{"id":13352,"date":"2021-10-27T14:47:37","date_gmt":"2021-10-27T14:47:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=13352"},"modified":"2021-10-27T14:47:46","modified_gmt":"2021-10-27T14:47:46","slug":"johnny-morgan","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/johnny-morgan\/","title":{"rendered":"Johnny Morgan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
First Published<\/td>1876<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writer\/composer<\/td>John Read<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN15351<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Herbert Campbell, John Read, Beatrice Bermond<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
unknown singers in US
unknown children in US and UK<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
I'll sing of a band that used to play\nMusic in the street,\nAnd if you heard it you would say \nIt was anything but sweet;\nThey all played different instruments,\nThe music was the same; \nThey were all of one family, \nAnd Morgan was their name.\n\nJohnny Morgan played the organ, \nThe father beat the drum,\nThe sister played the tambourine,\nThe brother went pom,pom<\/em>,pom,pom<\/em>,pom<\/em>,pom<\/em>\nAll alone on an old trombone\u2014\nThe music was so sweet,\nThey often got a penny\nTo go into another street.<\/em>\n\nThey used to say that Johnny\nWas the smartest of them all, \nAnd round the area windows\nHe would often make a call; \nHis music was so lively\u2014\nAll the latest airs from France\u2014\nThe servant girls could not keep still, \nThe music made them dance.\n\nNow, one day John he chanced to play \nOutside a lady's door,\nAnd the lady said she never heard \nSuch music played before ;\nIt pleased her so, that you must know,\nShe heavy sums would pay\nFor John to stand outside the house \nAnd play to her all day.\n\nJohn played upon his instrument, \nAnd pleased the lady so,\nThat when the time arrived to leave, \nShe would not let him go ;\nShe asked if he would marry her, \nWhich John did very soon,\nNow on the organ Johnny Morgan \nPlays her many a tune.\n<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>
\n
Written, composed and performed by John Read<\/a>, Johnny Morgan <\/em>was also performed by Herbert Campbell<\/a>\u00a0and Beatrice Bermond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It seems to have been a popular song on both sides of the Atlantic, and was included in Ira Ford’s collection of American traditional music published in 1940.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The chorus lived on in several children’s rhymes, again on both sides of the Atlantic, see below.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
A particularly snooty review of Beatrice Beaumont singing the song at The Sun, Knightsbridge:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
John Hollingshead,\u00a0 Jan. 14, 1877;\u00a0<\/strong>Sunday Times\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
The song appears to be the source of several 20th century children’s rhymes, like this one collected from singing of London schoolchildren in the early 1980s:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mary Morgan played the organ,
And her father played the drum, bompety bom!
And her sister, she\u2019s a twister,
And her mother\u2019s deaf and dumb<\/p>Kelsey 2019<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
And this one:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Johnny Morgan played the organ
Jimmy played the drum
His sister played the tambourine
Till father smacked her bum<\/p> Blakeley 1978 <\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n