{"id":16707,"date":"2022-07-27T15:46:11","date_gmt":"2022-07-27T15:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=16707"},"modified":"2022-08-19T06:20:51","modified_gmt":"2022-08-19T06:20:51","slug":"watching-em","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/watching-em\/","title":{"rendered":"Watching ’em"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>I was there a-watching them<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1899<\/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>RN10691<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Harry Ford<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Payne, Ernie; England: Avon; 1979
Smith, Tom; England: Suffolk; 1960s<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Transcribed from the singing of Tom Smith by John Howson<\/strong>\n(Full copy of sheet music not accessed yet!)\n<\/strong>\nI'm a copper and I know my book:\nYou can tell it by my saucy look. \nI go prowling round the houses, \nDusting the seats of the loud boys' trousers.\nTil the other night, while on my beat,\nI saw two chaps what-ho!\nThey were arguing about a gold watch they'd nicked,\nBut it of course they did not know...\n\nThat I was there a-watching them, \nI was there a-watching them. \nWhile they were arguing I drew my staff,\nI caught them in the chivvy, well it made them laugh!\nAnd then they bolted, it was a pantomime.\nNow I've got a gold ticker and it's worth ten quid,\nBecause I was there a-watching all the time.<\/em>\n\nOnce a cookie, down upon my beat, \nUsed to feed me up with her old meat. \nAll at once I found she stopped it:\nI used to wonder why she stopped it. \n'Til one night down the eerie steps\nI crept quite silently.\nBut she didn't know, as she sat there \nWith a soldier on her knee...\n\nThat I was there a-watching them, \nI was there a-watching them. \nFor down in the kitchen I could see my dear,\nGiving all the mutton to the fusilier.\nThen, oh, good gracious, it was a pantomime:\nNow 1 know what the cookie did with her cold meat,\n'Cos I was there a-watching all the time.<\/em>\n \nAt the break-of-promise case one day,\nI was giving evidence all day.\nHow the defendant looked quite puzzled\nWhen I described how they cuddled.\n'How the Dickens do you know?'\nSaid the old judge with a frown.\nI said, 'Sir the house is on my beat,\nAnd the blinds were not pulled down!'\n\nAnd I was there a-watching them, \nI was there a-watching them.\nTake my tip, sir, the fun was nice,\nI saw him kiss the lady in the same place twice.\nOh, good gracious, it was a pantomime!\nBut the rest of the evidence I'm not going to tell,\nThough I was there a-watching all the time.<\/em>\n\n\n\n<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Another song from the 1890s remembered by traditional performers in the late 20th century. It was written by the prolific AJ Mills <\/a>in collaboration with FW Carter<\/a>. It was a hit for Harry Ford whose brief biography appears below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lewis Winstock in his book Songs and Music of the Redcoats<\/em>,  draws on memoirs and other sources to show that songs from the Halls were widely sung by British soldiers fighting in the  South African War of 1899-1902. According to the memoirs of Major G Tylden, Watchin ’em <\/em>was a very popular song amongst the Yeomanry, who appear to have sung at the end of the second verse:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Down in the kitchen I saw my dear, 
Perched on the knee of a Grenadier<\/p> Songs and Music of the Redcoats<\/em>, p244<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Harry Ford <\/strong>(real name: HWJ Comerford, 1874-1955) was son  to a printer (his Father) and boot machinist (mother). He was a juvenile performer, for three years from age 10 he took minor parts in the pantomime at the Elephant and Castle, whilst earning a pittance as a call boy- a stagehand who alerted actors of  their entrances during a performance. He made his Music Hall debut at The Middlesex, Drury Lane aged 13 and worked steadily in both the provinces and London throughout the 1890s. He started achieving real success in around 1897 when he was given his first major pantomime role in Aladdin at Brighton’s Eden Theatre. By 1900 he was often appearing “top of the bill” and his success continued until the outbreak of war in 1914. He made several successful tours of South Africa. In the 1920s he appeared in a number of revues, but his popularity seemed to decline. On leaving the stage in the 1930s he ran a tobacconist business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n