{"id":2015,"date":"2020-04-09T09:12:08","date_gmt":"2020-04-09T09:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=2015"},"modified":"2021-01-11T13:49:40","modified_gmt":"2021-01-11T13:49:40","slug":"rawtenstall-annual-fair","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/rawtenstall-annual-fair\/","title":{"rendered":"Rawtenstall Annual fair"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>At Rawtenstall Fair<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Lyrics<\/strong><\/td>Weston<\/td>Music<\/strong><\/td> Lee<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>23927<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Music Hall performers<\/strong><\/td>Randolph Sutton 1930s<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Source Singers<\/strong>
unknown 1942 England : Herefordshire
Modern Performances<\/strong>
Lea Nicholson
The Houghton Weavers
John Roberts and Tony Barrand<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
As written by Weston and Lee and recorded by Randolph Sutton<\/strong>\nJust behind the gasworks down in Rawtenstall\nThat's a little town in Lancashire\nThey'd some fun up there, ee they did an all\nLast Friday week they had a fair up theer\nThey had coconuts swings and figure eights\nSwitchback robots and a roundabout\nEeh and everyone said what gradely fun\nWhen the lads and lasses heard the showman shout\n\nWalk up walk up come and see the fat girl\nForty stone of loveliness and every bit her own\nOh what a picture with the accent on the pig\nFarmers with their walking sticks were giving her a dig\nBut the gradely lassie didn't say that her chassis\nHad been blown up with gas I do declare\nShe really looked lovely until a silly clown\nStuck a pin in her said the showman with a frown\nAll hands to the pump lass, the vessel's going down\nAt the Rawtenstall Annual Fair\n\nWalk up walk up see the house of mystery\nLadies pay a tanner and be tickled in the dark\nIn went the women saying ee but this is cheap\nShowman pulled the lever and they all fell in a heap\nThrough a hole they shot and when they got to the bottom\nThere were frills and flounces everywhere\nThe girls started screaming it caused a lot of strife\nI never saw so many legs and stockings in my life\nI saw some funny things I'd only seen upon the wife\nAt the Rawtenstall Annual Fair\n\nWalk up walk up come and see the mermaid\nAll her life alive and half a woman half a fish\nIn went the fellers just to see it wasn't swank\nLittle Johnny Higgins poured some whiskey in the tank\nWell she got so frisky when she swam in the whiskey\nThe first time that she came up for air\nShe bumped in the audience and gave her tail a swish\nHer tail tumbled off and she really looked delish\nShe shouted what do you fancy a bit of meat or a bit of fish\nAt the Rawtenstall Annual Fair\n\nWalk up walk up come and get your money's worth\nSee the tattooed lady with the pictures on her skin\nIn went the fellows and they all began to cheer\nFor on her skin were painted all the towns of Lancashire\nOn her form so pretty she had Manchester City\nWith the town hall stuck up in the square\nShe'd Bolton and Bacup and Ashton-under-Lyne\nThe coalpits at Wigan I thought were very fine\nBut they all started singing 'Daddy, Don't go down the mine'\nAt the Rawtenstall Annual Fair<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Music Hall song written by the prodigious Weston and Lee<\/a> in around 1932, and held in great affection by Lancashire folk ever since. It even prompted the people of Rawtenstall to have an annual fair<\/a>– not something which had existed before the song was written!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The lyrics above are those which were recorded by Randolph Sutton,as transcribed by Mark Dowding on the Mudcat website<\/a> . I am assuming these reflect what was written by Weston and Lee \u2013 the version sung in folk circles has been slightly modified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Randolph Sutton (1888-1969)  “Britain’s Premier Light Comedian”, seems to be the performer who first had a hit with the song. He was a star of variety and Music Hall in 1920s and 30s, singing comic and sentimental songs with a soft Bristolian burr – quite surprising when you are used to hearing this song sung in a broad Lancashire accent! I suspect this may be another case where the Music Hall writers, artistes and possibly audiences were laughing at the “locals”, but the “locals” took it up as a badge of pride!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n