Nobody noticed me
AKA | |
First Published | 1918 |
Writer/composer | Nat D. Ayer and Bert Lee | Roud | RN18433 |
Music Hall Performers | Jack Pleasants |
Folk performances | Source Singers Cann, Bob 1969 England : Devon Arnold, Bob 1993 England : Oxfordshire Modern performances |
Although I've a striking appearance no doubt Nobody notices me when I'm out I can't understand it, it doesn't seem right In fact as I walked on the stage here tonight. Nobody noticed me, nobody noticed me It's always been so since that wonderful morn That wonderful morn on the day I was born The room I was born in was large And I was so tiny you see That I never got fed for the first seven weeks 'Cos nobody noticed me. One day for excitement I rode in a train I sat with my nose glued right up to the pane A bridegroom got in with his blushing young bride I sat very still with my head on one side. Nobody noticed me, nobody noticed me We entered a tunnel without any light I heard the bride giggle and whisper in fright 'Oh do give up kissing me, George.' 'I haven't kissed you.' answered he She said, 'Well if you haven't, somebody has.' But nobody noticed me. Once with some pals at the sea-side I saw A young ladies school bathing down on the shore They bobbed up and down in the water so clear A board on the beach said 'No mixed bathing here.' Nobody noticed me, nobody noticed me So I got my new little bathing suit out And went in the sea and floated about They never suspected at all Except one young lady, and she Said, 'It's queer, but a crab keeps on nipping my leg But nobody noticed me. Last leap year I met a young lady named Flo She quickly proposed and I daren't say no The day we were married I stood by her side The parson shook hands with the best man and bride. Nobody noticed me, nobody noticed me Behind her bouquet I stood quiet and still And just popped my head round and answered 'I will' And when we got home later on, I felt so dead tired don't you see I crawled under the bed and I laid there all night And nobody noticed me.
An early 20th century song from the Halls, remembered 50 years later by traditional singers in the south of England. Bob Cann recalled hearing it from “a travelling drover that would travel around local markets and fairs” – so it wasn’t directly remembered from Music Hall performance.
Jack Pleasants (1874-1924) was a Bradford comedian whose act involved him playing an extremely shy young man. His career started at a Talent Night at the Scarborough Hotel, where his act impressed the booker for a chain of northern music halls. One of his biggest hits was I’m Twenty-one Today, a song which has not been forgotten, even if the name of the original singer largely has… Nobody notices me was another song which played on his characters bashfulness. e was particularly popular in Lancashire:
Sources:
- Entries in the Roud Indexes at the Vaughn Williams Memorial Library: https://archives.vwml.org/search/all:single[folksong-broadside-books]/0_50/all/score_desc/extended-roudNo_tr%3A18433
- Kilgarrif Sing Us
- Lyrics: monologues.co.uk
- Nick Dow sings it at Frodsham Folk Club
- GJ Mellor: The Northern Music Hall