{"id":13447,"date":"2021-11-04T16:01:57","date_gmt":"2021-11-04T16:01:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=13447"},"modified":"2024-11-30T14:38:51","modified_gmt":"2024-11-30T14:38:51","slug":"fall-in-and-follow-me","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/fall-in-and-follow-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Fall in and Follow Me"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
First Published<\/td>1910<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>A.J. Mills \\ Bennett Scott<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN32470<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Whit Cunliffe, Charles R Whittle<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Keeping family, London England, 1930s<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Mister Gibson, once a military man,\nUses military language when he can.\nOnce he left his quiet suburban nest\nWith six pals he went up west.\nSaid the others, \"Now, what shall we do?\nAs we want some fun, we'll leave it all to you.\"\nThen Gibson swelled with military pride\nTwirling his moustache, he cried,\n\n\"Fall in and follow me. Fall in and follow me\nCome along and never mind the weather\nAll together, stand on me, boys.\nI know the way to go, I promise you a spree\nYou do as I do, and you'll do right. Fall in and follow me,\"<\/em>\n\nOff they went to see a ballet gay that night\nAnd the lovely dancing girls gave them delight.\nThen behind the scenes they thought they'd go\nSaid, \"These girls we'd like to know\"\nGibson quickly led the way, for sure,\nThrough a dark passage until they reached a door\nAnd then he stopped and whispered low,\n\"I guess this is where the fairies dress,\"\n\n\nSomething after twelve they started home again\nHad to walk, they lost the last suburban train\nBy the old canal they tramped along, \nSinging out the latest song\nThen they saw their wives, oh what a scream\nWalking up towards them by the flowing stream\nThen Gibson slipped and fell into the tide\nSplashed about and loudly cried,\n<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
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A song often associated with World War 1, but actually a hit from the Halls a few years earlier. It was originally written by AJ Mills<\/a> with music composed by Bennett Scott. In the Halls it was most associated both with Whit Cunliffe<\/a> and Charles R Whittle<\/a>, it was also recorded by Harry Fay and Albert Whelan. It was a great hit in the pantomimes of winter 1910\/11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was adopted as the anthem of the school children’s strikes that swept Britain in 1911, here’s how they adapted it (the journalist seems to have missed out one line):<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Dundee Evening Telegraph – Wednesday 13 September 1911
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It was later remembered by Charles Keeping as being sung at family parties in 1930s Lambeth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As recorded by Harry Fay in 1910:<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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