Has anyone seen my tiddler?
AKA | Tommy Tiddler Has anybody seen my tiddler A song about a little fish |
First Published | 1910 |
Writer/composer | AJ Mills and FW Carter | Roud | RN13330 |
Music Hall Performers | Millie Payne |
Folk performances | Collected from the singing of: Tarling, Jack; England: Suffolk, 1995 Belton, George; England: Sussex, 1969 |
I've been a fishing with some boys today Fished in the little pond that's down our way I stood like so, and soon you know I caught a little tiddler with a nice soft row Oh how it wriggled in the jam-jar There were tears in it's eyes of blue Now I'm unhappy 'cos I've lost it So excuse me for asking you. Has anybody seen my tiddler? Tiddle, iddle, iddle, iddle, iddler I caught that little fish with some cotton and a pin Oh how I laughed when I dragged him in But coming home, Oh dear oh That rude boy Dicky Diddler He poked his fingers in my galipot And pinched my tiddler. Young Dicky Diddler who was by my side Stirred up the water and the fish all guyed And you can bet, I was upset When Dicky pushed me in the pond, my socks got wet I said 'I'm going to tell your Father And we'll soon be on equal terms' He called me names to get his own back And he collared all my worms. Soon as the tiddler came and took my hook Young Dicky Diddler gave an envious look I laughed Ha, Ha, but he went 'Yah' And tried to kick the bottom out of my jam-jar He said he'd follow me to my street And he stuck to me just like glue All of a sudden tho' I missed him And I missed my tiddler too
A song full of double entendres written by AJ Mills and FW Carter, published by Mills’ firm Star Publishing. It was a huge hit for Millie Payne.
It was remembered and sung by several traditional singers in the south of England. You can hear George Belton and audience singing it on the British Library Sound Archive site
Managers of early 20th century music halls had to tread a fine line between the desire to please the audience and the need to attract middle-class audiences and therefore appear respectable. The story of this song illustrates this tension… At the time the song was first published, both performer and publisher were clearly very aware of the nature of their song and adverts would begin with the suggestion that if you saw anything rude it was your own filthy mind, claiming that this was only “a song about a little fish”. Here’s one example of many:
A few years later, in 1913 the song was described as “indecent” in court, prompting Millie Payne to publish a densely worded half-page Open Letter in The Encore which in 12 bullet points refuted the alleged suggestion that the song was “not fit to be sung in public”. The open letter argued that the song had been performed for many years without complaint and ended once again by suggesting that “to the pure all things are pure!”. The decency or otherwise of the song was not central to the court cases, and as far as I can tell the judge did not describe the song as being “not fit to be sung in public” so its hard not to see this as opportunistic publicity to boost a song already a few years old.
One case in which the song was mentioned involved Walter Gibbons, one-time booking manager for a group of Halls trading as London Theatre of Varieties. He was trying to retrieve money he felt owed by his former employers. At the same time case of unfair dismissal was being pursued against the same firm by Charles Read, former booking manager for the Brixton Hill hall. During the two cases both Gibbons’ and Read’s reputations came under attack- they were accused of demanding bribes in return for lucrative booking contracts and of allowing inappropriate repertoire be performed. During Charles Read’s case the following exchange took place:
A contemporary recording by Fred Harrison:
Sources:
- VWML entry
- Kilgarrif Sing Us
- Lyrics: monologues.co.uk
- Sheet Music: Feldman’s Old Time Variety Song Book No. 1 (1954) p26
- David Huxley & David James (2013) Women used to be funny: Music hall and the threat of cinema, 1911–49, Early Popular Visual Culture, 11:3, 191-204
- Special Law Reports, The Daily Telegraph, 21-25 April 1913