My old Dutch

I've got a pal,
A reg'lar out an' outer,
She's a dear good old gal,
I'll tell yer all about 'er.
It's many years since fust we met,
'Er 'air was then as black as jet,
It's whiter now, but she don't fret,
Not my old gall

We've been together now for forty years,
An' it don't seem a day too much,
There ain't a lady livin' in the land
As I'd "swop" for my dear old Dutch.

I calls 'er Sal,
'Er proper name is Sairer,
An' yer may find a gal
As you'd consider fairer.
She ain't a angel, she can start
A-jawin' till it makes yer smart,
She's just a woman, bless 'er eart,
Is my old gal!

Sweet fine old gal,
For worlds I wouldn't lose 'er,
She's a dear good old gal,
An' that's what made me choose 'er.
She's stuck to me through thick and thin,
When luck was out, when luck was in,
Ahl wot a wife to me she's been,
An' wot a pal!

I sees yer Sal,
Yer pretty ribbons sportin'
Many years now, old gal,
Since them young days of courtin'.
I ain't a coward, still I trust
When we've to part, as part we must,
That Death may come and take me fust
To wait... my pal!

A Cockney music Hall song still remembered by traditional singers in the second half of the 20th century.

Albert Chevalier (1861-1923) was a legitimate theatre actor before he was eventually persuaded to appear in the Halls. He was a key figure in making the turn-of-the-century Halls respectable, and was deeply disgusted when he was missed off the bill the first Royal Command Performance in 1912:

I think I may claim without egotism that my work has helped to purify the music halls and has assisted to produce a condition of things which has made the command performance possible.

quoted in Baker: British Music Hall

He was a singer of sentimental and comic songs: two of which are remembered today , this one and Wot cher! Knocked ’em in the Old Kent Road. Chevalier was popular with the audience, but tended to divide the opinion of his fellow professionals: some thought him a brilliant comic performer, others felt he laid it on a bit too thick: [making] “a dozen gestures, a dozen grimaces, when one would be ample“.