{"id":12602,"date":"2021-09-03T08:31:59","date_gmt":"2021-09-03T08:31:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=12602"},"modified":"2024-06-13T14:16:04","modified_gmt":"2024-06-13T14:16:04","slug":"great-big-wheel-the","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/great-big-wheel-the\/","title":{"rendered":"Great big wheel, The"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>The Big Wheel<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>unknown<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>Unknown<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN13302<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Unknown<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Ling, Geoff; England : Suffolk no date
Poacher, Cyril; England : Suffolk 1975 <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The Great Big Wheel<\/strong>  \n(Cyril Poacher recorded by Ginette Dunn at Blaxhall Ship, 5.9.75, with a small addition from Geoff Ling's version)  \n\nMary Ann the servant maid was let out now and then\nShe was given strict injunction to return again at ten.\nShe had a soldier sweetheart and to him did appeal,\nTo take her down to Earl's Court for a ride on the wheel.\n\nOh, poor Mary Ann, when she got to the top,\nHer heart went flippety flop,\nAnd the wheel began to stop.\nThe Man in the Moon come out to laugh\nAnd Mary Ann did squeal.\nShe lost her situation through the great big wheel.\nThough she tried with might and main\nShe couldn't move the wheel.<\/em>\n\nMary got so hungry, the cold began to feel.\nAround her soldier's neck she clung,\nBeen on the wheel all night.\n\"Pack up your tricks you saucy mix (minx)\nAnd clear out of me sight.\"\n\nNow when this wheel it reached the top\nAnd quickly to the ground,\nMary to her situation quickly toddled round.\nAround her soldier's neck she clung,\n\"Oh dear, oh dearie me!\nI promised to be home at ten\nAnd now it's half-past three.\"\n\n<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
John Howson collected this song from traditional singer Geoff Ling, while Ginette Dunn collected it from Cyril Poacher, both at The Ship Inn, Blaxhall in Suffolk. Both collectors suggested it was likely to be a song written by E.W. Rogers and sung by Arthur Leonard<\/a>: The Great Big Wheel <\/em>(published 1895). Unfortunately, this is unlikely to be correct. A Google image search for “the great big wheel Lennard” reveals several instances of an apparently copyrighted image of the sheet music cover, which includes a very different chorus:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rolling round the wheel, rolling round the wheel, <\/em>
Rolling men and boys and girls, <\/em>
And rolling babies, Dukes and earls, <\/em>
And oh my! It makes the ladies squeal<\/em>, 
The roly-poly feeling on the Great Big Wheel<\/em>
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Sadly, I have not been able to find the source of the song about Mary Ann and the wheel. It’s likely to be from the late 1890s, when a series of songs were written in response to the excitement generated by a spate of Ferris wheels being built after the first was launched in 1893 in Chicago. The Great Wheel at Earls Court was opened in 1895, closed in 1906 and famously got stuck in May 1896, stranding passengers for 4 1\/2 hours. There is a distinct possibility that the song was written in response to that event…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
 The song was not only remembered by folk-singers – the chorus has been used several times in fiction to give a flavour of the music halls (the chorus is almost identical in each case):<\/p>\n\n\n\n