{"id":3536,"date":"2020-06-15T18:18:14","date_gmt":"2020-06-15T18:18:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=3536"},"modified":"2020-10-23T10:28:38","modified_gmt":"2020-10-23T10:28:38","slug":"im-afraid-to-come-home-in-the-dark","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/im-afraid-to-come-home-in-the-dark\/","title":{"rendered":"I’m afraid to come home in the dark"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>Afraid to go home in the dark
Awfully afraid
Afraid of the dark
Afraid to come home in the dark<\/td><\/tr>
First published<\/td>1906<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Lyrics<\/strong><\/td>Harry Williams<\/td>Music<\/strong><\/td> Egbert Van Alstyne <\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN15750<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>May A Bell, Della Fox, May Irwin, Ella Retford, Elizabeth Murray, Hetty King, Maisie Scott, May Vokes<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Source singers <\/strong>
WE, 1929, Washington, USA
Mrs Olive Coberley, 1959, Missouri, USA
Frank Bond, 1965, Hampshire, England
James Goodchild, 1976, Hampshire, England<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Jonesie married Mabel, a wise owl was he\nHe told his wife he never drank a stronger thing than tea\nBut after honeymooning, at night he stayed away\nAnd for a week he never got home till the break of day\nAt last poor Mabel asked the reason why\nSaid Jones, 'I'm going to tell the truth or die,\n\nMabel dear, (sh) listen here, I'm afraid to come home in the dark\nEvery day the papers say, 'A robbery in the park'\nSo I sit alone in the Y.M.C.A. singing just like a lark\n'There's no place like home' but I couldn't come home in the dark.'\n<\/em>\nThat night after dinner, he bade his wife adieu\nSaid she, 'Oh, no, it's dark and so I'm going to come with you.'\nBut somehow Jonesie shook her, for he was as smooth as silk\nHe got home just in time to meet the man that brought the milk\nHis wife stood waiting for him on the stair\nWhile Jonesie and the milkman sang this air.\n\nShe kissed him good morning, to see him she was glad\nAnd when she tucked him up in bed, says Jones, 'I guess I'm bad'\nNext day, the same old story - he came home just at dawn\nBut he got sober right away when he found she was gone\nAt noon he heard her slam the garden gate\nSaid she to Jonesie, 'Is my hat on straight?'\n\nHubbie dear, (sh) listen here, I'm afraid to come home in the dark\nEvery day the papers say, 'A robbery in the park'\nSo I sit alone in the C.A.F.E. singing just like a lark\n'There's no place like home' but I couldn't come home in the dark.'<\/em><\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
A big hit, originally written for the Broadway Musical A Knight for a Day<\/em>, remembered by many in the UK for the version that the “male impersonator” Hetty King <\/a>was still singing on stage in the 1960s. In fact it was a song which featured in the repertoire of many popular singers in the early 1900s, both male and female.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n