{"id":8165,"date":"2021-01-11T17:27:55","date_gmt":"2021-01-11T17:27:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=8165"},"modified":"2021-01-11T17:27:58","modified_gmt":"2021-01-11T17:27:58","slug":"were-living-at-the-cloisters","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/were-living-at-the-cloisters\/","title":{"rendered":"We’re living at the cloisters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td><\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>c1930<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>Weston and Lee \/ R Harris Weston<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN29778<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Gracie Fields<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Source Singers<\/strong>
Whyman, D 1979 : England : W. Midlands
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We've moved into a 'ouse, such a dinky little 'ouse!\nMa said it would be a crying shame\nIf we called it Number Two down the Swagger Avenue.\nOur mansion ought to have a classy name.\nThe next-door folks are calling theirs \"The Oaks.\"\nIt's \"The Maples\" over the way.\nSo down upon the gate we've got \"The Cloisters\" on the plate,\nAn' we look at it an' proudly say:\n\nWe're all livin' at The Cloisters. That's what we call out home.\nIt's clois ter The Crown. It's clois ter The Plough.\nIt's clois ter The Anchor an' The Old Dun Cow.\nThe Cloister's clois ter the brewery. We can all smell what they brew.\nAnd we shan't care tuppence when the rent day comes,\n'Cause we're clois ter the workhouse, too.<\/em>\n\nOur villa might 'ave been \"Hollywood\" or \"Ivy League,\"\n\"The Moated Grange,\" or something quite as grand,\nBut I thought \"The Cloisters\" great when I saw it on the plate,\nSo I bought it quick for fourpence second-hand.\nI screwed it on, and rubbed it till it shone,\nWhilst the neighbours call it \"Good Lor!\nIt looks all right, old bean, but what the dickens does it mean?\"\nSo I jobbed(?) it on the front street door.<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
In 1979 Roy Palmer collected a fragment of this song from the singing of D. Whyman in Birmingham. A recording is available online as part of the Roy Palmer English folk music collection at the British library<\/a> . <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The song was originally made famous by Gracie Fields, it was written by Weston and Lee with music composed by Weston’s son, Robert Harris Weston. By the 1930s when this song was popular, Music Halls still existed in some parts of the country, but working people had many other sources of entertainment so strictly speaking you might argue that this is too late to be considered to be a music hall song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gracie Fields sings it<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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