Take me back to dear old Blighty

AKA Dear Old Blighty
First Published 1916
Writer/composer AJ Mills, Fred Godfrey and Bennett Scott Roud RN10669

Music Hall Performers Ouida Macdermott, Lily Morris, Ella Retford, Dorothy Ward, Daisy Wood, Florrie Forde
Folk performances Collected from the singing of:
Stewart, Lucy; Scotland : Aberdeenshire; 1960
Costello, Cecilia; England : Warwickshire ; 1967
Mills, Bob England : Hampshire : Winchester 1978
Bunn, Walter; England : Birmingham; 1987
Hall. Mabs; England : Sussex; 1989
Kane, Alice; Northern Ireland; early 20th century		 

Jack Dunn son of a gun over in France today*
Keeps fit doing his bit, up to his eyes in clay
Each night after the fight, to pass the time along
He's got a little gramophone that plays this song.

Take me back to dear old Blighty
Put me on a train to London Town
Take me over there, drop me anywhere
Birmingham, Leeds, or Manchester, well, I don't care
I should love to see my best girl
Cuddling up again we soon would be, Whoa
Tidley-idley-iti, hurry me home to Blighty
Blighty is the place for me.

Bill Spry started to fly up in an aeroplane
In France taking a chance, wished he was down again
Poor Bill feeling so ill, yelled out to pilot Brown
'Steady a bit, yer fool, we're turning upside down.'

Jock Lee having his tea, says to his pal Mac Fayne
'Look chum, apple and plum, it's apple and plum again
Same stuff isn't it rough, fed up with it I am
Oh for a pot of Aunt Elizer's raspberry jam.'

One day, Mickey O' Shea, stood in a trench somewhere
So brave, having a shave, trying to part his hair
Mickey yells (dodging the shells and lumps of dynamite)
Talk of the Crystal Palace on a fireworks night.

* [or] Jack Dunn strafing the Hun somewhere in France today

A song written for the Halls by the prolific AJ Mills , Bennett Scott and Fred Godfrey, it was widely sung by soldiers and sailors. It comes from a time when the songs of the Halls had started to move away from jingoistic recruiting songs. Whilst the songs of this period in no way reflected the full horrors of the fighting, they at least recognised that the battlefield was a place servicemen longed to escape from. The full and fascinating story of this song can be found on the excellent Fred Godfrey website.

Its one of the early 20th century songs that was not particularly associated with one performer.

It has been collected from several late 2oth century traditional singers – the Vaughn Williams Memorial Library has recordings of Bob Mills and Cecilia Costello singing it

Bob Mills sings it, courtesy VWML

In the early 2oth century songs were often printed on postcards, like these from Bamforth and Co:

Florrie Forde sings it:

A very different interpretation by Kevin Coyne in 1978:

Sources: