

It's ever been my maxim, yes, and so it ever shall
To help a stranger when I can, but never desert a pal
And after winning life's hard fight, what sweet reward is found
In a conscience clear, a heart that's light, and dear old pals around.

A song made famous by the Great MacDermott, but also sung by Charles Chaplin Senior and JW “Over” Rowley, who had rights to sing it in the provinces. The song was used to close every performance at the Players Theatre, founded in 1936 by Leonard Sachs and Peter Ridgway, which staged period comedies and Music Hall performances. The Players Theatre was initially on the site of Evans’s Late Joys, and its success eventually led to the TV programme The Good Old Days.

Gilbert Hastings MacDermott (1844 – 1901 ) was a newspaper seller in Islington before spending nine years in the Navy. Taking part in amateur shows aboard ship convinced him that he could develop a career in the halls , which he began in Dover playing shows for military and amateur audiences . He eventually achieved success as an actor, playwright , Music Hall and Theatre manager , agent and owner. As a performer his first hit was with The Scamp which made fun of several alleged “scamps” including George Odger, a trade unionist who successfully use the courts to force MacDermott to change the song. Despite the legal problems, the song established him as a star of the late 1870s. He toured America in 1875/76, and in 1877 enjoyed his greatest successes with his War Song( The Jingo Song), and this one – both written by GW Hunt who seemed to share MacDermott’s ardent Tory Nationalism.

The song appeared widely in songsters and broadsides of the late 19th century., It was collected twice in the latter part of the 20th century from traditional singers, but given the songs’ continued life on the stage , it’s perhaps unlikely that it reached the singers by oral transmission alone.

The chorus of Dear Old Friends is often sung today as a children’s song.

Sources:

• VWML entry
• Kilgarrif Sing Us
• Sheet music: Library of Congress
• sheet music cover image : Victoria and Albert Museum
• Lyrics: monologues.co.uk
• Baker: The British Music Hall

The Players Theatre and the Music Hall revival of the late: 1930s

Last Updated on October 22, 2020 by John Baxter | Published: October 7, 2020