I love kids

First Published 1924
Writer/composer Cumberland Clark / Joe Hanna Roud RN23844

Music Hall Performers Gilbert Payne, Tom Barrasford
Folk performances Collected from the singing of:
Wheat, Maurice; England : Derbyshire; 1970		 

There are many kinds of love, as everybody knows, 
Most men love to smoke and drink and girls love pretty clothes. 
Misers love their money bags far better than their lives; 
Some wives love their husbands and some husbands love their wives.

I love kids, I love kids, I love kids, I do!
Baby boys, baby girls,twins and triplets too. 
I'd be glad if I had Just a million quid's; 
I'd have scores and scores and scores and scores and scores of kids!

How I envy married folk with families of four 
Those with eight or ten or twelve I envy even more. 
They're married people who are leading happy lives 
Hear them shout out "Welcome!" when another kid arrives.

A song written by the eccentric Bournemouth-based versifier Cumberland Clark, I love Kids was a big hit in the Halls and in various pantomimes in the 1924/25 season. It seems to have been widely sung around that time but was not particularly associated with one performer. It was recorded separately by Tom Barrasford, George Berry, and Arthur Leslie – though I have not yet found a freely available commercially recorded version to share.

The song was remembered in 1970 when Maurice Wheat sang it to collector Ruairidh Greig who has once again provided a rather wonderful recording:

Maurice Wheat Sings “I Love Kids”

Sources:

  • VWML entry
  • Kilgarrif Sing Us
  • Lyrics and Sheet Music: Feldman’s 30th song Annual, p40 (personal copy)
  • Nick Churchill (2014) Dorset’s McGonagall – Cumberland Clark Dorset Life