AKA | |
First Published | 1909 |
Writer/composer | George Formby Snr | Roud | RN43173 |
Music Hall Performers | George Formby Snr |
Folk performances | none? |
I'm a man that's fond of seeing life, and my wife, by the way She said to me 'John Willie, you shall have a holiday' She brought me up to London the sights to let me see And when we arrived at St Pancakes my wife she said to me 'John Willie, come on! mind you don't get run o'er' A lady came up to me and said, 'Have we not met before?' My wife said, 'Miss, how dare you. That's my husband so begone. You know it's mine, I found it first John Willie, come on!' She took me by the hand into the picture gallery I saw a champion picture there, it fairly tickled me It was a woman in the sea with long hair on her head I was getting interested when my wife turned round and said 'John Willie, come on! that picture makes you stare It's only Venus rising from the sea, so don't stand there I couldn't take my eyes off it, when the wife shouted 'John The tide's coming in, it's not going out John Willie, come on!' We went in Madam 'Two Swords' waxwork show, and it was grand And there we saw all waxwork kings and queens all shaking hands There was Mary Queen of Scots, and Queen Elizabeth you see And they rather took my fancy, when my wife she said to me 'John Willie, come on! It's closing time, you see The lights went out and all was dark and quiet as could be On turning round to my surprise, I found my wife had gone And I'm sure I heard Queen Elizabeth say 'John Willie, come on!' It's very nice to have a wife like mine that likes her drops She often takes me round with her to look at all the shops The other day we passed a building, it was plain to see A mother's meeting, all on men - my wife she said to me 'John Willie, come on! It's free we'll go in here The place it was a lecture hall, the speaker got a cheer When she said 'Man came from Monkeys' at me looked every one My wife said, 'She's getting personal, John Willie, come on!'
John Willie, the comic Lancashire everyman, first appeared in this song by George Formby Snr – father of the now more famous George Formby Jnr. He first performed it in 1909 and such was the success of the character that John Willie rapidly appeared in other songs, sketches and pantomimes – continuing to do so for many years. As far as I can tell this song has not appeared in the repertoire of many traditional singers, but John W does turn up as a character in comic songs by Lancashire artists like The Oldham Tinkers and Houghton Weavers.
Some early songs featuring John Willie are:
- Fetch John Willie (sung by Jack Pleasants, 1910)
- The bells were ringing (George Formby Snr, c1910)
- Where’s my John Willie? (Alice Craven, 1911)
- Have you seen my John Willie? (1914)
- John Willie’s Jazz Band (George Formby Jnr, 1924)
- Our John Willie’s Farm (Gracie Fields, 1932)
[An aside: Fred Kitchen played an earlier comic stage character called John Willie Jaggs in several of Fred Karno’s Productions, starting with Saturday to Monday in 1903, but as far as I can tell Jaggs was not from Lancashire]
The original John Willie song:
John Willie features in many Oldham Tinker’s songs.including:
Sources:
- Entries in the Roud Indexes at the Vaughn Williams Memorial Library: https://archives.vwml.org/search/all:single[folksong-broadside-books]/0_50/all/score_desc/extended-roudNo_tr%3A43173
- Kilgarrif Sing Us
- Lyrics: monologues.co.uk
- Sheet Music:
- John Willie on Mudcat
- John Willie Jaggs: Playwright Productions ‘Saturday To Monday’ | The Stage | Thursday 19 November 1903 | British Newspaper Archive; ‘The Empire | Newcastle Daily Chronicle | Tuesday 01 March 1904 | British Newspaper Archive’.
Last Updated on December 19, 2023 by John Baxter | Published: January 13, 2023