AKA | |
First Published | 1919 |
Writer/composer | Frank Leo and Sam Mayo | Roud | RN37286 |
Music Hall Performers | Sam Mayo, Jack Pleasants, Ernie Mayne, GS Melvin, Fred Barnes |
Folk performances | Collected from the singing of: Alice Kane recalled singing this song as a child in Ulster in the early 20th century |
WHERE DO FLIES GO IN THE WINTER TIME? Written and composed by Sam Mayo & Frank Leo Performed by Jack Pleasants A schoolmaster was standing in his schoolroom with his scholars Like a schoolmaster has often stood before His scholars stood before him just like scholares always will stand And like scholars used to stand in days of yore A fly flew in the schoolroom, like a fly will often fly in And it settled on the schoolmaster's bald head He flicked it off, it came back, then he flicked it off again And then the schoolmaster to all his scholars said 'Where do flies go in the Winter time? Do they go to gay Paree? When they've finished buzzing round our beef and ham When they've finished jazzing round our raspberry jam Do they clear like swallows every year? To a distant foreign clime Tell me, tell me, where do flies go in the Winter time?' An express train was running once expressedly for the people Who'd expressed a wish to go by the express And in one first class carriage, two old fellows gassing And the subject of their gas, you'll never guess It lead up to an argument, and then they started fighting And when one took his revolver out to shoot The other pulled the cord that stopped the train And when the guard walked up, he said 'Oh guard, can you end the dispute.' When Parliament was sitting once, well, when I say was sitting Some were standing up, but you know what I mean The members well remembered how Lloyd George got quite excited And the 'House' has never yet seen such a scene Bottomley, he shouted, 'Where does Britain's money go to?' And then Lloyd George in a temper quickly rose And said, There's your four Hundred pounds and other things to pay for Gentlemen, we all know where the money goes, but
A song recalled by Alice Kane (1908-2003), a song she learnt in her Ulster childhood.
Originally written and composed by Frank Leo and Sam Mayo, it was performed in a many pantomimes in winter 1919/20.
Sam Mayo can be seen performing a medley of his songs in an early film on the British Pathe site. The film includes an extract of Mayo’s answer song I Know Where the Flies Go
Jack Pleasants sings it:
Sources:
- Entries in the Roud Indexes at the Vaughn Williams Memorial Library: https://archives.vwml.org/search/all:single[folksong-broadside-books]/0_50/all/score_desc/extended-roudNo_tr%3A37286
- Kilgarrif Sing Us
- Lyrics: monologues.co.uk
- Sheet Music: not accessed
- Sheet Music Cover: © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Last Updated on November 15, 2023 by John Baxter | Published: November 14, 2023