{"id":15202,"date":"2022-03-18T17:10:14","date_gmt":"2022-03-18T17:10:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=15202"},"modified":"2022-04-01T06:22:50","modified_gmt":"2022-04-01T06:22:50","slug":"they-dont-speak-to-one-another-now","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/they-dont-speak-to-one-another-now\/","title":{"rendered":"They don’t speak to one another now"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
First Published<\/td>c1894<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>TW Connor<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN23528<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Fannie Leslie<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Elliott, Jack; England: County Durham; 1960-65<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Little Sally Simple just to pass her time away, \nSat and darn'd her daddy's stocking nice and neat,\nWhen she got up from the sofa in a hurry, sad to say, \nLeft the stocking needle sticking in the seat! \nThat night when Sally's masher call'd his darling for to see \nHe sat down on the sofa and she jumped upon his knee, \nBut she wasn't there a minute when the chap began to dance\nWhen he jump'd up with the stocking needle sticking in his pants!\n\nAnd they don't speak to one another now,<\/em> \nThey had no quarrel or row, \nBut she knows she'll ne'er win him \nWhen he's got the needle in him , \nSo they don't speak to one another now!<\/em>\n\nJohnny's Missus made him take the baby for a walk,\nAnd as usual Johnny soon got very dry,\nSo he popped into a little pub to have a little talk,\nWith the barmaid and a drink upon the sly,\nHe stayed about an hour then he bade her \"au revoir\"\nHe raised his hat politely, something fell out on the floor! \nThe lady ran and picked it up exclaiming with a grin \n\"Love- a-mussy It's the baby's .. anybody got a pin?\"\n\nAnd they don't speak to one another now,<\/em> \nThey had no quarrel or row, \nBut he didn't like her grinnin' \nAt the babies under linen\nSo they don't speak to one another now!<\/em>\n\nGussy on holiday took lodgings by the sea,\nWhere he fell in love with pretty Polly Peach,\nEvery night he used to call around to take out and she\nEvery morning used to meet him on the beach.\nOne morning Gussy went to bathe and what do you suppose?\nWhen he came out he found someone had bolted with his clothes!\nHis sweetheart came to meet him and was just in time to see\nLittle Gussy with the basket where his Ulster ought to be!\n\nAnd they don't speak to one another now, \nThey had no quarrel or row, \nBut he left her without warning<\/em>\nNever stopped to say \"Good morning\"\nSo they don't speak to one another now!\n<\/em>\nOphelia and Bertie met each other at the ball\nWhere the ladies looked so charming and so gay,\nBertie thought the fair Ophelia the sweetest of them all,\nAnd secured an introduction right away.\nHe captured every dance with her and waltzed her to and fro\nTill at last she got exhausted and was forced to \"cry a go\" \nNow the might have got her brandy when she fell into a faint\nBut he bathed her face in water and washed off all her paint!\n\nAnd they don't speak to one another now,<\/em> \nThey had no quarrel or row, \nBut she had a slight objection\nTo him shifting her complexion\nSo they don't speak to one another now!<\/em><\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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A song written by the prolific TW Connor<\/a>\u00a0in the early 1890s. It was a hit for Fannie Leslie – see her brief biography below. 70 years later a snatch of the song was collected from the singing of Jack Elliott by traditional song collector Reg Hall. You can hear it in the British Library Sound archive<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Sept. 30, 1893; The Era <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Report of a performance at The Tivoli from  The Era <\/em> Dec. 16, 1893 <\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
In 1911 a song of the same title was published in America, attributed to Herbert Ingraham and Edgar Selden. The structure of the American song is very similar, the American song starts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How people love each other is apparent every day \nI met two women on the street and overheard them say \n\"Why Mabel, your complexion looks almost as natural as mine \nIf I didn't know the difference, I'd think it genuine\"..\n\nThey don't speak to one another now, \nThey don't even condescend to bow \nWith a stiff and stony stare \nAnd with nose in the air\nThey don't speak to one another now<\/em><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Like the earlier British song a series of unrelated verses each set up a new variant of the chorus to humorous effect . It might be considered to be a modernised version of the same song, but they do seem to have written new music\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fannie Leslie (1858-1935) started her career as Frances Leslie – she was the granddaughter of composer, playboy, practical joker and occasional journalist Theodore Hook(1788-1841). Her greatest early success came when she was “discovered” by Augustus Harris dancing in ballets at the Metropolitan Music Hall in Edgware Road and plucked from obscurity to play a part in the prestigious Drury Lane pantomime. She went on to play the principal boy in numerous pantomimes in the late Victorian era. In addition to being a comic actress she was a singer, a dancer and something of a gymnast, often introducing cartwheels into her act. In 1893 she talked to The Era about the difficulty of finding new songs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Songs are the burden of one’s life on the variety stage. Is the supply limited? Oh, my gracious, no.  I get songs by the dozen. But so many of them are utter rubbish; and then when you get a good song, as you think, the public does not view it in the same light. A successful comic song is, of course, the heart’s desire of every singer ; and a successful is the most accidental thing in the whole world. You may buy them by the hundred, and practice them from morning to night without finding one that will take the town. Of course, when you get such a song it pays you….[But] sometimes a successful song is very short lived<\/p>A  chat with Fannie Leslie, August 19, 1893, The Era.<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n