Hallelujah Band, The

AKA

Lyrics

JB Geoghegan

Music

JB Geoghegan

Roud

RNV10010

Version 1:  According to the broadside “written, composed and sung by JB Geoghegan, republished by kind permission of the author.”

 Oh! Have you seen the sect, so religious and select,
 Whose mission is to glorify the land,
 It’s a blessed call I got, and I joined the happy lot,
 And they christened us the Hallelujah Band,
 You should catch us unawares, when we’re going down to prayers,
 Or meet us parading up and down,
 With our Banners and our Flags, Barbers poles and bits of rags,
 You’d take us for some Pilgrims of renown.
  
 Singing, Oh my! Glory Hallelujah!
 England is a happy land
 We’re all in U-ni-ty and Beezlebud defy
 So join the Hallelujah Band.
 
 There’s the leader of the gang, he’s a real adept at slang,
 And he’s been a noted fellow in his time,
 He was down to every vice, Carding, Dominoes and Dice,
 And the way he worked the thimble was sublime,
 I’ve known the pious scamp, on the road and on the tramp,
 When he turned to rob a hen roost or a barn,
 And they locked him up for weeks, to mend his foolish freaks,
 But his ignorance was such he wouldn’t learn.
  
 Then the second chief we’ve got, is an antiquated sot,
 The Brothers call him barrel-bellied Sam,
 He’s the biggest loafer out, yet he knows his way is about,
 And in manner he’s as quiet as a lamb,
 If you saw the fellow faint, you’d swear he was a saint,
 For he’s worse than any N****r with his eyes,
 And at drinking bless his chump, why he’d suck it like a pump,
 And he’s rosy with the women on the sly.
  
 We’ve an old converted clown, but he sadly broken down,
 For he cannot even raise a little chaff,
 And yet the fellow sticks to his silly Monkey tricks.
 Though his impudence alone, makes us laugh,
 He’s lately burnt his clothes, tattered trunk and shrunken hose,
 His manuscripts and pantomimes, a score,
 But it’s not a bit of use, he’ll be roasted like a goose,
 For he’s twenty times more wicked than before.
  
 When we want to raise the wind, as we’re very often inclined,
 We post a lot of Placards round the town,
 Just to let the people know, that we going to have a show,
 And don’t the Exhibition bring them down.
 Then we lecture on Gaols, and on life in New South Wales,
 On prisons vans, transporting hulks and chains,
 And we do it every word, for the glory of the Lord
 And we pick up lots of money for our pains.
  
 Then if you’re not ashamed of characters I’ve named,
 Stand forth and be a Brother in the corps,
 And you’ll meet with such as set, as the world has never met,
 And never will meet with any more,
 So never mind the noise, of the opposition Boys,
 But come and join the Hallelujah that we raise,
 And we’ll Liquor at the fount, near the foot Zions mount,
 And we’ll all go to glory in a blaze,
 Singing … 


Version 2 An anonymous broadside
 
 Oh boys, there is a crew, who makes such a hubbaloo,
 And declare they’re going to glorify the land,
 They go parading up and down, the streets of Sheffield town,
 And they’re known as the Hallelujah Band
 It’s like a donkey braying, to hear them sing and praying,
 They kick up such a row, understand,
 That the little children shout, as they play and walk about,
 “Oh here comes the Hallelujah Band”
  
 The leader of this set at races used to bet,
 And as I am given to understand,
 He was up to every vice, and he gambled with the dice,
 But now he’s joined the Hallelujah Band. 
 His old game he has deserted, for he says he’s been converted,
 And o’er his brothers he has got command;
 He drills them every day, and then gets them to pray,
 And sing in the Hallelujah Band.
  
 The second chief they’ve got, used to love his pipe and pot,
 And with the biggest drunkards took stand,
 But, with an old black coat, and a white rag round his throat,
 He leads up the Hallelujah Band,
 An impression for to make, sham fits he often does take,
 Then he grinds his teeth and rolls about his eye; 
 Still at drinking, I declare, he can put away his share,
 And squeezes young ladies on the sly.
  
 Then there is a well-known clown, that’s travelled up and down,
 H-r-y T--sd--e is his name, and understand
 He’s left off his Monkey ways, for more money he can raise
 By performing in the Hallelujah Band.
 At the Sheffield Temperance Hall a meeting he did call;
 He said his monkey capers were all o’er;
 He burnt his clothes, it’s true; but twixt me and you,
 He’s more wicked than he ever was before. 

A song of this name occurs on a number of broadsides, with varying words. I have reproduced two: the first is credited directly to JB Geoghegan, the second is from an anonymous broadside. Both refer to events in Sheffield concerning Harvey Teasdale, though the second one is obviously more direct in its references. Like other Music Hall songwriters, Geoghegan would vary the words to please different local audiences. I have yet to find the sheet music, but I find that singing it to the tune of Maggie May works!

I’m not aware of this song being sung by later folk singers, but I may be missing something! Kilgarriff has a song of this name in the repertoire of George Leybourne, though it’s clear that Geoghegan sang it himself as well.

My understanding is that “The Hallelujah Band” refers to evangelical, temperance musicians of the Methodist variety – equivalent to the Salvation Army but with a tendency to be more evangelical.

Harvey Teasdale (1817 to 1904) was a stage performer active in Sheffield, known for his “man monkey” stage persona. In 1862 he was convicted of the attempted murder of his estranged wife, after he had attacked her with an unloaded pistol. He was imprisoned for two years, and emerged a devout Christian, joining the Hallelujah Band in Sheffield. His biography The Life and Adventures of Harvey Teasdale, the Converted Clown and Man Monkey, with his remarkable conversion in Wakefield Prison, is said to have sold over 40,000 copies. In an attempt to convince people of the sincerity of his conversion, he advertised locally that he was going to burn his effects, including his monkey costume, at the Sheffield Temperance Hall.

Sources:

• Lyrics version 1 from Frank Kidson Broadside Collection
• Lyrics version 2 from an anonymous broadside at Ballads Online
• More on Harvey Teasdale

Last Updated on January 17, 2021 by John Baxter | Published: February 28, 2020