{"id":9584,"date":"2021-03-10T12:07:30","date_gmt":"2021-03-10T12:07:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=9584"},"modified":"2022-12-01T10:50:06","modified_gmt":"2022-12-01T10:50:06","slug":"ting-ting-thats-how-the-bell-goes","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/ting-ting-thats-how-the-bell-goes\/","title":{"rendered":"Ting! Ting! That’s how the bell goes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>Ring Ting<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1884<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>Joseph Tabrar<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN22792<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>George Leybourne<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
‘Toe-Rag’ England : Essex 1917
Ling, Geoff England : Suffolk 1972
Modern performances<\/strong>
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From monologues.co.uk<\/strong>\n\nNow, I'm deep in love, as I've oft been before\nNo girl, such a pearl, as the girl I adore\nAnd she is a waitress at our luncheon-bar\nWhich as a French cafe 'tis known better far\nShe waits on the swells, who come in to enjoy\nA 'sausage and mashed' or a cold 'saveloy'\nThere are bells on the table the swells have to ring\nAnd Geraldine waits on the ting, ting, ting.\n\nTing, ting, that's how the bell goes\nTing, ting, a pretty young thing\nIf you'll be my wife, then I'll buy the ring\nAnd have servants to wait on the ting, ting, ting.<\/em>\n\nOne day, while dining off chicken and ham\nI called her my darling, my own little lamb\nI asked if she'd have me, and that sort of thing\nAnd I very soon bought her the little gold ring\nThree weeks after that, well I made her my wife\nThen said I'd no money, no income for life\nThen the fair little, rare little, sweet little thing\nSaid she'd go back and wait on the ting, ting, ting.\n\nThe day we got wed, 'twas the greatest of bliss\nWhen we came from the church then I gave her a kiss\nWe went home and dined with my Mother-in-law\nWho asked us to stay and take her second floor\nWe now live as happy as happy can be\nMy wife is my joy and no trouble to me\nWe have by our fireside a hand-bell to ring\nAnd Ma-ma-in-law waits on the ting, ting, ting.<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
A song written by the prolific songwriter Joseph Tabrar, sung by the Lion Comique<\/em> George Leybourne<\/a>, towards the end of his career. Searches in Victorian newspapers indicate he was singing it in early 1883, and it was sung in several pantomimes at the end of that year. The earliest sheet music I can find is dated 1884.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
 The song was popular on both sides of the Atlantic  – in America the (identical) words and music were attributed to SW Almeron. However, it was quite common for American publishers to re-attribute songs. The earliest American publication I can find is 1886, two years after it was officially published in England.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spike Mays, in his memoir of country life in the early 20th century, Reubens Corner <\/em>recalled a person called “Toe Rag” singing it in around 1917. Keith Summers collected a fragment from the singing from Geoff Ling at the Blaxhall Ship in Suffolk in 1972 – it can be heard at the British Library Sounds collection.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
An aside:<\/strong> In searching for the song I found this record of working class electors in Hartlepool drowning out a Tory candidate by singing Music Hall and other songs. Of course, I would never approve of such behaviour (ho ho!). Proof at least, that the song was popular and sung by working class folks in the north-east two years after its debut …<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Nov. 20, 1885, Daily Gazette For Middlesbrough<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n