Category: Songs

The Blighted Gardener (from de Marsan, 1870)
Sung by Harry Rickards
Music at Boosey and Co - 644 Broadway, New York

I once kept a garden, where the vegetables did grow,
But my fate is an ‘ard ‘un, you’ll say, when you know
How I loved a fair damsel, whose like I never saw;
So graceful and beautiful that I loved her far more … than all ….

My cabbages and my turniptops,
My celery and my Brokelo –
Oh! I’ll never love, no, I’ll never love
None but sweet Mary Jones

Her parents kept a beer shop, Mary served at the bar,
And used to draw custom from ever so far
With her eyes bright as diamonds, and hair black as jet,
She made me feel so funnified I'd entirely forget…  all about….  
 
When I stood at the bar, I would heave a deep sigh:
When she looked at me, I’d wink one eye;
I, one day, plucked up courage, looked as wretched as could be,
Said: “I love you sweet Mary, oh! will you have me … and all my …
 
Out of the bar-parlour rushed a sailor pell-mell,
Turned me out of the house, and shook me as well –
The naughty boys jeered me, with mud I got splashed,
Then they followed me home yes and smashed … all my ….
 
Well, she married that sailor, she is now a gay wife,
She’s left this poor gardener all wretched for life:
My sufferings and misery there is no one can tell:
I’m a melon - choly horticulturist and hereby bid farewell  … to all …

The Blighted Gardener: Cabbages and Turniptops is one of a number of songs by GW Hunt to have entered the traditional repertoire. Not to be confused with other traditional songs about gardeners, eg The bloody gardener (RN1700) or The broken-hearted gardener (RN7966). The Blighted Gardener was sung in the halls by George Leybourne and Harry Liston.

Harry Rickards (whose brief biography appears below) had great success with the song both in Australia and the United States. Rickards persuaded many leading performers to grant him the right to sing their songs in the “colonies” and this appears to be one of them. The song follows a theme familiar in both traditional and Music Hall song: a man comically failing in his attempts to woo a woman. It’s also been suggested that these songs represent the discomfort felt by many Victorian men at the emerging status of working women in those times.

Harry Rickards (1841 -1911) was the son of an engineer, but despite initially following his father’s trade, he preferred life as a performer. After some time as an amateur singing in various pubs, he successfully auditioned at Wilton’s in 1864 and rapidly became a recognised star of the London Halls. He appeared as a lion comique and his first really major hit was Capt Jinks of the Horse Marines which he started singing in around 1867. Like so many of the other stars of the day, in the 1870s he tried his hand at management but he was unsuccessful and ran up huge debts. In the 1870s and 1880s he toured America and Australia, emigrating to Australia in around 1890. In Australia he concentrated on management, and was instrumental in establishing Music Hall there.

At the moment I’ve been unable to access the full sheet music for The Blighted Gardener, but I have the words from an American song book published less than a year after it appeared in Britain.

The song has been collected twice from traditional singers in England:

• Gwilym Davies recorded Bill Train singing a song which was given the title “Brokenhearted Gardener”, but first line is “I once kept a garden where vegetables did grow” –  I  can’t access the recording but its almost certainly this song
• Brian Matthews recorded it from the singing of Alf Patching, under the title Sweet Mary Jo – the words are almost exactly as given above. You can access the recording here on the Sussex Traditions site:

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%3A7966
• Kilgarrif Sing Us
• Sheet music (cover only): Victoria and Albert Museum
• Lyrics: Henry De Marsan’s Singer’s Journal No 45 p329 (1870)
• Australian Melodist Songbook: Warren Fahey’s Australian Folkore Unit
• Gae Anderson on Harry Rickard’s repertoire
• Bratton: Jones and the Working girl in Music Hall performance and style

I've lost my pal, 'e's the best in all the tahn
But don't you fink 'im dead becos ‘e ain't
But since ‘es wed ‘e as ‘ad ter knuckle dahn
Its enufter vex the temper of a saint
‘E's a brewer's dray-man, wiva leg of mutton fist
‘An as strong as a bullick or an ‘orse
Yet in ‘er ‘ands e's like a little kid
Oh I wish as I could get ‘im a divorce.

It's a great big shame
And if she belonged to me
I'd let her know who's who
Nagging at a fellow that is six foot three
And her not four feet two.
They hadn't been married for a month or more
When underneath her thumb goes Jim
Oh isn't it a pity that the likes of her
Should put upon the likes of him.

Now Jim was class-'e could sing a decent song
And at scrappin ‘e ‘ad won some great renown
It took two coppers for to make ‘im move along
And anovver six to ‘old the feller dahn
But today when I axes would he come an' ‘ave some beer
To the door-step on tiptoe ‘e arrives
“I dares't” says ‘e “Don't shout cos she'll ‘ear
I've got ter clean the windows an' the knives.

On a Sunday morn, wiv a dozen pals or more
‘E'd play at pitch and toss along the Lea
But now she bullies ‘im a scrubbin' ‘o the floor
Such a change, well I never did I see
Wiv an apron on ‘im I twigged ‘im on ‘is knees
A rubbin' up the old ‘arf stone
Wot wiv emptying the ashes and a shelling of the peas
I'm blowed if ‘e can call ‘is-self ‘is own.

The song was collected from a source singer in the 1970s, and recalled in a book detailing a Cockney family’s singing habits in the 1930s. These may be slender links, but nonetheless it’s a song that strictly speaking might be characterised as being part of the folk tradition.

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%3A24511
• Kilgarrif Sing Us
• Lyrics: monologues.co.uk
• Sheet music: personal copy, truncated scan – to be updated when I get back in to the office which has a bigger scanner!

Gus Elen sings it:

Everywhere it's advertised, eat more fruit
I think that's a good idea, eat more fruit
In prehistoric days they used to live long lives
Why, Solomon, you all know, he had a thousand wives.

Eat more fruit, eat more fruit
Don't eat mutton, don't eat lamb
Don't eat beef and don't eat ham
Then you'll find, then you'll find
You'll live to ninety-nine before you scoot, scoot, scoot
What did eve say to Adam, that saucy little madam?
"Oh Adam you must eat more fruit."

Bertie took his Angeline out one night
Took her out to dine and what an appetite
And when he got the bill, what? Ten pounds six and three
He said to her "The next time, dear, that you come out with me."

Mrs Green and Mrs Brown strange to say
Went to church and both got married one fine day
And in two years or so, Mrs Brown had three
"I've got none" said Mrs Green, so then said Mrs B,

A song in Jack Lane’s repertoire in the UK, but also a big hit for Wee George Wood, a child star in the Halls of Australia and New Zealand. Another example of an early 20th century Music Hall song remembered by traditional singers in the latter part of the century.

I will be looking for information to construct a short biography of Jack Lane, that’s on my to-do list and will appear here. He appears to have been a Music Hall performer who was initially successful in the North and Midlands – but there must be more!

Eat more fruit is listed in Music Hall Magazine in 1982 as sung by Ernie Mayne, but I wonder if this is a mistake: Fried Fruit Fritters was a popular song of his, but I can find no other evidence of Ernie singing this one.

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%3A16221
• Lyrics: monologues.co.uk
• Sheet Music (Australian): Trove

Hunt's version
From Broadside ca1860?
 
I’m in a deal of trouble, yes!
The cause of it’s you see,
There’s some confounded fellow, who
The image is of me.
My Christian appellation’s “James”
The other fellow’s “Jim”
And they’re always taking him from me,
Or else taking me for him
 
But only let me catch him
By jingo if I catch him,
Oh shouldn’t I like to catch him,
That fellow that looks like me.

When out I’m often stopped and asked,
Some long account to pay,
And though I tell them I’m not him
They don’t care what I say,
Whilst walking with the girl I love,
Alas! I’d not gone far,
When a woman brings a babe to me,
And says ‘There! Kiss your Pa!’
 
SPOKEN: A splendid joke that, before ones affianced too, I said “Remove this infant immediately!” “Oh!” she says, “Don’t be cross Jim!
 
[Chorus]
 
I was out strolling the other day,
In peaceful frame of mind,
When I received to my dismay,
A terrible blow behind.
To see whom my assailant was,
Of course I soon turned round,
When my nose ran up against a fist,
And I went to the ground.
 
SPOKEN: To find an old gentleman in a towering passion saying “You rascal how dare you make love to my daughter,” Me? It’s not me! “It must be that other fellow Jim”
 
[Chorus]
 
Twas only yesterday I called,
To see my intended bride,
When oh! She told me such a tale.
I thought I should have died,
For when she opened the door she stared,
And as I gave her lips a smack,
Said she: “Why what has happened dear?”
and “What has brought you back?”
 
SPOKEN: “Brought me back love? Why I haven’t seen you for two whole days” – “You haven’t” says she “Well then someone the image of you’s been here kissing me” – that Jim again-
 
[Chorus]
 
Of course I’d like to marry, but
I really feel afraid,
For fear some very awkward kind of
Mistakes might be made.
I must linger in my misery,
Anxiety and woes,
Until this other fellow Jim
Turns up his wretched toes


As sung by Tony Pastor "to great applause" from a broadside ca1860-70
In sad despair I wander,
My heart is filled with woe,
When on my griefs I ponder,
What to do? I do not know;
For cruel fate does on me frown,
And the trouble seems to be,
There's another fellow in this ere town
That's just the image of me.

Oh! wouldn't I like to catch him,
Whoever he may be,
Oh! wouldn't I give him particular fits
That fellow who looks like me

With a lady fair I started,
To the Central Park to go,
But was stopped in the streets by a man,
Who said: Pay this bill you owe;
In vain I said, I know you not,
He wouldn't let me free
Till a crowd came round and the bill I paid,
For the fellow that looks like me. 

The other day--while walking
Through a narrow street up town,
I was seized by a man in a rage,
Who said: I've caught you Mr. Brown;
You know my daughter you have wronged,
Though this gal I never did see,
He beat me till I was black and blue,
For the fellow that looks like me.  

One evening I sat sparking
A girl as dear as life,
When a lady who had just dropped in,
Says: Brown how is your wife;
In vain I said I'm a single man,
Though married I wish to be,
They called me a swindler and kicked me out,
For the fellow that looks like me. 

Unto a ball one night I went,
And was just enjoying the sport,
When a Policeman grabbed me by the arm,
Saving: You're wanted down at court;
You're escaped me twice but this ere time,
I'll take care you shan't get free,
So I was arrested, and dragged to jail,
For the fellow that looks like me.

I was tried next day, found guilty, too,
And about to be taken down,
When another Policeman then brought in,
The right criminal, Mr. Brown;
They set me free and locked up him,
Oh! he was a sight to see,
The ugliest wretch that ever I saw,
Was the fellow that looked like me. 

The fellow that looked like me appears to refer to three distinct comic pieces performed in the Halls:

• a Music Hall song probably written in the early 1860s by GW Hunt – a prolific professional songwriter active 1860-90. A song that was popular at the time but seems to have largely disappeared.
• a song written in America, credited to John Poole, probably in the mid-to-late 1860s, that became very popular in American traditional music.
• a sketch performed on the Music Hall stage in the 1890s, that may or may not have included one or other of the two songs.

Hunt’s song, with the lyrics given above, was first printed in the British Isles in 1860 – according to the dating of a broadside held by the National Library of Scotland. It also appears in Pearson’s Original London and Provincial Champion Prize Song Book (New Series No.55) which according to information provided by Chetham’s Library is most likely of to have been published between 1860-65 and no later than 1866. There then seems to be a gap in its history.

It was not until October 1872 that I can find a first record of a song called The fellow that looks like me being performed in British Isles – it appears in the Glasgow Herald in October 1872 in a notice published by “Queen’s Minstrels” – a name used by one of the troupes at one time or another called the “Original Christy Minstrels“. A song of this title remained a feature of various Minstrel shows until end of century, though its never clear which version they sang and later references may also be to the sketch/play!

By October 1875, we can be certain that Hunt’s song had become part of Henri Clark‘s repertoire – he published a weekly series of notices in The Era announcing his “Songs of the Season”:

It may be the success of Clarke’s version that prompted its apparently first official publication as sheet music, in 1876 – a copy is held in the British Library.

Later references in British publications often described The fellow that looks like me as a “sketch” or a “farce”. This might be describing Hunt’s song with its combination of singing and spoken parts, but could be referring to something more substantial (see below).

The earliest reference I can find to a song called The fellow that looks like me being sung in America , is when the “Tony Pastor” version above was published in Hooley’s Opera House Songster (1864), but I’m not completely certain of this date. The earliest sheet music I can find for the American song is dated 1866 and gives JE Poole as author. Dwight’s Journal of Music, December 1867, advertises “The fellow that looks like me: song and chorus, published by Oliver Dixon and Co”. The same song appears in Tony Pastor’s Bowery Songster in 1867. By 1868 it was also in the repertoire of the American: William “The Great” Lingard, and appeared in his Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines : Songster. Lingard was an English entertainer who emigrated to America in 1868 and immediately became a huge success on the New York stage. In the late 1870s he toured England and Australia, but remained based in America.

All these publications give Tony Pastor’s Song/version or a close variant, and it is this song that has entered the tradition in America and Canada. They all seem to have Pastor’s chorus and start with something like “In sad despair”. In January 1888, the English local newspaper , the Hampshire/Portsmouth Telegraph, published an article recalling Lingard singing The fellow that looks like me when he toured in England, and it’s reasonable to assume this was the Pastor version.

If the dates in the above paragraphs are broadly correct (it’s difficult to be completely certain) then it is possible that the American version is derived in some way from the British one by Hunt. The words are substantially different, but the verse structure is very similar, and it’s possible that they were sung to the same tune (as yet I have not accessed the sheet music for Hunt’s version so I don’t know).

From 1875 on, multiple reports appear in local British newspapers of amateur performances of The fellow that look like me, but as we can be reasonably certain that both versions had been stung on the British stage by 1875, who knows which version they were singing!

To complicate things still further, a short play or sketch with the same title, performed at the Middlesex is described in The Era in 1899:

Later 19th references to The fellow that looks like me in The Era and other British newspapers may be referring to this sketch…

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%3A2187
• Kilgarrif Sing Us
• Hunt’s song: from Ballads Online
• Broadside of Hunt’s song held at National library of Scotland
• Worldcat entry for Hunt’s song
• Tony Pastor’s version from KS Goldstein collection
• Sheet music for Pastor version (dated 1866): Levy collection
• Dwight’s journal
• http://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/LH21.html

Harry Waugh sings the Pastor version in 1949:

Original version
One night I went up in a balloon
On a voyage of discovery to visit the moon
Where an old man lives, so some people say
'Through cutting of sticks on a Sunday'
Up went the balloon quickly higher and higher
Over housetop and chimneypot tower and spire
I knocked off the Monument's top very nigh
And caught hold of the Cross of St Paul’s going by.

Up in a balloon, up in a balloon
All among the little stars sailing round the moon
Up in a balloon, up in a balloon
It's something awfully jolly to be up in a balloon.

Up, up I was borne with terrible power
At the rate of ten thousand five hundred an hour
The air was cold, the wind blew loud,
I narrowly escaped being choked by a cloud
Still up I went till surrounded by stars
And such planets as Jupiter, Venus and Mars
The Big and the Little Bear, loudly did growl
And the dog star on seeing me set up a howl.

Whilst up in a balloon, up in a balloon
All among the little stars sailing round the moon
Up in a balloon, up in a balloon
It's something awfully jolly to be up in a balloon.

I met shooting stars who were bent upon sport
But who 'shot' in a very strange manner I thought
And one thing beat all by chalks I must say
That was when I got into the Milky Way
I counted the stars, till at last I thought
I'd found out how much they were worth by the quart
An unpolite 'Aerolite' who ran 'gainst my ear
Wouldn't give 'e'er a light' to light my cigar.

Whilst up in a balloon, up in a balloon
All among the little stars sailing round the moon
Up in a balloon, up in a balloon
It's something awfully jolly to be up in a balloon.

Next a comet went by 'midst fire like hail
To give me a lift, I seized hold of his tail
To where he was going I didn't enquire
We'd gone past the moon, till we couldn't get higher
Yes, we'd got to the uppermost! Don't think I joke
When somehow I felt a great shock - I awoke
When instead of balloon, moon and planets, I saw
I'd tumbled from off my bed to the floor.

There was no balloon, there was no balloon
There were not any planets, and there wasn't any moon
So never sup too heavy or by jingo very soon
You're likely to fancy you are going up in a balloon.
 

First sung by George Leybourne, as written and composed by GW Hunt, a hit of the 1870s still remembered 50 years later by traditional singers in the United States. Leybourne was singing it as early as May 1868, though it was not published until 1869 (The Sunday Times May 10, 1868).

The song was widely published in broadsheets and songbooks in the late 19th century, and only rarely credited to Hunt, much to his annoyance! It’s been suggested that the song’s success was a result of a public obsession with balloons after 102 people used 66 balloons to escape from the Siege of Paris(1870-71) and after the first Aeronautical Exhibition was held at Crystal Palace.

Almost every song that achieved a degree of success in the halls at that time would be rewritten in a “ladies version “. In the 1840s and 1850s ladies’ versions were often written to “spare their blushes ” but as time went on the ladies’ version was often simply an opportunity to benefit from the success of the original song . In this case I can’t see very much that’s offensive in the original version, so we have to assume that the ladies’ version, written by Agnes Power for her daughter Nellie Power to sing, was an attempt to cash in. We might draw similar conclusions about the third version that was written for American audiences by HB Farnie. The Ladies’ Version Starts with:

Some  time ago I,  with dearest Papa,
Went down to a fete and fancy bazaar,
At the great Crystal Palace, a very fine day,
And the gardens were filled with the great and the gay;
Among other sites on that fine afternoon,
Was a Captain’s ascent in his giant Balloon
A handsome young fellow and brave to be sure,
Such a Beau as the ladies must really adore

[spoken: As he went…]
Up in a Balloon, girls, up in a Balloon,
Sailing through the air, on a summer afternoon,
Up in a Balloon, girls, up in a Balloon,
What a happy place now to spend your honeymoon.

archive.com

Nellie Power (1854-87) was an early female serio-comic, the 1st to have success with The Boy I Love is up in the Gallery, later a huge success for Marie Lloyd. Her other best-known song was Lardy-Dah! She was considered very daring, as she dressed as a (male) jockey. Cross dressing was one way in which Music Hall performers challenge the rigid moral codes of the day.

The chorus lives on as a children’s song, popularised by Canadian folksinger Alan Mills.

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%3A4882
• Kilgarrif Sing Us
• Original Lyrics: monologues.co.uk
• Sheet music: Levy Collection
• Sheet music for Ladies Version: archive.org
• Christopher Pulling: They were singing

Alan Mills sings the chorus:

An old man gazed on a photograph
In a locket he'd worn for years
His Nephew then asked him the reason why
That picture had cost him tears
'Come listen' said he, 'and I'll tell you lad
A story that's strange but true
Your Father and I, at the school one day
Met two little girls in blue,'

Two little girls in blue, lad
Two little girls in blue
They were sisters, we were brothers
And learned to love the two
And one little girl in blue, lad,
Who won your Father's heart
Became your Mother, I married the other
But now we have drifted apart.

'That picture is one of those girls' he said
'And to me she once was a wife
I thought her unfaithful, we quarrelled, lad
And parted that night for life
My fancy of jealousy wronged a heart
A heart that was good and true
For two better girls never lived than they
Those two little girls in blue,

An immensely popular sentimental song from the 1890s by New Yorker Charles Graham, written when he was a member and stage manager of the Al G Field Minstrels. Many have noted its similarity in musical style and content to that other great sentimental hit of the 1890s After the Ball, published in the same year. Two Little Girls in Blue was in the repertoire of the Moore and Burgess Minstrels who may have been the first to perform it in Britain. But whoever gave the song its British debut, in the Halls it was Lily Burnard who first made it a hit. Her management were quick to post notices in The Era boasting of her “grand success” with the song- though they suggested the song was written by a Mr Glenroy of New York – prompting the response below:

The song was widely performed by other Music Hall artistes, classical singers and amateurs throughout the 1890s. It was popular amongst traditional singers in the USA in the first half of the 20th century, but if it was sung by traditional singers of the British Isles in that period it was ignored by the folksong collectors. In the second half of the 20th century, when folksong collectors in the British Isles tended to collect everything sung by traditional singers, it appeared to be equally popular on this side of the Atlantic.

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%3A2793
• Kilgarrif Sing Us
• Lyrics: monologues.co.uk
• Mainly Norfolk
• American sheet music 1893: Duke University
• UK Sheet Music (shown): Personal Copy
• Burnt Cork and Tambourines
• The Era (London) various dates

Bradley Kincaid sings it:

Napoleon talks of war, boys,
And boasts his mighty force;
But vain his aim, despite his name,
To ride the world's high horse,
While waters wash shore, boys, Our own we will retain— 
We've swept the seas before, boys, And so we can again.

And so we can, so we can,
So we can again,
We've swept the seas before, boys,
And so we can again.

Napoleon talks of war, boys,
And of his fleet does boast;
He thinks it is quite easy
For to land upon our coast.
But let those Frenchmen try to come
Across the briny main;
We have swept the seas before, boys,
And so we can again.

Napoleon talks of war, boys,
His threats no fear imparts;
He may have money, ships, and men—
But has he British hearts?
And should the eagle soar, boys,
To lord it o'er the main,
We've clippd his wings before, boys,
And so we can again

Napoleon talks of war, boys,
But at him we can smile,
Recalling back those glorious deeds—
Trafalgar and the Nile.
With Waterloo, and more, boys,
On many a well-fought plain,
We've beat the French before, boys,
And so we can again.

Napoleon talks of war, boys,
Though perhaps he did intend
To strike—and yet he's not the first
Who's turnd to strike his friend.
But shoud his cannon roar, boys,
Undaunted we'll remain;
We've beat such foes before, boys,
And so we can again

Napoleon talks of war, boys,
But let him bear in mind,
That England, Ireland, and Scotland,
In union they are joined.
And the freedom that we boast of,
Those countries will maintain,
We've beat the world before, boys,
And so we can again.

Most folksongs about Napoleon are about Napoleon I, this one is about Napoleon III. It was collected from source singers during the early 20th century: once by Cecil Sharp from the singing of Walter Wilcock and once by Clive Carey from the singing of a Mr George. Sharp includes the note: evidently a “patriotic” song sung in the halls.

Sharp was correct – this is one of a number of nationalistic songs (often labelled “patriotic” on songsheets etc) written by JB Geoghegan – he seemed to have great success with this type of song. This one was very widely printed on broadsides and cheap song-books in the 19th century. Others include: England with all thy faults I love thee still, Volunteers rouse & be ready, The Name of England, etc. None of these seem to have had the same impact as Napoleon…

Geoghegan was advertising the song in the Glasgow Herald in late 1859 and early 1860:

The song was written at a time when the Rifle Volunteer Movement was growing rapidly. Napoleon’s nephew Napoleon III was in charge in France, and seemed intent on expanding the French empire. There were invasion fears, and newspapers like The Times and the Manchester Guardian led calls for a new defensive volunteer force. The regular British Army was spread throughout the Empire, and there were concerns that there weren’t enough troops at home to defend against a possible invasion. The Times in particular was very clear that it saw this new force as being based on the respectable elements in society: any form of conscription which would result in large numbers of trained, armed working class people was not to be desired. The continental revolutions of 1848 were fresh in the memory.

The song was very quickly adopted by these new volunteer forces, and the Glasgow Herald of July 1860 reports how the Southern Rifles cheerfully marched on to the steering strains of “Napoleon talks of war, Boys”

Searching the main London-based Music Hall paper, The Era, gives no hint of the popularity of this song, or any clue as to whether any other professional Music Hall singers had it in their repertoire. (It’s pure speculation, but this may reflect the London-centric nature of The Era – it may be worth exploring in The Magnet, a publication that focused on the Music Hall outside London but which is not available online as far as I know).

However , this was clearly a popular song , as local newspapers show it regularly featuring in amateur concerts and penny readings (entertainments that cost a penny, usually of an “improving” sort) in the 1860s and 70s – if you’re interested there’s a list at the bottom of the page.

The song is well remembered at Hunslet Rugby League Football Club, where it is the official club anthem. As the song has been around since 1859, they are probably right to claim it as the oldest club anthem in rugby league.

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%3A13260
• The oldest anthem in Rugby League
• Lyrics from Jim Dixon : Mudcat thread
• Song history: Mudcat thread#2
• Barlow, Helen: Amateurs, Brass Bands and the 1859 Rifle Volunteers ; in Music the British Military in the Long Nineteenth Century, 2013-08-02

The anthem of Hunslet RLFC

Reports of the song being sung 1860-80:

• 1864 At the annual concert of the Driffield Rifle Corps, sung by Mr Lunn, reported in the Hull Packet March 4
• 1865 At the annual farmers dinner at the Bull Inn Woodbridge, sung by Mr J Collins, reported in the Ipswich Journal February 18
• 1867 At the Working Men’s Temperance Society entertainment sung by Mr Watson, reported in the Dundee Courier November 18
• 1868 At the Aston Penny Readings, sung by Mr Shepherd, reported in Jackson’s Oxford Journal February 15
• 1868 At the Standlake Penny Readings by Mr Shepherd, reported in the Jackson’s Oxford Journal February 15
• 1869 At the Woodditton Penny Readings by Mr T Hobbs (encored) reported in the Bury and Norwich Post April 13
• 1870 At the Chippenham Penny Readings by Mr A Gittins, reported in the Bury and Norwich Post February 22
• 1871 At the Worminghall Penny Readings by Mr Stallworthy, reported in the Jackson’s Oxford Journal January 7
• 1877 At a concert for Penwortham Sunday School by Mr W Hutchinson, Preston Chronicle November 24
• 1878 Annual supper of the Wrawby Brass Band, sung by Mr C Taylor, reported in the Hull Packet January 25
• 1878 At the Emmanuelle Church Congregational T Party by Mr Hutchinson, reported in the Preston Chronicle February 2
• 1880 at an entertainment of the Literary Scientific and Mutual Improvement Society, Matfen sung by Mr balding (with much spirit) reported in the Newcastle Courant November 19

Father came into some money about a week ago
Told me to learn to ride was the proper thing, you know
From the coal-shop round the corner he went and hired a nag
Dressed me up in a riding habit and told me to hunt the stag
Father got a dozen men to help me on the filly
What a job they had, I was fairly mad
Sat me on the wrong way, and I did feel awful silly
I was looking at his tail and didn't know what to do.

The next horse I ride on, I'm going to be tied on
There was I, jumping the rails
Over the hills and over the dales
I shouted, 'Tally-Ho', the gee-gee gave a cough
It took a long time to get me on, but not so long to come off.

I went dashing through the village and bumped a brewers dray
Killed about a dozen chickens, so now they cannot lay
Then a policemen blew his whistle... he was a silly goat
As we charged him in the rummy the whistle went down his throat
Then the gee-gee saw a ditch, and soon we both were in it
Fell with such a thud, my mouth was full of mud
Then some yokels came along, in less than half a minute
Dragged me out - stuck me on the horrible horse again.

When the yokels stuck me on it, this time I had the rein
Then they gave the horse a wallop and off we went again
My left foot was in the stirrup so I began to bump
And the more I tried to bump the saddle the higher he tried to jump
Fifty miles an hour and over everything we rattled
Then, oh dear me, he threw me up a tree
Took his hook and left me there so I was fairly baffled
Where he's gone to I don't know bit I've got to walk it home.

Vesta Tilley (1864-1952) had a big hit with this song on both sides of the Atlantic in 1908. The lyrics were written by the prolific Fred Murray

In one family at least , the chorus became something of a nursery rhyme . It was collected in 1959 by Audry L. Kegel from the singing of Marilyn Simon, who remembered it from her mother-in-law, a recording of Marilyn singing it is available here.

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%3A24625
• Kilgarrif Sing Us
• Lyrics and sheet music: monologues.co.uk
• UCLA ethnomusicology archive

Helen Trix sings it:

I went to a race-course last July, far, far away
I backed a horse called 'Kidney Pie' far, far away
My horse it won, I danced with glee, I went to draw my L.S.D.
But the bookmaker, where was he? Far, far away.

My friend Jim is a fireman bold, he puts out fires
He went to a fire, last week, I'm told, 'cos he puts out fires
The flames set fire to some dynamite, where Jim went we don't know quite
But wherever he's gone he'll be alright, 'cos he puts out fires.

When my wife's mother was taken ill I pulled her through
Although I've got no doctor's skill I pulled her through
They sent for me at half past four, I went and found poor ma-in-law
Was simply lying at death's door, so I pulled her through.

I'm engaged to a charming girl and she's coming out tonight
She's eyes like diamonds, teeth like pearls and she's coming out tonight
I'll take her down a rustic dell. I'm stoney broke, it's sad to tell
So if she's got eyes like diamonds, well, they're coming out tonight.

Everything my wife gets, her sister wants
Bearskin coats and sealskin sets, her sister wants
Although she's single I may say, she copies my wife in every way
My wife had a baby yesterday - Heaven bless Lloyd George.

My boy at school an essay wrote, called the 'Bitter End'
It was a splendid anecdote called the 'Bitter End'
When teacher read it she turned white, for these were the words my boy did write
'A dog chased our tom cat last night and he bit her end.'
 

This Far Far Away, appears on Neil Lanham’s excellent Comic Songs of the Stour Valley , sung by Fred Morley. Another example of an early 20th century Music Hall song remembered by pub singers in south-east England in the 1950s and 60s.

This version of Far Far Away was published by Worten David and Sam Mayo in 1912 and was sung by Sam Mayo in the Halls. The first verse of this song follows an identical structure to another song called Far Far Away, published in 1883 (RN13851) sung at the time by Slade Murray. Both are derived from a much parodied hymn: this is explored further in the entry for the 1883 song.

The 1912 version follows the structure of the original hymn a little more closely, and Fred Morley sings it the tune most often associated with the hymn. It’s reasonable to assume that those writing the 1912 version were aware of the earlier 1883 parody, the hymn or both….

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%3A21978
• Kilgarrif Sing Us
• Lyrics: monologues.co.uk
• Comic songs of the Stour Valley, Helions Bumpstead NLCD 8, obtainable from the Oral Traditions website

A version of There is a Happy Land: source of many parodies: