We close at two on Thursday

AKAI’m a chemist shop assistant
First Published1906

Writer/composerTW ConnorRoudRN29726

Music Hall PerformersLittle Tich, Tom Dawson
Folk performancesCollected from the singing of:
Adams, Harry; England: Somerset; 1976
I'm a chemist shop assistant, I might mention by the way,
A smart young woman came into our shop the other day;
She said she'd got a pimple, and the pain was something shocking,
Before I'd time to ask she'd started pulling off her.. 
                                                       I said "Miss –

We close at two on Thursday, is there any more my way?
Thanks, - Good morning, - Mind the step - It's very warm today 

A blue-eyed boy with golden hair, and no hat on his head
Came shyly in the other day, if you please young man he said.
I have called about my sister she's a-feeling so contrary
Last week she swallowed half a crown and it still in little -
                                                            Tell your mother,

The shop was full of customers, in came Miss Pinkanwite,
She whispered something in my ear then blushed with all her might.
I said you'll have to stop him Miss, your right you must enforce it, 
He must have squeezed you hard to break the whalebone in your —
                                                                Don't forget,
	
A frantic mother brought her child not with the tummy ache, 
But his father's hair restorer she had given him by mistake.
In one night hair and whiskers, too, a yard long he had got 'em, 
She stripped the child and showed me he was hair from top to —
                                                             Marvellous.

A lady cyclist came in for a patent puncture pill,
And a yard of sticking plaster; she had had a nasty spill. 
Some broken glass was in the road just outside the perfumers,
It didn't hurt the bicycle but went right through her —
                                                       Back pedal Miss.


Another song from the Halls of the early 20th century that was remembered by traditional singers in the later part of the century. The original was written by the prolific TW Connor and featured in the repertoire of British comedian Little Tich while in Australia it was sung by Tom Dawson. It was collected by Bob and Jacqueline Patton from the singing of Harry Adams in 1976. You can hear Adams sing it in the British Library Sound Archive.

The Gaumont British Picture Corporation made a short film of a performance but I have been unable to find a digitised version

A contemporary recording by EE Fielding (poor quality)

Sources:

  • VWML entry
  • Kilgarrif Sing Us
  • Lyrics from sheet music
  • Australian Sheet Music and image: Trove
  • UK Sheet Music: Weekly Dispatch (London), 21 Oct 1906, p11
  • BFI entry
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