Keep your feet still, Geordie hinney

AKA Keep your feet still!
First Published c1866
Writer/composer Joe Wilson Roud RN6862

Music Hall Performers Joe Wilson
Folk performances Collected from the singing of:
McGuckin, Vincent ; Canada : Nova Scotia ; 1944
Unidentified singers ; USA: California ; 1965
Modern performances: Alex Glasgow, The Jeffersons, Isla Cameron, Louis Killen, Bob Tavenport, High Level Ranters		 

From Joe Wilson's Tyneside songs, ballads and drolleries Part 2 (c1866) quoted  in Dave Harker's The Gallowgate Lad p24:

Keep yor feet still!

Wor Geordey an' Bob Johnson byeth lay i' one bed
Iv a, little lodjin hoose that's doon the shore,
Before Bob had been an' oor asleep, a kick frae Geordey's fut 
Myed him wakin up te roar instead o' snore.

"Keep yor feet still! Georday, hinny, let's be happy for the neat 
For aw maynit be so happy throo the day,
So give us that bit cumfort,— keep yor foot still Geordey lad, 
An' dinnet send maw bonny dreams away!"

Aw dreamt thor wes a dancin held, an' Mary Clark wes there 
An' aw thowt we tript it leetly on the floor,
An' aw prest her heevin breest to mine when walsin roond the room,
That's mair then aw dor ivor de before. 

Ye'll knaw the lad that she gans with, they call him Jimmy Green, 
Aw thowt he tried te spoil us i' wor fun,
But aw dreamt aw nail'd him heavy, an' blackt the big feul's eyes 
If aw'd slept it's hard te tell what aw wad deun.

Aw thowt ow set her hyem that neet, content we went alang
Aw kiss'd her lips a hundrid times or mair,
An' aw wish'd the road wad nivor end, se happy like wes aw, 
Aw cud walk'd a thoosind miles wi' Mary there!

Am dreamt Jim Green had left the toon an' left his luv te me
An' aw thowt the hoose wis furnished wi' the best,
An' aw dreamt aw just had left the church wi' Mary be me side
When yor clumsy feet completely spoil'd the rest!"

A famous Tyneside Music Hall song from the late 1860s, written and performed by the star of the early Tyneside Halls Joe Wilson. Like many local Music Hall songs of this period, it was sung to the tune of a well known earlier song, in this case, the American anti-slavery song Darling Nelly Gray (1856). The American tune in turn seems to be related to the well-known Liverpool song Maggie May (RN1757).

Joe Wilson’s song is widely remembered and has been performed by many revival folk singers from the North East of the UK and internationally. Here’s Louis Killen singing it:

Sources:

  • Mainly Norfolk
  • Kilgarrif Sing Us
  • Lyrics: From Joe Wilson’s Tyneside songs, ballads and drolleries Part 2 (c1866) quoted in Dave Harker’s The Gallowgate Lad p24. Also at [Archive.org]
  • See also: Hathi Trust