{"id":5582,"date":"2020-10-07T19:42:59","date_gmt":"2020-10-07T19:42:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=5582"},"modified":"2020-10-22T15:21:49","modified_gmt":"2020-10-22T15:21:49","slug":"dear-old-pals","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/dear-old-pals\/","title":{"rendered":"Dear old pals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>Dear old friends<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td> 1877<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Lyrics<\/strong><\/td>GW Hunt<\/td>Music<\/strong><\/td>GW Hunt<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN24785<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>GH MacDermott 1845-1901
Charles Chaplin senior 1864-1901
JW Rowley (1874 \u2013 1924) provincial rights only<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Source Singers<\/strong>
Tompsett, George 1960 England : Sussex
Green, Charles 1971 England : Yorkshire <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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I like my share of pleasure, and I'll have it while I can\nI love a loving woman, and respect an honest man\nI like to find true friendship in the life that's rolling by\nAnd such is always found between, my old Pal Tom and I.\n\nWe're dear old pals, jolly old pals\nClinging together through all sorts of weather\nDear old pals, jolly old pals\nGive me the friendship of dear old pals.<\/em>\n\nWe've tasted of the \u2018ups' of life, we've also felt its \u2018downs'\nSometimes our pockets held bright gold, and sometimes only \u2018browns'\nAnd be our drink bright sparkling \u2018cham', or merely humble beer\nThe grasp of friendship's been the same, through each succeeding year\n\nWe do snug little dinners, and they pass off very nice\nI put my old pal in the chair, he makes me take the vice\nWe toast her Gracious Majesty, we don't forget the \u2018gals'\nBut the toast of the evening is \u2018Success to true old pals'.\n\nIt's ever been my maxim, yes, and so it ever shall\nTo help a stranger when I can, but never desert a pal\nAnd after winning life's hard fight, what sweet reward is found\nIn a conscience clear, a heart that's light, and dear old pals around.<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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A song made famous by the Great MacDermott, but also sung by Charles Chaplin Senior and JW “Over” Rowley, who had rights to sing it in the provinces. The song was used to close every performance at the Players Theatre,  founded in 1936 by Leonard Sachs and Peter Ridgway, which staged period comedies and Music Hall performances. The Players Theatre was initially on the site of Evans’s Late Joys, and its success eventually led to the TV programme The Good Old Days<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Gilbert Hastings MacDermott (1844 \u2013 1901 ) was a newspaper seller in Islington before spending nine years in the Navy. Taking part in amateur shows aboard ship convinced him that he could develop a career in the halls , which he began in Dover playing shows for military and amateur audiences . He eventually achieved success as an actor, playwright , Music Hall and Theatre manager , agent and owner. As a performer his first hit was with The Scamp<\/em> which made fun of several alleged “scamps” including George Odger, a trade unionist who successfully use the courts to force MacDermott to change the song. Despite the legal problems, the song established him as a star of the late 1870s. He toured America in 1875\/76, and in 1877 enjoyed his greatest successes with his War  Song( The Jingo Song)<\/a><\/em>, and this one – both written by GW Hunt<\/a> who seemed to share MacDermott’s ardent Tory Nationalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The song appeared widely in songsters and broadsides of the late 19th century., It was  collected twice  in the latter part of the 20th century from traditional singers, but given the songs’ continued life on the stage , it’s perhaps unlikely that it reached the singers by oral transmission alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
 The chorus of Dear Old Friends<\/em> is often sung today as a children’s song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n