I do like to be in good company

AKAGood Company
First Published1922

Writer/composerRP Weston and Bert LeeRoudRN13680

Music Hall PerformersErnie Mayne
Folk performancesCollected from the singing of:
Spicer, George ; England : Sussex : 1972
Palmer, Freda ; England : Oxfordshire : 1978
I do like to be in good company
Words and music by RP Weston and Bert Lee (1922)

I am a sport always was a sport
You can bet your life that I’m a real good sport!
Once on a train I met a racing clique
I said, when they showed to me the three card trick:

I do like to be in good company!
Good company for me!
Dear old pals, jolly old pals,
All in harmony!
When they’d done me down for my last half a crown
Thro the window they pushed me
In a cattle truck I fell, full of pigs, I said “Well
I’m in good company!


Not long ago, things were rather slow,
So I paid up a bob to see the waxwork show
I fell asleep, woke up from my nap
Shouting when I found myself in Queen Anne’s lap,

I do like to be in good company!
Good company for me!
Dear old pals, jolly old pals,
All in harmony!
Then sweet Joan of Arc, as we sat down in the dark
Whispered, “Oo la la oui oui!”
I shouted with delight “Oh I shan’t be home tonight
I’m in good company!
"

Last Friday night feeling gay and bright
I went up to bye bye in the pale moonlight
Crawled into bed, murmured “I do declare
This it’s not my flat at all, but I don’t care

I do like to be in good company!
Good company for me!
Dear old pals, jolly old pals,
All in harmony!
Excuse me old fruits, going to bed in my boots
Who says it won’t hold three?
On my right there’s Uncle Bill, on my left is Auntie Lil
I’m in good company!


Dear Parson Brown, near the Rose and Crown
Said one night to me when I was upside down
“You’ll never be where the Angel’s dwell
You’ll go down below my lad” and I said, “Well

I do like to be in good company!
Good company for me!
Dear old pals, jolly old pals,
All in harmony!
I’ll sit on the hob with the rest of the mob.
Browned on both sides I’ll be.
And I’ll say while being fried, Lloyd George is by my side
I’m in good company!

Another song by the prolific  Weston and Lee,  – sung originally by Ernie Mayne, but here’s a recording by traditional singer Freda Palmer in the mid 1970s:

Freda Palmer sings “Good Company” from Steve Roud Field Collection , VWML

Sources:

  • Kilgarrif Sing Us
  • Lyrics: and Sheet Music : musescore
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