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:
- 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%3A23316
- Kilgarrif Sing Us
- Lyrics: monologues.co.uk
- Sheet music: Feldman’s Second Giant Budget of Copyright Songs
- Bodleian Ballad