{"id":8600,"date":"2021-01-28T14:11:27","date_gmt":"2021-01-28T14:11:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=8600"},"modified":"2025-12-28T08:09:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T08:09:17","slug":"show-me-the-way-to-go-home","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/show-me-the-way-to-go-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Show me the way to go home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>Show me the way to get home<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1925<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>Irving King, Hal Swain<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN7859<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Ella Shields<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Source Singers<\/strong> (1901 version)
Covington, William B. USA : N. Carolina 1913
Cox, Miss Jeanette USA : N. Carolina 1921
Buffalo, Ethel Hicks USA : N. Carolina no date
Bennett, Louise USA : N. Carolina; no date
Beasley, Antoinette USA : N. Carolina; no date
Cheek, Lucille USA : N. Carolina; no date

Source Singers<\/strong> (1925 version)
Tanner, Gid & his Skillet-Lickers USA : Georgia 1929
McConnell, Mary Alice USA : Virginia 1929-35
Michaels, Chloe USA : N. Carolina 1929-35
[Pub company] England : Sussex 1960
Hunt, Ed Canada : Newfoundland 1974
Griggs, Everett USA : Arkansas : Clinton 1975
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Show me the way to go home (The basic song by Irving King,1925)<\/strong>\nWhen I'm happy, when I'm happy, singing all the while\nI don't need nobody then to show me how to smile\nWhen I'm out upon the spree, toddling down the street\nWith this little melody everyone I greet\n\nShow me the way to go home\nI'm tired and I want to go to bed\nI had a little drink about an hour ago\nAnd it's gone right to my head\nNo matter where I roam, on land or sea or foam\nYou will always hear me singing this song\nShow me the way to go home<\/em>\n\nOld King Cole was a merry old soul.\nA merry old soul was he.\nCalled for his pipe and he called for his bowl,\nAnd he called for his fiddlers three.\nWhen they'd had a high old time,all the whole night through\nwhat was it that King Cole said, and his fiddlers too?\n\nAdditional verses as sung by Ella Shields from monologues.co.uk<\/strong>\nOld Mother Hubbard she went to the cupboard\nTo get her daughter a dress\nWhen she got there, the cupboard was bare\nAnd so was the daughter, I guess\nWhen the daughter heard the news, she had an awful fright\nWearing just a great big smile she cried with all her might\n\nCrosswords here, crosswords there, everywhere I see\nPeople doing puzzles.Oh, what can the matter be?\nSpooning with a girl last night, she cried with a sigh\n\u201cWhat's the word for \u2018let's get wed'? So I made this reply\n\nSome folks say, eat more fruit, some folks, eat more meat\nOthers say, what's wrong with fish? and how's your poor old feet?\nI think that's a waste of time, you must with me agree\nEveryone should sing more songs, Sing this one with me\n\nShow me the way to get home (<\/strong>Chorus only, Murray\/Berry 1906)\nMr Copper will you show me the way to get home,\nI'm tired and I want to go to bed\nI drank some gin about an hour ago,\nAnd it's done gone to my head\nWell there ain't no other person going down my way,\nAnd I'm afraid to go home alone,\nSo there's only one favour I'll ask if you,\nJust show me the way to get home. \n\n\nShow me the way to go home babe (Morrow\/Herbert 1901)<\/strong>\nShow me the way to go home babe \nShow me the way to go home, \nI'll be just as good as I can, babe \nAnd never more will I roam\n\nShow me the way to go home babe \nShow me the way to go home, \nI've been drunk these last six months, \nSo show me the way to go home.<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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An international hit song from the 1920s with a chorus still well known throughout the English speaking world. There are a huge number of variations of the song, and where they include anything other than the chorus, most have the basic two verses from the “Irving King” version given above. After that, just about anything goes, and the additional verses vary a great deal. The chorus itself may well be derived from an earlier ragtime song, as explained below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The song and its predecessor(s) have appeared in the repertoire of traditional singers on both sides of the Atlantic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Show me  the way to go home <\/em>was a big hit for Ella Shields<\/a> in the British Music Halls, but it was recorded by dozens of artists internationally so its success did not come from the Halls alone. It was played  by dance bands on both sides of the Atlantic, sung by comedians and crooners all over the world, and appears to have been particularly enthusiastically adopted by musicians in the southern United States. It seems that if you lived somewhere in the English-speaking world in the year 1925 it would be difficult to avoid hearing this song. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Its generally agreed that the song was written by young Londoners Jimmy Campbell and Reg Connolly, who together used the pen name Irving King. Many sources also credit Hal Swain, a Canadian jazz musician who played and led a number of dance bands in the UK in the 1920s and 30s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At least one source claims that the song was composed\/written by Canadians Margaret Toohey and Harold Bradley – and sheet music credited to them was published in 1925. From the information I have it appears that these authors wrote different verses and described their very similar chorus as being “adapted from a familiar air “<\/em>– an acknowledgement that their chorus was older than the verses. However, no other sources that I can find give any credence to their claim and it does not seem to have influenced later singers, so for now I will put this to one side and return to Campbell and Connelly\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Under the headline “\u00a31000 a minute song  writing”<\/em>,  a British newspaper report, written 9 months or so after the song was published, confirms that Hal Swain had some initial input and describes the origins of the song:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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After thinking hard for 20 minutes one night last January while on a train journey to London, Mr Jimmy Campbell sketched the words and music of the chorus which promises to bring himself and his collaborator, Mr Reg Connolly, the very satisfactory reward of \u00a320,000. The finished product of that initial effort is known to millions in all parts of the world\u2026 Show Me The Way to go Home.<\/p>\nDaily Mail Atlantic Edition, October 23, 1925<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
The article goes on to suggest that “knowing the British public’s weakness for American dance songs, the writers cunningly employed a name of Transatlantic flavour \u2013 Irving King”<\/em>. So confident were Campbell and Connolly that they launched their own publishing business in order to print the sheet music – at the time of the article’s publication they had already sold 750,000 copies. The input of Hal Swain is not particularly clear, but according to Jimmy Connolly:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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It was Mr. Hal Swain … who made the suggestion to us originally for the song. It lay dormant in both our minds from the autumn of last year to the night of the fateful journey.<\/p>\nDaily Mail Atlantic Edition, October 23, 1925<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
It is tempting to speculate about the idea was that was “lying dormant” -could it have been an outline of the chorus??….<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The chorus bears a striking similarity  to several fragments of African American song collected earlier in the 20th century. The fragments can be found in  the Frank C Brown Collection, and most of them were collected between 1900 and the early 1920s (but see footnote). They tend to follow a verse structure associated with the Blues, for example this one from the singing of William B Covington in 1913: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Show me the way to go home babe 
Show me the way to go home, 
I’ve been drunk these last six months, 
So show me the way to go home.<\/p>\nFrank C Brown Collection Vol. 3<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Digging deeper, most of these fragments seem to be derived from one or other of two earlier song written for American black-face  entertainers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n