Nobody’s Child (1867)

AKAI’m nobody’s child
First Published1867

Words by / Music byFrank Green / Alfred LeeRoudRNV20512

Music Hall PerformersHarry Liston
Folk performancesCollected from the singing of: none

Nobody's Child
Street Ballad:  Pearson, Printer; Chadderton Street, Oldham Road. [undated but first sung 1867]

Wherever I was born and bred 
I really can't make out, 
And whether I was born at all, 
There seems to be a doubt;
And though I wish to be myself, 
It makes me very riled,
To find that I am someone else —
In fact, "Nobody's child"

I never had a father, I never had a mother,
I'm "Nobody's child, I'm Nobody's child"
I never had a sister, I never had a brother —
In fact "I'm Nobody's child."

They found me 'neath a gooseberry bush,
At the tender age of three, 
I don't belong to "Nobody"
Yet he belongs to me:
Some horrid blunder has been made,
By somebody or other, 
And I am not myself at all,
But some one else's brother.

If I was "Anybody's" son,
My father he would be,
And if he had a son, why what
Relation's he to me?
Supposing she's my brother's aunt, 
The muddle to increase,
Why. then, that makes me out to be
My uncle's sister's niece.

"Nobody " was my father, as 
I have already said;
Nobody, so he must have been
Made up of legs and head!
Although he had no body, yet 
"As sure as eggs is eggs "
He must have been a sober man, 
Because he kept his legs.

Who's child am I? why nobody's —
Whatever shall I do?
If I belong to nobody,
Let me belong to you.
Kind ladies and good gentle folks,
Who on my suit have smiled,
Give me your hands and your applause,
For I'm "Nobody's child"

This Music Hall song from the 1860s seems to be unrelated to the Country and Western song of the same name (RN10718) which featured in the repertoire of many traditional singers on both sides of the Atlantic. It is possible that the writers of the modern song may have borrowed something of the chorus of the earlier song…

The British Isles the late 1860s saw an explosion of sentimental literature about illegitimate children – centred on the idea that society was turning its back on “Nobody’s Child”. In 1867 a hugely successful “romantic drama” called Nobody’s Child, written by Watts Phillips, premiered at the New Surrey Theatre (London). In the same year a poem also called Nobody’s Child appeared, later used as a recitation and blackface minstrel song. It started:

Alone in the dreary and pitiless street, 
With my torn old dress, and my bare, cold feet; 
All day I have wandered to and fro.
Hungry and shivering and nowhere to go.
The night’s coming on, in darkness and dread, 
And the chill sleet is beating upon my bare head.
Oh, why does the wind blow upon me so wild ?

Is it because I am nobody’s child ?
Why does the wind blow upon me so wild ?
Is it because I am nobody’s child ?
Nobody’s child !
Is it because I am nobody’s child ?

It was common for popular sentimental songs to be parodied, and this comic song makes fun of the over-used phrase Nobody’s Child itself. It was a hit for the famous comic singer Harry Liston in 1867. The Era newspaper reported Liston singing it at a benefit for  “Jolly” John Nash at The Metropolitan (London):

Dare Devil Dick and Nobody’s Child were represented by Mr. Liston. The words of the latter production are humorous beyond the ordinary run of recent comic songs, and as Mr. Liston’s personation is marked by vigour and freshness, and the chorus is easy and lively, it promises to be popular. (The Era, 29 Sep 1867)

The song was also sung in the US in the late 1860s (with almost identical lyrics) by Owen Fawcett and by performers at “The Berger Family Bell Ringer Concerts”

Sources:

Last Updated on May 26, 2025 by John Baxter | Published: May 10, 2025

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