{"id":16371,"date":"2022-07-02T14:31:30","date_gmt":"2022-07-02T14:31:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=16371"},"modified":"2025-12-10T07:04:29","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T07:04:29","slug":"for-old-times-sake","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/for-old-times-sake\/","title":{"rendered":"For old times sake"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>For old time’s sake, don’t let our enmity live<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>c1899<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>Charles Osborne<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN15476<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Millie Lindon<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Rowe, Cliff; England : Somerset; 1984
Withers, George; England : Somerset; 1995<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Down in a lane two men had quarrelled\nOver a girl whom they both admired\nBrothers in name but foes in feeling\nPassion, alas, their hearts had fired\nOne said \u201cYou traitor, you stole her from me\nHence-forth a stranger to England I'll be\u201d\n\u201dIf we must part\u201d said the other with pain\n\u201cDon't part like this, we may ne'er meet again\n\nFor old time's sake, don't let our enmity live\nFor old time's sake, say you'll forget and forgive\nLife's too short to quarrel, hearts too precious to break\nShake hands and let us be friends, for old times' sake<\/em>\n\nAnger prevailed, as foes they parted\nParted as brothers have often done\nJack sailed away to drown his sorrow\nAnd left Tom at home with the bride he'd won\nTwelve months after, and then he was left\nLeft with a babe of its Mother bereft\nHow like she grew to her, when he revealed\nThe cause of the quarrel, and how he appealed\n\nTime rolled away, then the brothers one day\nMet face to face, and then turned away\nBut the little peacemaker, their rough hands she grasped\nAnd whispered so softly as their fingers she clasped\n\u201cIn her sainted name, who looks down from above\nMy own angel mother you both used to love\"<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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In the late 1890s and early 190os this sentimental number was Millie Lindon’s most popular song – her brief biography is given below. The song was written for her by  Charles Osborne<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A song collected twice by Bob and Jacqueline Patten and available on the British Library site: from the singing of Cliff Rowe in 1984 <\/a> and from George Withers in 1995<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not to be confused with an old-time\/traditional American song of the same name: For old times sake, <\/em>written and composed by Charles K Harris in 1900 (first line: “You ask me why upon my breast I wear this photograph”). <\/em>This song was collected by Sidney Cowell from the singing of Californian singer Sam Blackburn in 1939.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A recording or download of this song can be purchased from Windyridge CDs.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Millie Lindon (1869-1940 ) was the stage name of Fanny Elizabeth Warriss, the daughter of a tailor whose Music Hall career lasted less than a decade. During her years in the halls she had a relatively short marriage to the comedian TE Dunville<\/a>. She left her career in the Halls to marry the wealthy newspaper owner Sir Edward Holton, followed by later marriages to a wealthy British Major General and a Baron from Czechoslovakia. She appears to have been the archetypal beautiful Music Hall star who used her career to move “up in society”!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n