We all go the same way home

AKA
First Published 1911
Writer/composer CW Murphy and Harry Casting Roud RN32456

Music Hall Performers Charles Whittle
Folk performances Collected from the singing of:
Charles Keeping and family; England : London; 1930s
Sykes, Jack; England: Yorkshire; 1969
Modern performances
Chas N Dave		 

The wedding day was over, and the party breaking up
All the guests were making for the door
And as they danced along the hall like children on the sands
The bride and bridegroom stood there holding hands
The comp'ny wished the couple health and wealth, too
And were dispersing - in twos and threes
When Johnson through the din and noise
Cried to all the girls and boys,'Come, come get together please.'

'We all go the same way home
All the whole collection in the same direction
All go the same way home so there's no need to part at all
We all go the same way home
Let's be gay and hearty, don't break up the party
We'll cling together like the ivy on the old garden wall.'

A rajah gay was trav'ling back to India once again
With his four-and-twenty little wives
In one compartment of the train with all of them he got
To keep his jealous eye upon the lot
A porter shouted, 'Hi, you're overcrowding
There's room for ten in here, not twenty-four.'
The rajah answered, 'We're all right, though packed in rather tight
Don't you worry any more.'

When Noah looked from the Ark one day and found the rain had stopped
And the streets were beautiful and dry
Said he, 'I haven't had a stroll for forty days or more.'
Then out he went and never shut the door
The animals came tramping down the gang-way, the alligator - the kangaroo
A blue-faced monkey led the throng, screaming as they marched along
'Hi! hi! this way for the Zoo!.'

Just by the House of Commons stood a band of Suffragettes
And the lot were screaming for the 'vote'
When all at once there came a crowd of gentlemen in blue
And very quickly captured all the crew
The prison van was ordered from the station
And soon the ladies were far from gay
The driver crackked his whip and cried, when the lot were packed inside
'Last bus girls to Holloway.'

A popular World War I marching song remembered by Charles Keeping’s family and later collected by Steve Gardham from the singing of Jack Sykes – you can listen to the recording online from the British Library.

The song was originally a big hit in 1911 for Charles Whittle – whose brief biography appears below. It was written and composed by CW Murphy and Harry Castling.

The tune of the chorus seems to have been borrowed from Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirate’s chorus from the comic opera The Pirates Of Penzance

Not to be confused with Harry Lauder’s We all go hame the same way – a song with different words and music.

Charles R Whittle (1874-1947) also known as Charlie Whittle, was born in Bradford in 1874. As a a young man he worked in an ironworks whilst in his spare time appearing as a semiprofessional vocalist at local tavern sing-songs. He became a full-time professional in 1897 and had his London debut two years later. His most famous songs were probably Let’s all go down the Strand, We all go the same way home and Put me among the girls. He continued to appear on stage until 1938.

Charlie Whittle was a man of the people. He came from Bradford and looked as though he had dropped his pick somewhere and just walked on! He had a rough, bluff style which went down very well. He invited us to “Let’s all go down the Strand” and added that if we had a banana as well, everything would be all right. After all “We all go the same way home” as Charlie kept on telling us.

GJ Mellor, The Northern Music Hall, p88

Charlie Whittle sings it:

Sources: