Give me a ticket to Heaven
AKA | |
First Published | 1903 |
Writer/composer | Richard Elton / Denham Harrison | Roud | RN24990 |
Music Hall Performers | Denham Harrison, Herbert Payne |
Folk performances | Collected from the singing of: Brown, Tom; England : Norfolk; 1979 Hill, Charlie ; England : Devon ; 1980 |
Into a railway station crept a little child one night;
The last train was just leaving and the bustle at its height.
The stationmaster standing there looked down with wond’ring eyes
Upon this little maid so frail in form, so small in size.
"Where is your father little one? Are you alone," he cried
With tearful eyes she looked up in his face and thus replied,
Give me a ticket to Heaven;
That's where dad's gone, they say.
He'll be so lonely without me,
Traveling all that way.
Mother died when I was born, sir,
And left dad and me all alone;
So give me a ticket to Heaven, please,
Before the last train is gone
My daddy worked upon the line; but when I went tonight
To take his tea, he lay there on a shutter, oh so white.
Then to a great big building, his mates carried him away.
"He's booked for heaven, poor old Dick!" I heard one of them say
A station this must be. I thought to find the train I'd wait,
But finding none I ran on here. I hope I'm not too late.
The station master said: "Come little one, I'll see you right.
A ticket to your father you shall have this very night."
He took her to the hospital; they let her see her dad.
Though injured, he had not been killed, and oh her heart was glad.
Then turning to that kind friend who had brought her all the way,
She said: "If I lose dad again, I'll come to you and say:"
A sentimental Edwardian song extremely popular with amateur singers in the early 20th century and performed in numerous respectable concerts. It was recorded several times in the early 1900s but I can find no contemporary evidence of it being sung in a Music Hall or variety theatre.
It was perhaps mistakenly remembered as a “Music Hall song” for the TV program The Good Old Days (see 2nd video below) and published in at least one late 20th century collection of Music Hall songs.
Recorded by Herbert Payne in 1902:
Performed by professional opera singer Benjamin Luxon for The good old days in 1978:
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%3A24990
- Kilgarrif Sing Us
- Lyrics and Sheet Music: Music Hall Programme No 1 (1983)