{"id":4478,"date":"2020-07-30T14:21:15","date_gmt":"2020-07-30T14:21:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=4478"},"modified":"2020-10-22T19:10:33","modified_gmt":"2020-10-22T19:10:33","slug":"hobnailed-boots-that-father-wore-the","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/hobnailed-boots-that-father-wore-the\/","title":{"rendered":"Hobnailed boots that my father wore, The"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td><\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1907<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Lyrics<\/strong><\/td>RP Weston<\/td>Music<\/strong><\/td>FJ Barnes<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN16705<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Billy Williams<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Source Singers<\/strong>
Green, Bob 1967 England : Norfolk
Unknown 1930-50 England : London<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Poor Farver\u2019s feet took up half the street\nSo his boots were in proportion\nAnd the kids he\u2019d squash in a day, by gosh\nIt really was a caution.\n\nNow me and my brother, from the age of four\nUp to eleven, used to sleep and snore\nNice and cosy in a box of straw\nIn the hobnailed boots that my farver wore.<\/em>\n\nOn Lord Mayor\u2019s day, just to shout hooray\nFarver went and how he sauced \u2018em\nBut he blocked the street with his big feet\nAnd the Lord Mayor drove across \u2018em.\n\nAnd as he went a riding through the Guild hall door\nFarver fell wallop on his back, oh lor'\nAnd the crowd stopped hooraying then, for all they saw\nWere the hobnailed boots that my Farver wore.<\/em>\n\nI\u2019ve got good teeth, and it\u2019s my belief\nI must thank Farver for it\nFor if we\u2019ve got coke and we want it broke\nI pick it up and gnaw it.\n\nYou\u2019ve all got to eat a peck of dirt or more\nBefore you snuff it, it\u2019s a wise old saw\nWell I\u2019ve had my whack, I cut me teeth - oh lor'\nOn the hobnailed boots that my Farver wore.<\/em>\n\nWhen young Kate and Flo went to Southend, so\nAs money they\u2019d be saving\nFarver\u2019s boot was seen as a bathing machine\nIn it, they undressed for bathing.\n\nWhile they were undressing, they forgot, I\u2019m sure\nThe Farver\u2019d cut for his corn - oh lor'\nNow the boys are a giggling at what they saw\nIn the hobnailed boots that my Farver wore.<\/em>\n\nWe had a goat with a cast iron throat\nThough he never used to bite us\nFarver\u2019s boots he chewed, and the goat they slewed\nFor he died of appendicitis\n\nNow that goat had whiskers, and they touched the floor\nAnd when they were plaited by the kids next door\nMade the finest laces that you ever saw\nFor the hobnailed boots that my farver wore.<\/em>\n\nWe took a trip on a great big ship\nBut my farver, so misguided\nWouldn\u2019t walk about with his legs stretched out\nSo the ship it went lopsided.\n\nDown went the vessel through a hole in the floor\nAnd all \u2018cept the captain\u2019s mother-in-law\nWere saved that night, for they rode ashore\nIn the hobnailed boots that farver wore.<\/em>\n\nFarver worked one day, building ships they say\nFor the Navy down at Chatham\nAnd some German spies opened wide their eyes\nWhen his big boots they looked at \u2018em.\n\nWhen those spies from Germany his big boots saw\nThey wired to the Kaiser \u201cBuild two ships more\u201d\nWhat they thought were Britannia ships-of war\nWere the hobnailed boots that farver wore.<\/em>\n\nWhen I went to school Oh I looked a fool\nFor one day when we were drilling\nMy teacher said, \u201cToe the line, fathead.\u201d\nAnd I did, though most unwilling.\n\nSaid she, \u201cDon\u2019t keep backing through the school house door\nBut just toe the line, as I\u2019ve told you before\n\u201cOh he has towed the line\u201d said the kids with a roar\nIn the hobnailed boots that farver wore.\n<\/em>\nThe afternoon that we shot the moon\nAll the tallymen we took in\nFor we paid \u2018em nix and we moved our sticks\nWhile the landlord stood there lookin\u2019.\n\nBut my farver he walked as if his feet were sore\nAs he limped up the ally to the Old Brown Boar\nFor we\u2019d tucked the piano in the toes, oh lor'\nOf the hobnailed boots that farver wore.<\/em><\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Another RP Weston <\/a> song from the early 20th century still being sung in the later years of that century and today. It was a hit in the halls for Billy Williams <\/a> who we have come across before…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The song was recorded by the Mike Sammes Singers<\/em> on an album of Cockney singalong songs in 1960, so it may be that folks are remembering that version.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(I suspect that anyone singing this song would know it was from the Halls, so I’m going to classify it as a “classic.”)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n