Miners dream of home, The

AKA Ten weary years

Lyrics

Will Godwin / Leo Dryden

Music

Will Godwyn

Roud Index

RN1749

 It’s been 10 weary years since I left England’s shore
 In a far distant country to roam
 How I long to return to my own native land
 To my friends and the old folks at home
 Last night as I slumbered I had a strange dream
 One that seemed to bring distant friends near
 I dreamt of old England the land of my birth
 To the heart of her sons ever dear. 
 
 I saw the old homestead and the faces I loved
 I saw England’s valleys and dells
 I listened with joy as I did when a boy
 To the sound of the old village bells
 the log was burning brightly
 Twas a night that should banish all sin
 For the bells were ringing the old year out
 And the New Year in
 
 As the joyous bells rang, swift I wended my way
 To the cot where I lived as a boy
 I gazed in the window, yes there by the fire
 Sat my parents, my heart filled with joy
 The tears trickled fast down my bronze furrowed cheek
 As I gazed at my own mother dear
 I knew in my heart she was saying a prayer
 The sun she was dreamt not was near
  
 At the door of the cottage we met face-to-face
 Twas the first time for 10 weary years
 Soon the past was forgotten, we stood hand-in-hand
 Father mother and wanderer in tears
 Once more in the fireplace the oak log burned bright
 As I promised no more I would roam
 As I sat in the old vacant chair by the hearth
 And sang the song home sweet home 

  Herbert Campbell parodied the song. The first verse and chorus were:

It's nearly a year since I had a clean shirt
 It's a treat that I cannot afford
 And I doss in Booth's shelters at two D's a time
 Or I take on the casual ward
 Last night as I slumbered, I had a strange dream
 For the plank bed on which I was laid
 Had very few feathers they hadn't planed off
 And I fancy it had not been made

 I saw the back kitchen in which I was born
 I saw the old slum in the dials
 Where I played as a boy, with a brick for a toy
 And was known as a moocher for miles
 Papa was boozing nightly
 And Mother was shifting the gin
 And the Lodger was taking the old girl out
 And the old man in

Leo Dryden, born in London in 1861 – in his teenage years he was an engineer, printer and amateur minstrel. Despite his reputation for patriotic songs of empire, according to Willson-Disher he could doff his picturesque garb in a Trice and appear the next moment as a dude, in topper and boiled shirt, to sing about beer and mothers in law.

The miner’s dream was Leo Dryden’s one big hit, one of many patriotic ballads that featured in the halls in the rather warlike 1890s. This is by no means the most jingoistic of the lot, but Dryden did try his hand at various other patriotic songs like “Bravo, Dublin Fusiliers”in response to the Boer War, “For freedom in Japan” in response to the Japanese Russian war, “Remember Louvain” at the outbreak of World War I. None of them quite reached the success of The miners dream. He almost ended his career in poverty singing on the streets, but experienced a late career boost in the 1920s in the Veterans of Variety.

Herbert Campbell wrote a popular parody of The miners dream, a fragment of which I have included above..

The song seems to have been popular with traditional singers on both sides of the Atlantic, there is a good summary of traditional versions at the Mainly Norfolk site.

Sources:

Sheet Music: Bumper Book of Music Hall Songs and New York Public Library

Lyrics: monologues.co.uk
Dryden’s story from Willson-Disher Winkles and Champagne

John Kirkpatrick sings it: