{"id":20210,"date":"2023-05-12T05:45:56","date_gmt":"2023-05-12T05:45:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=20210"},"modified":"2025-12-15T07:26:50","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T07:26:50","slug":"im-not-all-there","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/im-not-all-there\/","title":{"rendered":"I’m not all there"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>I’m not supposed to be all there<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1924<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>Harry Carlton<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN23530<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Ella Shields<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Wheat, Morris; Derbyshire; 1970
Griffiths, Pat; England: Buckinghamshire; 1976
Lane, Ernie; England: Gloucestershire; 1996
Modern performances<\/strong>
Chas N Dave; <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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I'm the softest guy around the town\nPeople say I'm rocky in the crown\nDoing odd jobs don't get folks a fortune in a hurry\nI've got my own ideas on that, so I should worry\nJust because I've never been to school\nI'm looked on as nothing but a fool\nBut being wise like other folks, I found it didn't pay\nSo I simply take no notice when they say.\n\nI'm not all there\nThere's something missing\nI'm not all there\nSo the folks declare\nThey call me Loo by Loo by\nNothing but a great big booby\nPoint and say, 'That's where you want it,\nAnd that's just where I've got it'\nI know they think I'm slow\nBut let them think, let them think - I don't care.<\/em>\n\nSometimes I run errands for the folks up at the Grange\nWith a five-pound note they trust me, perhaps you think that strange\nBut they never fetch a policeman when I say I've lost the change\nCos I'm not supposed to be all there.\n\nCourting couples in the Park on any night you'll find\nIf you stare they break away, for love's not always blind\nBut they let me stand and watch them and they never seem to mind\nCos I'm not supposed to be all there.\n\nFellows kissing other fellows girls are in for it\nTen to one they'll be a fight and someone will get hit\nBut when I kiss other fellow's girls, they never mind a bit\nCos I'm not supposed to be all there.\n\nAll the local bookies say I'm up the chimneystack\nIf I back a winner they give me more than my whack\nIf I ever back a loser, they give me my money back\nCos I'm not supposed to be all there.\n\nAll my folks are potty just like me\nThey've retired and live in luxury\nActing soft and foolish, they beat all the wise ones hollow\nSo their example was the only thing to follow\nSome folks go to work to earn their dough\nI earn twice as much and never go\nThat I've been barmy since my birth I'm willing to confess\nBut there's method in my madness none-the-less.\n\n\n<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
A hit for Ella Shields<\/a> in the mid 1920s remembered by several traditional singers  in the 1970s. Many, like me, will feel uncomfortable with someone making comedy about a man pretending to be “not all there” in order to advantage of people’s assumptions. On the other hand,for Shields the other aspect of her being “not all there” refers to her cross-dressing:  playfully addressing the sexual threat, or perceived lack of it of a woman, dressed as a man. …<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The song was written for Shields by Harry Carlton <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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