{"id":12996,"date":"2021-09-22T13:29:35","date_gmt":"2021-09-22T13:29:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=12996"},"modified":"2022-04-14T10:26:15","modified_gmt":"2022-04-14T10:26:15","slug":"i-wish-mama-was-here","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/i-wish-mama-was-here\/","title":{"rendered":"I wish mama was here"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>Blue-eyed boy, The<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1872<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>Sam Bagnall<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN16635<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Sam Bagnall, Harry Liston<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Maynard, George; England : Sussex; 1960<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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From a Broadsheet held  in the Lubano Broadside Ballad Collection<\/a>, Memorial University of Newfoundland\n\nTHE BLUE-EYED BOY ; \nOr, I Wish Mamma was Here.\nWritten sung & composed by SAM BAGNALL.\n\nA TINY little blue-eyed boy, \nSat on his father's knee,\nAnd looking up he feebly said, \nDear father, do kiss me;\nHe gently press'd him to his breast, \nAnd smoothed his golden hair,\nAnd Willie whisper'd with a sigh, \n\"I wish Mamma was here.\n\nI wish Mamma was here,\nI wish Mamma was here,\nAnd Willie whisper'd with a sigh,\nI wish Mamma was here.\n\n<\/em>\nA tear rolled down the father's cheek, \nHe kiss'd his pining boy.\nFor her he loved had gone to rest, \nAnd Willie's end was nigh;\nHe laid him in his little cot,\nDon't weep, my darling dear,\nAnd Willie murmur'd with a sigh, \nI wish Mamma was here.\n\nWith anxious eyes the father watched, \nUntil the turn of tide,\nThe Angels they were near him there, \nAt six o'clock he died;\nThe father shriek'd in wild despair,\nDon't leave me, my darling boy,\nAnd Willie breathed his last fond sigh,\nI know Mamma is near.\n<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
A song that appears highly sentimental in print, but which seems to have also been performed to highly comic effect. It was written and composed by Sam Bagnall<\/a> and was first published in 1872. It was promoted as a sentimental ballad: this review appeared in a highly respectable periodical aimed at middle-class women:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Aug. 1, 1872;  <\/strong>Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
The sentimentality in the song was apparent in a performance of November 1872 in Wilton’s Music Hall, described in The Era<\/em> as “a good song of the serious sort, which represents a motherless child as saying I wish my mama was here was nicely rendered by Miss Beatrice Bermond “<\/em> (The Era<\/em>, 3 Nov)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the same year the famous comic singer Harry Liston<\/a> was performing it as part of his touring show  Merry Moments<\/em>. Apparently he performed it  “in two distinct voices, bass and falsetto”<\/em> in the character of Mr Belowline<\/em>. It seems a reasonable to assume that the father was sung in bass tones and the child in falsetto and that this was done for comic effect. Liston was prone to perform “ventriloquial sketches” which suggests he may<\/span> have performed it with a ventriloquist’s doll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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July 6, 1872;  <\/strong>Isle Of Man Times <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Versions printed in the United States suggest that on that side of the Atlantic it was also sung both as a sentimental song and to comic effect. In the USA it was performed by ventriloquist Alex Davis, by The New Orleans Minstrels and early vaudeville singer Jennie Engel. All the American versions I have found so far appear to date from 1873 and after, so the song seems to have started life with Sam Bagnall in England.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can hear how traditional singer George “Pop” Maynard remembered the song at the Vaugh Williams Memorial Library here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n