{"id":7891,"date":"2020-12-23T10:01:58","date_gmt":"2020-12-23T10:01:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=7891"},"modified":"2021-01-19T14:56:11","modified_gmt":"2021-01-19T14:56:11","slug":"all-the-girls-are-busy-knitting-jumpers","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/all-the-girls-are-busy-knitting-jumpers\/","title":{"rendered":"All the girls are busy knitting jumpers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>The Jumper Song<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1919<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>Weston and Lee<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN23895<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Will Evans<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Source Singers<\/strong>
Pritchard, Howard 1962 England : Gloucestershire
Chappell, Bill 1970 England : Lincolnshire<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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As transcribed on GlosTrad site <\/a><\/strong>\n \n Now Baa Baa black sheep have you any wool? \n Yes sir, yes sir, I\u2019ve three bags full. \n Then give me your \u2019ot un let your mutton go bare, \n For all the girls are busy knit ting jumpers ev\u2019ry where. \n And there ain\u2019t one that\u2019s worth three and six as a rule, \n It takes ten pairs of needles and two tons of wool. \n  \n But all the girls they\u2019re busy knitting jumpers, <\/em>\n Busy knitting jumpers all day long. <\/em>\n Can\u2019t you hear the jumper girls saying <\/em>\n \"First two plain and then two purl, <\/em>\n Knit one slip one, make a stitch and drop one.\" <\/em>\n Leave the needles in the chair, <\/em>\n So that Pa with the hump\u2019s got to do the jumpers\u2019 jump. <\/em>\n Shouting \"Jumpers, jumpers, jumpers ev\u2019ry where!\"<\/em>\n  \n Miss Jane Jones had jumpers on the brain\n Her young man said \"Wed me, Jane\"\n Said Jane \"You must wait \u2019till my jumper\u2019s done, Jack.\"\n He went away for seven years but when he came back\n She was still saying \"Two plain\" and Jack said \"Ta ta.\"\n You keep saying two plain and by gosh you are.\"\n  \n Now in the trams and buses they\u2019ll sit,\n And they knit, knit, knit, knit knit, knit, knit.\n They purchase the wool at a guinea a pound,\n And they gets a lot of little holes and puts the wool around.\n At ninepence a stitch, jumpers cost quite a lot,\n And the little holes between \u2019em cost God knows what!\n   <\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
A song from the 1920s , remembered by traditional singers 40 or 50 years later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After the Great War there was a craze in the UK for knitting, apparently people stopped knitting for the troops, and started knitting for themselves. This song was written by the prolific Weston and Lee,<\/a> and was sung in the pantomime  Cinderella<\/em> by Will Evans. The performance apparently involved a chorus line of men in drag knitting in time to the song. (See also Lloyd George of Criccieth<\/a>\u00a0)<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
You can hear Howard Pritchett sing it here on the Glostrad site<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Will Evans sings it himself:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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