We’ve all been havin’ a go at it

AKA
First Published 1896
Writer/composer Wincott / Leighton Roud RN23316

Music Hall Performers Harry Champion
Folk performances Source Singers
Smith, Bill 1979 England, Shropshire

There's some lodgers a-living with us
And they've made such a terrible fuss
They brought a chicken for dinner today
Wanted it cooked I heard 'em say
Mother she soon cleaned up the hob
Charged 'em a bob for doing the job
When that chicken was cooked, Oh lor
The lodgers came down, and I had to roar.

We've all been having a go at it
All been having a go at it
Somebody's pinched its wings and toes
I had a bit off the Parson's nose
Oh, good gracious, didn't we make a show
Seventeen of us... beside myself...
And we've all been having a go.

Talk about a penn'orth of fun
Yesterday it fair took the bun
In came the brokers to collar our sticks
But we were up to all their tricks
Mother she chased 'em round the room
Settled their doom with a big broom
And when Father came home at night
And said, Where's the brokers?' I yelled - all right,

We've all been having a go at 'em
All been having a go at 'em
One's in the dust hole - minus pants
Another's gone home in an ambulance
Oh good gracious, didn't they shout - what Oh,
Seventeen of us... beside myself...
And we've all been having a go.

Mr Jones our neighbour next door
Went away for two weeks or more
He left his bicycle out in a shed
One day I spotted it, and I said
'Let's take it out and learn to ride'
Each of us tried - quite satisfied
Oh, that bicycle fit for a prince
It isn't worth tuppence for old lumber since

We've all been having a go at it
All been having a go at it
Mother rode on it all up the street
Busted the tyres and broke the seat
Oh, good gracious, didn't we make a show
Seventeen of us... beside myself...
And we've all been having a go

Aunt Jemima's come to stay
With us for a short holiday
She's brought a bottle of sea water home
Straight away from the briny foam
In it she has her morning splosh
Does it a nosh, it is a wash
Since we tumbled to what it was
She can't have her bath, and it's all because.

We've all been having a go at it
All been having a go at it
Kidding ourselves we're in the sea
Talk of the water in the Lea
Oh, good gracious, isn't it thick, what Oh,
Seventeen of us... beside myself...
And we've all been having a go.

Another perhaps slightly obscure music hall song remembered by a single performer in the south-east of England, though it also appears on one broadside in the Bodleian. This one was performed in the halls by Harry Champion, and written by the prolific Harry Wincott.

The version performed by Bill Smith is available on the VWML site

Sources: