{"id":3571,"date":"2020-06-10T19:58:15","date_gmt":"2020-06-10T19:58:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=3571"},"modified":"2020-11-02T08:57:53","modified_gmt":"2020-11-02T08:57:53","slug":"while-londons-fast-asleep","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/while-londons-fast-asleep\/","title":{"rendered":"While London’s Fast Asleep"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>While London sleeps
Slums of London<\/td><\/tr>
First published<\/td>1896<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Lyrics<\/strong><\/td>Harry Dacre<\/td>Music<\/strong><\/td>Harry Dacre <\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN21816<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Marie Tyler<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Source Singers<\/strong>
Joe Breen, nd, Newfoundland, Canada
CharlieWeeks, 1956, Nova Scotia, Canada
George ‘Pop’ Maynard, 1959, Sussex, England
Arthur ‘Cocky’ King, 1960s, Suffolk, England
Cecilia Costello, 1967, Warwickshire, England
Eddie Penfold, 1975, Sussex, England
Walter Pardon, 1985, Norfolk, England<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The greatest city of the world is London\nAt least, that's what the wealthy people say\nIt's very nice for some, who always get the plum\nI only get what people throw away\nIt's very nice for starving boys in winter\nIt's very nice to camp it out at nights\nA doorstep for a bed, another for your head\nBecause you haven't sold your blooming lights.\n\nWhile London sleeps, and all the lamps are gleaming\nMillions of its people, now lie sweetly dreaming\nSome have no homes, and o'er their sorrows weep\nOthers laugh and play the game while London's fast asleep.<\/em>\n\nThere's a lot of wealth and happiness in London\nThere's lots of starving misery as well\nThere's people good and true who can't get work to do\nWho've stolen bread, and found the prison cell\nThere's some of \u2018em can't stand it any longer\nSo, when they cannot earn an honest meal\nThey seek the riverside and jump into the tide\nBecause they're far too proud to beg or steal.\n\nNow, have you noticed some of \u2018em by daylight?\nThe good young man who leads the army band\nYour heart he wants to save, although he needs a shave\nAnd the \u201ctide-mark\u201d round his neck looks very grand\nBut see him on the Q.T. of an evening\nA-strolling round with someone else's wife\nIt takes a kid like me their little games to see\nFor I'm a chap what's seen a bit of life,\n\nThe coppers get a name for being bad \u2018uns\nI don't mean \u201cBrowns\u201d I mean the men in blue\nThey're called a shady lot, but some of them are not\nAlthough I've caught it hot from one or two\nThere's one of \u2018em has been a pal to this child\nOne night he found me dossing in the street\nHe didn't use his club, but let me share his grub\nAnd with his lamp he let me warm my feet,\n\nOne night, when it was freezing hard and snowing\nI sees a woman trudging through it all\nSo thin and poorly dressed, the baby at her breast\nWas only covered by a ragged shawl\nI followed her - I felt as how I had to\nWhen suddenly she pulls the shawl aside\nThen screams \u201cMy God, No, no\u201d and sinks into the snow\nFrom cold and want her little one had died.<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Another Music Hall song that has become part of the folk tradition, written in 1896 by Harry Dacre and performed by Marie Tyler with great success in the UK Halls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marie Tyler (1875-1905) was the daughter of a confectioner, and made her name whilst still a teenager as a male impersonator, often appearing as a principal boy in pantomime. She married fellow Music Hall performer  Leo Dryden<\/a>, who despite his best efforts, built a career largely on the strength of one song: The miners dream of home<\/em>.  Tyler’s performance of While London’s fast asleep went down exceptionally well according to her first review in The Era:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The Era <\/em>March 21, 1896<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
The song was written by Harry Dacre (1860-1922), who was born Henry Decker, possibly in the Isle of Man. He became a professional songwriter in Manchester in 1882, writing and selling over 600 songs in the next two years. He spent time working in the United States and Australia, eventually becoming a publisher back in the UK under the name Frank Dean. His most famous and enduring song was Daisy Bell<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n