Glossop Road

AKA	The Girls Up Glossop Road The girls along the road The girls up the road

Lyrics

JB Geoghegan

Music

JB Geoghegan

Roud Index

RN13158

I’m just in the vein to sing a little strain so pin your attention down,
To a tale I’ll tell of a Hallamshire swell I shall introduce as Brown.
He was in the Rifle Corps an’ I mustn’t say more to you that listens to me ode.
Do the thing that’s right all on a Sunday night with the girls up Glossop Road.

With the girls up Glossop Road, with the girls up Glossop Road
Do the thing that’s right all on a Sunday night with the girls up Glossop Road.

Now Brown was a spark, rather fond of a lark, and a married man though not chaste,
And little he cared how his own wife fared if another girl took his taste.
So himself he dressed in his regimental best, and proud as a peacock strode,
Admiring the curls, crinolines and pearls of the girls up Glossop Road.
Of the girls up Glossop Road, of the girls up Glossop Road,
Admiring the curls etc.

Well he accosted a fair with dark wavy hair, blue boots and a red leather belt,
And he smiled and he talked as they onward walked, endeavouring her heart to melt;
Then this sly volunteer gave a wink and a leer, enquiring her name and abode,
And he felt as grand as a lord of the land with the girls up Glossop Road.
With the girls etc.

Well at length Mr Brown and this girl settled down in a neat little inn close by,
Where he ordered a drain of draught champagne and a quarter of a cold pork pie;
Then he huddled and pressed, close cuddled and caressed and kisses he gave her a load,
And he fell upon his knees just as swoony as you please with the girls up Glossop Road.
With the girls etc.

Now, this quaint little man had scarcely begun his love tale out for to pour,
When who should he see but his own Mrs B peeping at the parlour door.
With the bound of a bear she fastened on his hair, crying as her anger rose,
“I’ll tear away your eyes if you come to exercise with the girls up Glossop Road.
With the girls etc.

So to set the matter right the women had a fight and a right old-timer up and down;
They smashed to smithereens hats, gowns and crinoleens, and then they went to work on Brown.
Well he was jolly well thrashed and his head got smashed, and the crowd their anger did bestow,
And his fine uniform went to blazes in the storm with the girls up Glossop Road.
With the girls etc.

So a lot of the police, ’cos they’d broken the peace, took Brown to the Town Hall cells,
Where he had to ruminate on his unlucky fate with many other fast young swells,
And his wife ran away the very next day, and the close of this little episode,
He’s a volunteer still, but he never goes to drill with the girls up Glossop Road.
With the girls etc.

Another song by JB Geoghegan, with a very specific link to Sheffield…where Geoghegan was working in the early 1860s ( 1860-64.). Before he became a full-time manager and occasional chairman in the halls, Geoghegan was known as a comic singer, so it’s quite likely he sang this one himself.

It was collected in Devon from singing of Ken Hinchliffe in 2007. Ken learnt it from the singing of Mary Butler at the Royal Hotel, Dungworth. (If you drive up Glossop Road from Sheffield, you’ll soon come across the turning for Dungworth). The song is heard regularly in sessions in and around Sheffield

The song is also remembered in a form which doesn’t specify the locality, as “The girls along the road” or “The girls up the road” and it seems likely that this was a song designed to be adapted to any locality. It’s been found in a number of broadsides, but I can’t find evidence that this (anonymized) version has been collected from any source singers. In this form it’s fairly well-known in the Irish folk tradition.

Sources

• Yorkshire Garland group: lyrics, story, recording and score of Glossop Road song
• VWML records of The Girls Along the Road
• Ray Padgett sings it:

The girls along the road sung by the Irish Rovers: