{"id":18480,"date":"2023-01-13T16:10:29","date_gmt":"2023-01-13T16:10:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=18480"},"modified":"2023-01-13T16:11:14","modified_gmt":"2023-01-13T16:11:14","slug":"im-getting-ready-for-my-mother-in-law","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/im-getting-ready-for-my-mother-in-law\/","title":{"rendered":"I’m getting ready for my mother in law\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>Mother-in-law<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1895<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>Harry Wincott<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN24570<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Harry Champion<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Spicer, George; England: Sussex; 1972<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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My wife's Mother sent a letter today\nSaying she was coming for a week to stay\nWhen I heard the news 'Well strike me fat'\nThat is what I've done to my best hat\nThen thought came suddenly to me\nTalk about a spree, I was in my glee\nMy wife shouted 'What's the matter now\nWant to have a row, or a fight I vow?'\nI said 'No you're wrong my dear'\nAnd because it's like this here.\n\nI'm getting ready for my Mother-in-Law\nGetting ready for the fray\nWhen she puts her face inside the place\nI'll make the old girl feel all gay\nThere's a little back room on the third top floor\nWhere the beetles up the wall do climb\nOh! Mother, mother, mother, mother, mother, mother\nYou'll have a lively time.<\/em>\n\nRound to the bakers I went off in a tick\nBought a quartern loaf quite as hard as a brick\nWent into a shop where fish was sold\nFound a pair of kippers nigh a fortnight old\nFour-pence I gave for some mouldy cheese\nStrong enough to sneeze, let alone the breeze\nThen I got a pound of margarine\nTalk about a scene, it was turning green\nWhen the shopman looked at me\nI said, 'It's all right cockie!'\n\nI've been cutting off the legs of a chair\nSo she'll break her back, when she sits there\nIn her little bed I've stuck some pins\nJust to make the old girl scratch her shins\nFive and twenty tom cats and a 'she'\nAre waiting patiently, for to have a spree\nOff the roof I've taken all the tiles\nTalk about St Giles, or the Seven Dials\nIf she wants some nice fresh air\nShe can have it when she's here.\n\nKnowing that she likes a little drop of gin\nI've got a gallon of turpentine in\nI'll make her shift in about three ticks\nWhether she screams or whether she kicks\nShe'll have a jalap in a cup of tea\nTake a tip from me happy I shall be\nMeat that I've got to make an Irish stew\nIn a day or two, it will 'Pinky Poo' \nIf she thinks it all serene\nOh! God save our gracious Queen.\n\n\n<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
A song sung by Cockney comedian  Harry Champion<\/a>  in the mid 1890s, written and composed for him by Harry Wincott<\/a>. It was collected in 1972 from the traditional singer George Spicer<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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London and Provincial Entr’acte –  28 September 1895<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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An American version of the song was published in 1906. It had almost the same chorus, but very different verses. The sheet music is available online in the Levy collection<\/a> with no credit given to Harry Wincott – it states that the song was written and composed by Jack Norwood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Harry Champion sings it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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