{"id":16629,"date":"2022-07-22T10:25:21","date_gmt":"2022-07-22T10:25:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=16629"},"modified":"2022-08-19T06:21:41","modified_gmt":"2022-08-19T06:21:41","slug":"has-anyone-seen-my-tiddler","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/has-anyone-seen-my-tiddler\/","title":{"rendered":"Has anyone seen my tiddler?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>Tommy Tiddler
Has anybody seen my tiddler
A song about a little fish<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1910<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>AJ Mills and FW Carter<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN13330<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Millie Payne<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Tarling, Jack; England: Suffolk, 1995
Belton, George; England: Sussex, 1969<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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I've been a fishing with some boys today\nFished in the little pond that's down our way\nI stood like so, and soon you know\nI caught a little tiddler with a nice soft row\nOh how it wriggled in the jam-jar\nThere were tears in it's eyes of blue\nNow I'm unhappy 'cos I've lost it\nSo excuse me for asking you.\n\nHas anybody seen my tiddler?\nTiddle, iddle, iddle, iddle, iddler\nI caught that little fish with some cotton and a pin\nOh how I laughed when I dragged him in\nBut coming home, Oh dear oh\nThat rude boy Dicky Diddler\nHe poked his fingers in my galipot\nAnd pinched my tiddler.<\/em>\n\nYoung Dicky Diddler who was by my side\nStirred up the water and the fish all guyed\nAnd you can bet, I was upset\nWhen Dicky pushed me in the pond, my socks got wet\nI said 'I'm going to tell your Father\nAnd we'll soon be on equal terms'\nHe called me names to get his own back\nAnd he collared all my worms.\n\nSoon as the tiddler came and took my hook\nYoung Dicky Diddler gave an envious look\nI laughed Ha, Ha, but he went 'Yah'\nAnd tried to kick the bottom out of my jam-jar\nHe said he'd follow me to my street\nAnd he stuck to me just like glue\nAll of a sudden tho' I missed him\nAnd I missed my tiddler too<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
A song full of double entendres written by AJ Mills<\/a> and FW Carter<\/a>, published by Mills’ firm Star Publishing. It was a huge hit for Millie Payne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was remembered and sung by several traditional singers in the south of England. You can hear George Belton and audience singing it on the British Library Sound Archive site<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
 Managers of early 20th century music halls had to tread a fine line between the desire to please the audience and the need to attract middle-class audiences and therefore appear respectable. The story of this song illustrates this tension… At the time the song was first published, both performer and publisher were clearly very aware of the nature of their song and  adverts would begin with the suggestion that if you saw anything rude it was your own filthy mind, claiming that this was only “a song about a little fish”. Here’s one example of many:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The Era – Saturday 17 September 1910<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A few years later, in 1913 the song was described as “indecent” in court, prompting Millie Payne to publish a densely worded half-page Open Letter in The Encore<\/em> which  in 12 bullet points refuted the alleged suggestion that the song was “not fit to be sung in public”. The open letter argued that the song had been performed for many years without complaint and ended once again by suggesting that “to the pure all things are pure!”<\/em>. The decency or otherwise of the song was not central to the court cases, and as far as I can tell the judge did not describe the song as being “not fit to be sung in public”  so its hard not to see this as opportunistic publicity to boost a song already a few years old. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
One case in which the song was mentioned involved Walter Gibbons, one-time booking manager for a group of Halls trading as London Theatre of Varieties. He was trying to retrieve money he felt owed by his former employers.  At the same time case of unfair dismissal was being pursued against the same firm by Charles Read, former booking manager for the Brixton Hill hall. During the two cases both Gibbons’ and Read’s reputations came under attack- they were accused of demanding bribes in return for lucrative booking contracts and of allowing inappropriate repertoire be performed. During Charles Read’s case the following exchange took place:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Evening Standard (London) 23 Apr 1913<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
A contemporary recording by Fred Harrison:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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