She sell sea shells on the sea shore

AKA
First Published 1908
Writer/composer Terry Sullivan and Harry Gifford Roud RN20269

Music Hall Performers Wilkie Bard ; Sam Mayo
Folk performances Collected from the singing of:
Thomas, Kathleen ; Canada : Nova Scotia ; 1925
Bentall, Brenda ; England ; 1970		 

I've just had a letter to say I'm engaged
To appear in the pantomime
The part I've too play is the principal boy
So I'm in for a beautiful time
The panto's Dick Whittington, I'm dirty Dick
The fellow who once wrote to York
The manager says I must get a good song 
About which the public will talk
I have commissioned some authors to write me a song;
A very fine chorus they sent me a long!

She sells sea shells on the sea shore.
The shells she sells are seashells, I'm sure
For if she sells shells on the seashore,
Then I’m sure she sells seashore shells.
[twice]

The seashells are a terrible sell
And the song is a "sell" also
The authors both say it will go very big,
But I fear I am all that will go
I've suffered from lockjaw and stick jaw as well, 
In trying this chorus to sing 
Its making me Lisp, but I shay to myshelf, 
The shongs shure to go with a shwing
I'm dreaming of seashells when I am in bed
I only wish she would sell matches instead!


A song first sung in 1908 by Wilke Bard in the Halls (a brief biography appears below). He recommended the chorus “as a test of sobriety” – here’s a review of Bard in Portsmouth:

Hampshire Post and Southsea Observer – Friday 13 November 1908

It was a huge hit in pantomimes in the 1908/09 season for example, Bard sang it in the pantomime Dick Whittington at Drury Lane.

The rhyme is not about Mary Anning as is sometimes claimed , nor is it the first use of the “She sells sea shells” phrase… the chorus is a modification of an older tongue twister sometimes used in elocution lessons – for example in the form: “She sells sea shells. Shall he sell sea shells?” in use in the 1830s but probably much older.

Penny Illustrated Paper –  07 Dec 1907

Wilkie Bard (1874-1944) was born William Smith in Manchester in 1874. His career began in earnest in summer 1895 when he started appearing as a Coster comedian in London. He soon developed his own unique style with a high bald forehead and heavy make-up. He was particularly famous for playing the Dame both in pantomime and on the Music Hall stage. She sells sea shells established a tradition for tongue twisting pantomime songs. He appeared in reviews and variety theatre when the Halls went into decline.

Sources: