This song reflects racist, misogynist and/or colonial ideas that were commonplace at the time it was first written and performed but are no longer acceptable today.
| AKA | My name is Ha Sing |
| First Published | 1875 |
| Writer/composer | GW Hunt | Roud | RN44873 |
| Music Hall Performers | Henri Clark |
| Folk performances | Collected from the singing of: Putnam, Sue ; USA : New York ; 1941 |
From Sheet Music (personal copy)
My name Sin-Sin come from Chiney,
In a big large ship come along here,
Wind blow welly much, kick rip a bobbery,
Ship makey Chinaman feel welly queer;
Me bringey lilly gal welly much nicey,
She come along to be my wife,
She say she lovey me, oncey, twicey,
Make a big swear to all her life!
Me likey bow-wow, welly good Chow-Chow,
Me likey lilly gal, she likey me,
Me fetchey Hong-Kong whitey man come along,
Take a lilly gal from poor Chinee!
Me come along take welly nice placey,
Nice lilly house down Petticoats Lane,
Man name Mosey, welly much closey,
Chop-Chop all day sell 'em all again;
Me stop along me -lilly gal wifey,
Welly happy Chinaman me no care,
Me smoky-smoky, gal talkee,
Chinaman and fifty gal welly jolly pair,
One day me say by-bye lilly while,
Chinaman go and fetchy nice bohea,
Me go along bring half an ounce of "one and four,"
Chinaman welly fond of good cup o' tea,
Me 'o down stairs take a lilly walkee,
By an bye lilly while me comey back,
Den find a whitey man an lilly gal a talkee,
Kissy-kissy lilly gal give a lot o "smack"
SPOKEN: Chinaman likee kiss him lilly girl himself me takey large piecy sticky z-lve him whackey-whackey on him backey, whitey mam give me largey bootey-kick on me shin-legey rim away with lilly gal— savey?
Chorus
Me runny down stairs looky after lilly gal,
No no lilly gal Chinaman find,
Me runny long street, too muchey lilly boys,
Come along runny after Chinaman behind;
Pleecyman come say, me make a bobbery
Me asky lilly gal - he makey face,
Catchee me along show me station housey,
Lockee up a Chinaman in welly bad place.
SPOKEN: Chinaman no want station housey, Chinaman want him lilly gal, heno get lilly gal, he get one month twicey over for doing nothing too much, Chinaman no likey Pleecyman, Pleecyman welly nicey boiled —
Chorus
A song written by the prolific songwriter GW Hunt and performed by the comic Henri Clark. It drew its humour from Chinese stereotypes – Clark appeared in costume singing in pidgin English. It was one of a series of caricatures presented in an entertainment called: Nationalities and Comicalities, Round the World in Thirty Minutes.
The notices show that Clark was appearing in three different London Halls each evening…
The song also featured in JR Planche’s 1876 pantomime King of the Peacocks and was very popular amongst amateur British singers in the late 19th century.
It was collected in 1941 from the singing of Sue Putnam in New York .
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%3A44873
- Ballad Index
- Mudcat Thread
- Kilgarrif Sing Us
- Lyrics:
- Sheet Music:
- British Newspaper Archive:
Last Updated on March 14, 2025 by John Baxter | Published: March 14, 2025
