Rawtenstall Annual fair

AKA	At Rawtenstall Fair

Lyrics

Weston

Music

Lee

Roud

23927

As written by Weston and Lee and recorded by Randolph Sutton
Just behind the gasworks down in Rawtenstall
That's a little town in Lancashire
They'd some fun up there, ee they did an all
Last Friday week they had a fair up theer
They had coconuts swings and figure eights
Switchback robots and a roundabout
Eeh and everyone said what gradely fun
When the lads and lasses heard the showman shout

Walk up walk up come and see the fat girl
Forty stone of loveliness and every bit her own
Oh what a picture with the accent on the pig
Farmers with their walking sticks were giving her a dig
But the gradely lassie didn't say that her chassis
Had been blown up with gas I do declare
She really looked lovely until a silly clown
Stuck a pin in her said the showman with a frown
All hands to the pump lass, the vessel's going down
At the Rawtenstall Annual Fair

Walk up walk up see the house of mystery
Ladies pay a tanner and be tickled in the dark
In went the women saying ee but this is cheap
Showman pulled the lever and they all fell in a heap
Through a hole they shot and when they got to the bottom
There were frills and flounces everywhere
The girls started screaming it caused a lot of strife
I never saw so many legs and stockings in my life
I saw some funny things I'd only seen upon the wife
At the Rawtenstall Annual Fair

Walk up walk up come and see the mermaid
All her life alive and half a woman half a fish
In went the fellers just to see it wasn't swank
Little Johnny Higgins poured some whiskey in the tank
Well she got so frisky when she swam in the whiskey
The first time that she came up for air
She bumped in the audience and gave her tail a swish
Her tail tumbled off and she really looked delish
She shouted what do you fancy a bit of meat or a bit of fish
At the Rawtenstall Annual Fair

Walk up walk up come and get your money's worth
See the tattooed lady with the pictures on her skin
In went the fellows and they all began to cheer
For on her skin were painted all the towns of Lancashire
On her form so pretty she had Manchester City
With the town hall stuck up in the square
She'd Bolton and Bacup and Ashton-under-Lyne
The coalpits at Wigan I thought were very fine
But they all started singing 'Daddy, Don't go down the mine'
At the Rawtenstall Annual Fair

A Music Hall song written by the prodigious Weston and Lee in around 1932, and held in great affection by Lancashire folk ever since. It even prompted the people of Rawtenstall to have an annual fair– not something which had existed before the song was written!

The lyrics above are those which were recorded by Randolph Sutton,as transcribed by Mark Dowding on the Mudcat website . I am assuming these reflect what was written by Weston and Lee – the version sung in folk circles has been slightly modified.

Randolph Sutton (1888-1969) “Britain’s Premier Light Comedian”, seems to be the performer who first had a hit with the song. He was a star of variety and Music Hall in 1920s and 30s, singing comic and sentimental songs with a soft Bristolian burr – quite surprising when you are used to hearing this song sung in a broad Lancashire accent! I suspect this may be another case where the Music Hall writers, artistes and possibly audiences were laughing at the “locals”, but the “locals” took it up as a badge of pride!

Sources:

• Roy Palmer A ballad history
• Lyrics from Mudcat
• Lea Nicholson
• Kilgarriff Banjos

Lea Nicholson sings it:

Randolph Sutton with his soft Bristolian burr: