Golden Wedding, The

AKA
First Published 1886
Writer/composer Harry Adams / Charles Godfrey Roud RN10692

Music Hall Performers Charles Godfrey
Folk performances Collected from the singing of:
Green, Harry ; England : Essex; 1968
Smith, Tom ; England : Suffolk; no date (but 1960-1987)		 

From Sheet Music

This morning at breakfast said I to my wife,
"But one "Golden Wedding" we see in a life,
'Tis now fifty years since the Clergyman said,
In that clear ringing voice, with this ring, I thee wed!" 
"So it is, so it is said my dear old wife Jane,
"Let us have our old wedding day over again!"
Off we went to the Church, with our cheeks all aglow, 
And the same love at heart as we had years ago,

Oh for the golden visions, Oh for the crimson glow, 
Oh for the golden day-dreams, fifty years ago,
Oh for the fairy voices, and the songs they used to sing, 
Telling of heavenly joys, my boys, found in the golden ring!

The service was ended, we passed through the door, 
And into the buttercup meadow once more,
I plucked Jane a bunch, and she asked for a pin, 
Which I gave, and she fastened them under her chin; 
We strolled by the stream, then our footsteps retraced, 
And my arm slyly stole round the old lady's waist,
I gave her a squeeze, but she did not cry,"oh!" 
As she did about two score and ten years ago!

We reached the old homestead, and then went inside, 
But no banquet awaited the bridegroom and bride, 
My thoughts wandered back to the hour of my joy, 
When I opened my arms for my dear baby boy,
The happiness Heaven has promised to men,
Cannot be compared to my happiness then,
It seemed the whole world was without an alloy,
I'd no eyes, I'd no thoughts that were not for my boy,

(SPOKEN) My mind conjured up the whole scene in an instant; I can see him now as I saw him then standing at the Cottage door wishing his mother "good- bye," and saying "good-bye, dada, England requires soldiers to sustain her honour, you would not have me called a coward and a traitor." That was the last time we ever saw the poor boy alive.As I thought of it the tears ran down my silly old cheeks, and I felt two loving arms steal round my neck,and that dear old voice that had cheered me on through all these years murmuring,
[Chorus]

A sentimental piece from the 1880s combining elements both of the typical love-songs and patriotic songs of the period. It appeared widely in cheap song books and broadsides in the late 19th century. It was made famous by the performer Charles Godfrey, whose brief biography appears below.

In the later 20th century, it featured in the repertoire of two traditional singers in south-east England: Harry Green and Tom Smith.

Charles Godfrey (real name: Paul Lacey, 1851-1900) was sometimes described as a “sketch artist”, sometimes as a “descriptive vocalist”. This latter term was usually reserved for performers like Leo Dryden who presented their songs en scena – i.e. in full costume, sometimes with elaborate sets and supporting cast. Godfrey first performed as an actor in melodramatic plays, but made the switch to the Halls in the mid 1870s, starting out as a “lion comique” before achieving fame with a combination of flag-waving patriotic material and comic songs like Hi Tiddly Hi Ti.

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