I can’t forget the days

I'm not so young as I used to be, when I was in my prime,
But you can have a bit on 'Mouldy Martha' every time;
I've had my share of married life
And kind of settled down,
And when ever I get the gladeye from the pot-man at the 'Crown'

Oh, I can't forget the days when I was young,
And it don't seem so very long ago;
I was happy, blythe and gay,
I could drive dull care away,
Oh, I can't forget the days when I was young.

I've had my share of married lor lummy, not 'arf, what, oh!
But my poor Bill went up aloft, a couple of years ago,
And when I scrub the bedroom out,
And gaze beneath the bed,
At the lavender trousers that he wore the morning we got wed;

Oh, I can't forget the days when I was young,
And it don't seem so very long ago;
When I sit for hours and stare,
At those trousers on the chair,
Oh, I can't forget the days when I was young.

Of course you know I'm not the flapper now that I used to be,
But you all understand me and I think you'll agree with me,
It's not the youngest fruit that makes the sweetest jam.
And there's many a bit of frozen mutton tastes as good as lamb,

Oh, I can't forget the days when I was young,
And it don't seem so very long ago;
When I was twenty two,
Well, that's nothing to do with you,
Oh, I can't forget the days when I was young.

A song written by Worton David and   Sam Mayo, performed in the Halls both by Marie Lloyd and Ada Reeve. It was remembered by a local newspaper correspondent in 1930 as an “old song” – 11 years after it was first published. Perhaps the subject matter made it feel like an older song than it actually was?

Ada Reeve (1874-1966) was a comic in the halls and an actor in musical comedies. Born in London to parents of Dutch and French Jewish origins, she began her professional career as a child actress in pantomime at the age of four, making her Music Hall debut as a solo performer 10 years later in 1888. In the 1890s and 1900s she played leading roles in musical comedies in South Africa, Britain, Australia and America. During World War I she entertained the troops in UK and abroad and was particularly associated with her wartime hit The long, long trail. Between 1917 and 1936 she lived and worked in Australia, regularly appearing in the Tivoli Music Hall Melbourne, though she still occasionally toured. She returned to England in 1936 and continued to appear in variety theatre and television.