| First Published | 1901 |
| Writer/composer | Frank Leo | Roud | RN6307 |
| Music Hall Performers | Ernest Heathcote |
| Folk performances | see below |
Although I'm getting on in years I've never had a beau, All the Johnnies pass me by its very hard They all call me a wallflower that has riled me so I've taken up my quarters in the yard I live out in the garden with the other pretty flowers you'll find me standing up against the wall I get my poor geranium wet through being in the showers For-get-me-not if Fuschia'd ever call Wallflower, wallflower growing up so high All you young ladies have captured a pie Except yer little Phoebe she's left in the cold Though I'm but a wallflower I mean to marigold The Lily's and the Daisies seem to shuffle off-the-shelf They all find a beau but I am waiting still I think I was in Clover and I'd chuckle to myself If I'd a Dandy Lion or John Quill It's lovely in the garden, that is in the summertime Accompanied by Violet and May But when the winter comes along it isn't so sublime It's Orchid when the Snowdrops all the day You may call a spade a spade and you may call me what you will But I tell you that I do not care a jot The only old man I possess is on my windowsill I mean some Old Man growing in a pot I dreamt I Rose one morning and was going to be wed I thought I saw the parson and the Swain Nige empty pressed his Tulips on my Lily white forehead And then the Blue Bells chimed this sweet refrain
This one is perhaps not central to my project – its Music Hall song which borrows a little of its chorus from a relatively well-known children’s singing game. The earliest reference I can find to the game was published in 1878-82:
Wally, Wally Wallflower, growing up so high, We are all maidens and we shall die, All except the youngest one, and that is (child's name). Choose for the best, choose for the worst Choose the one that you love best.Copied down from word of mouth by Miss Allen, School House, Hersham, Surrey, in Folk-lore Record Vol 5 (1878-82) p84
Versions vary across the British Isles, but it’s been collected many many times – see the entries indexed by Steve Roud in the Vaughan Williams Memorial library
The earliest reference to the song is in 1901 – an advert, marketing it as a potential dame song in pantomime:
Sources:
- VWML entry
- Kilgarrif Sing Us
- Lyrics and Sheet Music: Feldman’s 7th Comic Annual, p42
Last Updated on March 27, 2023 by John Baxter | Published: March 27, 2023
