Then she started tickle-ing

AKA And then we started tickling
First Published 1904
Writer/composer AJ Mills and FW Carter Roud RN29973

Music Hall Performers Pat Rafferty
Folk performances Collected from the singing of:
Payne, Ernie ; England : Avon ; 1979

One night in a local pub, I met a lady fair
Who promised me for half a crown
She'd tell my fortune there
She look'd so good and genuine
Dress'd up in silks and furs,
But I was rather nervous when
She took my hand in hers.

And then she started tickle-ing, tickle-ing!
Then she started tickle-ing, tickle-ing!
She was pe-cu-li-ar,

Tickled me in the private bar
I gave her half a crown and stood her a pint of Scotch,
And while she was tickle-ing me in the hand,
She tickled me out of my watch.
[twice]


I shan't forget the day I wed—
Though I was dressed in style,
I felt a trifle fidgety
As I stood by the aisle.
The parson he was half asleep
And looking rather blue;
I dug him in the ribs, and said,
" Oh! get it over, do!"

Then I started tickle-ing, tickle-ing
Then I started tickle-ing, tickle-ing
My word! it made me shout,
When he began to dance about.
The people had to laugh — forget it I never shall!
But while I was tickling the parson, he was tickling my old
gal!

While I was walking through a sleeping
Cabin once at sea,
I saw a pair of "tootsie-wootsies"
Peeping out at me.
I said, "It must be some bewitching
Damsel in repose."
I got a peacocks feather and
I walked up on my toes.

And then I started tickle-ing, tickle-ing
Then I started tickle-ing, tickle-ing

But 'twas no lady there —
Only a sailor, I declare!
He jumped right out of bed — be jabers ! he raved and swore.
I tickled him twice, but he got up his boot and tickled me under the jaw.


I took my sweetheart Norah in
The country for the day;
We trotted through the meadows and
The poppies and the hay.
"I'm feeling tired," said Norah, as
She piped her pretty eyes.
We sat down on a mossy bank,
When to my great surprise,

Something started started tickle-ing, tickle-ing
Something started tickle-ing, tickle-ing
We'd squatted, if you please,
Right on a. nest of bumble bees.
We hopped and popped about, and kicked up a dreadful shine.
One bee was tickle-ing Norah's bustle, another was tickle-ing mine.

One evening, Mick McGee and I
Went to a grand affair.
We couldn't flirt with all the girls,
Because our wives were there.
But suddenly the gas went out
And left us in the gloom,
So Mick and I went round and found
Two ladies in the room.

Then we started tickle-ing, tickle-ing
Then we started tickle-ing, tickle-ing
While we were in the dark,
Mick and your humble had a lark;
But when the lights went up—oh ! wasn't it awkward "biz!"
For he was tickle-ing my old woman and I was tickle-ing his

A song from the repertoire of Pat Rafferty – written by the alarmingly prolific AJ Mills with FW Carter and a hit in 1904/05 in the Halls and pantomimes.

The song was remembered by at least one traditional singer in the 1970s, when it was collected from the singing of Ernie Payne by Gwilym Davies

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%3A29973
  • Kilgarrif Sing Us
  • Mills, A. J. (Arthur), Rafferty, Pat., Carter, F. W., & Kent, S. (1904). Then she started tickle-ing. Francis, Day & Hunter. [Oxford Libraries online mediated copying]