Where does Father Christmas go to?

AKA Where does Father Christmas go to in the summer time?
First Published 1926
Writer/composer Fred Shuff Roud RN12927

Music Hall Performers Wal. Clinton
Folk performances Collected from the singing of:
Bond, Sam; England : Hampshire : 1978
Drewery, Arthur; England : Suffolk : 1974
Modern performances
Jez Lowe and the Bad Pennies

Mary had a little lamb
With fleece as white as snow
Everywhere that Mary went
The Lamb was sure to go
It followed her up hill and dale
And fields where grass is blue
So now you know where Mary went
But tell me, tell me, do:

Where does Father Christmas go to
In the summertime?
Goosey, Goosey Gander
Wherever does he wander?
Does he go with the ice and snow
To some foreign clime? Oh
Where does Father Christmas go to
In the summertime?

Burglar Bill in Pentonville
Sat in his cell one day.
He'd killed a dozen p'licemen --
Well of course, that's what they say.
They marched him to the scaffold,
Put the white cap on his head,
Then asked him if he'd like to speak,
So Bill looked up and said:

Parliament was sitting
As a problem they'd in view.
You'll often find them sitting:
That's the only thing they do!
A member jumped up from his seat,
Said, "Listen what I say-
Never mind the Housing Scheme,
The question of today is:

I used to know a servant girl
Her name it was Mariah.
She got up late one morning
And began to light the fire
She poured some benzine on the coals-
Believe me, it's the truth-
Then struck a match to light it,
And Mariah went through the roof! But:

Some men take their wives and kids
The country lanes to roam;
And some men go to Brighton
And they leave their wives at home;
Some go north and some go south
And some go up the pole;
The rich man's on the continent,
The poor man's on the dole; but:

A big hit in the pantomimes of Winter 1926/27, written/composed by Fred Shuff and published by the Lawrence Wright Music Company. It was sung by Wal. Clinton at The Bedford, Camden Town, but the song doesn’t seem to have become associated with any particular performer – though it was performed in several pantos that season.

It was remembered by traditional singers in the 1970s.

Here’s a nice version by Jez Lowe:

Sources: