Why can’t it always be Saturday

First Published1901

Writer/composerTom Moy RoudRN1741

Music Hall PerformersJW Rickaby
Folk performancesCollected from the singing of:
Upton, Harry; England : Sussex; c1976
There's one day in each week that all men loves best
One day they fancy far more than the rest
I've no need to tell you, I can see you've all guessed
The day I allude to is Saturday
There's football for those who's fond of the sport
On that day the good things for Sunday are bought
Man finds his wife loves him far more than he thought
When he brings home his wages on Saturday

Why can't it always be Saturday?
Why can't it always be pay-day?
Oh, how happy we'd all be then
Wouldn't it suit all us working men
If it was always Saturday
Wouldn't we all be gay?
We'd have money to spend and money to lend
If Saturday came every day
[twice]

Just fancy a man who is fond of his beer
Gets one day's relief from monotony drear
He makes it the rule to get full up to here
Just one night a week and that's Saturday
If he gets run in he has nothing to say
But on Monday gets off from his work half a day
Appears at the Court and a fine has to pay
But he'll do just the same thing next Saturday
And sorrow and care to the wind he will fling
The rest of the week to himself he will sing:

There's one thing quite certain we'd ne'er have to call
At the shop where the three brass balls hang on the wall
In fact we'd have no need for pawn-shops at all
If every day was Saturday.
No one would be rich, no one would be poor
We'd have no occasion to run up a score
We've plenty of pubs; we should want a few more
If every day was Saturday
And such things as poverty we need not know
So all sing this chorus, wherever you go:

A song from the early 20th century, remembered 70 years later by traditional singer Harry Upton. It was originally performed in the Halls by JW Rickaby, whose brief biography appears below. Here’s a short view of his performance at Gatti’s (a London Hall) in 1901:

Gattis, The Era – Saturday 13 July 1901

JW Rickaby (1869-1929) was born to a military family and spent much of his early life in Manchester. He began his career on stage as an actor before turning to comedy in 1904. Billed as The Big Dry Comedian, he often sang his songs in character, for example as a policeman for one of his more famous songs PC 49, or as a battered “swell” for his song They built Piccadilly for me. He toured extensively in Australia where he was particularly popular

He recorded a number of his songs – they are available on the Windyridge CD The Prince and the big dry.

Here’s a recording of Harry Upton’s version of Why can’t it always be Saturday:

Harry Upton sings it (from VWML)

Sources:

  • VWML entry
  • Kilgarrif Sing Us
  • Lyrics and Sheet Music: Sheard’s 27th Comic and Variety Annual, c1901, p29 (Personal Collection)

Last Updated on January 2, 2024 by John Baxter | Published: March 23, 2023

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