In Our Backyard Last Night

First Published c1890
Writer/composer James Curran / George Beauchamp Roud RN13693

Music Hall Performers George Beauchamp, TE Dunville
Folk performances Collected from the singing of:
Pardon, Walton; England, Norfolk, 1987
Modern performances
None?		 

Taken from  The Music Hall Songster (1892)

IN OUR BACKYARD LAST NIGHT. 
Composed and sung by Geo Beauchamp
Words by J. Curran

Some very curious things took place 
In our backyard last night; 
An elephant trod on my sister's face 
In our backyard last night 
An old Tom cat and a female one 
Were singing "Johnnie get your gun" 
I went out with a brick and spoil their fun 
In our backyard last night.

Oh, dear, oh! 
They'll not come back again I know, 
To keep us awake with their midnight show, 
In our backyard. 

A big bull-dog broke from his chain 
In our backyard last night, 
And made me suffer grief and pain 
In our backyard last night, 
with my new pants that looked so prime 
He played the deuce of a pantomime; 
He grabbed a mouthful every time
In our backyard at night. 

Oh, dear, oh! 
He made me dance for an hour or so. 
And now I can't sit down, I know, 
In our backyard.

McManus and one of the lodgers came, 
To our backyard last night. 
To try their hand at the boxing game, 
In our backyard last night. 
McManus gave the lodger a whack, 
That knocked the whole of his front teeth back. 
But the lodger got hammer and killed poor Mac. 
In our backyard last night.

Oh, dear, oh! 
He'll not come back again I know, 
For McManus' funeral did go 
From our backyard.


A band of Germans came to perform 
In our backyard at night; 
The reception they got was cold and warm
In our backyard at night. 
The cornet player we threatened to shoot
We soon put a stop to his rooty-toot   
We stuck on the kisser with a Navvy's boot
In our backyard at night. 

Oh, dear, oh! 
He'll not come back again I know, 
Of his wisdom teeth he left a row
From our backyard.

A pair of sweethearts came to spoon 
In our backyard last night, 
Beneath the light of the silvery moon, 
In our backyard last night. 
While making love they made such a din, 
And the gent very soon had cause to grin, 
For the lady collared all his tin, 
In our backyard last night

Oh, dear, oh! 
He'll not come back again I know, 
His purse, his chain, and his watch did go
From our backyard.


Old mother Johnson screamed "police", 
In our backyard last night. 
Which brought a protector of the piece, 
To our backyard last night. 
The policeman came and strange to tell, 
On the back of his neck a flowerpot fell; 
But the flowers were hardly fresh from the Dell, 
In our backyard last night.

Oh, dear, oh! 
He'll not come back again I know, 
Till a different kind of flow'rets grow
In our backyard.

A song successful in the Halls of the 1890s, still remembered by late 20th-century traditional singers – in this case Walter Pardon.

The song popularised by George Beauchamp, a comic active in the 1890s. He regularly advertised in the pages of The Era newspaper that he would buy funny songs. It appears that he bought this one from James Curran, a Scottish comic and songwriter:

The Era,  Nov. 22, 1890

Initially the song was described as written by James Curran and composed by George Beauchamp – giving performers composer credits was often a convenient way to consolidate a performers rights to song ownership, and didn’t always mean that they wrote the music. Later references to the song tend to credit Beauchamp alone.

Beauchamp was very active in enforcing his rights to the songs he bought, and he regularly posted notices warning other performers not to use his songs. You can see this in the case of another song he bought from Curran:

The Era,  Aug. 24, 1889

James Curran was a Scottish songwriter and comic, who seems worth investigating further – watch this space!

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