{"id":173,"date":"2019-12-08T09:58:51","date_gmt":"2019-12-08T09:58:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=173"},"modified":"2025-04-11T08:39:50","modified_gmt":"2025-04-11T08:39:50","slug":"the-miners-dream-of-home","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/the-miners-dream-of-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Miners dream of home, The"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

AKA Ten weary years<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lyrics<\/strong><\/td>Will Godwin \/ Leo Dryden <\/td>Music<\/strong><\/td>Will Godwyn<\/td>Roud Index<\/strong><\/td>RN1749<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n
Music Hall performers<\/strong><\/td>Leo Dryden, 1890s<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Source Singers<\/strong>
Copper, Jim 1936 England : Sussex
Cronin, Elizabeth 1952 Ireland : Co. Cork
Freake, Fred M. 1952 Canada : Newfoundland
Friend, Sam 1960s England : Suffolk : Charsfield
Hart, Bob 1969 England : Suffolk : Snape
Green, Charles 1971 (6 May) England : Yorkshire
Beeforth, Jack 1974 England : Yorkshire
Phillips, Cyril 1974 England : East Sussex
Palmer, Freda 1975 England : Oxfordshire
Pardon, Walter 1984 England : Norfolk
Whiting, Fred 1986 England : Suffolk : Kenton
McGonigle, Roseanne 1992 Ireland : Co. Donegal
Reader, Lucy 1996 England : Gloucestershire
Mathieson, William 1929-35 Scotland : Banffshire
Modern Performances<\/strong>
Kate Rusby, John Kirkpatrick.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
 It\u2019s been 10 weary years since I left England\u2019s shore\n In a far distant country to roam\n How I long to return to my own native land\n To my friends and the old folks at home\n Last night as I slumbered I had a strange dream\n One that seemed to bring distant friends near\n I dreamt of old England the land of my birth\n To the heart of her sons ever dear. \n \n I saw the old homestead and the faces I loved<\/em>\n I saw England\u2019s valleys and dells<\/em>\n I listened with joy as I did when a boy<\/em>\n To the sound of the old village bells<\/em>\n the log was burning brightly<\/em>\n Twas a night that should banish all sin<\/em>\n For the bells were ringing the old year out<\/em>\n And the New Year in<\/em>\n \n As the joyous bells rang, swift I wended my way\n To the cot where I lived as a boy\n I gazed in the window, yes there by the fire\n Sat my parents, my heart filled with joy\n The tears trickled fast down my bronze furrowed cheek\n As I gazed at my own mother dear\n I knew in my heart she was saying a prayer\n The sun she was dreamt not was near\n  \n At the door of the cottage we met face-to-face\n Twas the first time for 10 weary years\n Soon the past was forgotten, we stood hand-in-hand\n Father mother and wanderer in tears\n Once more in the fireplace the oak log burned bright\n As I promised no more I would roam\n As I sat in the old vacant chair by the hearth\n And sang the song home sweet home <\/pre>\n\n\n\n
  Herbert Campbell parodied the song. The first verse and chorus were:\n\nIt's nearly a year since I had a clean shirt\n It's a treat that I cannot afford\n And I doss in Booth's shelters at two D's a time\n Or I take on the casual ward\n Last night as I slumbered, I had a strange dream\n For the plank bed on which I was laid\n Had very few feathers they hadn't planed off\n And I fancy it had not been made\n\n I saw the back kitchen in which I was born\n I saw the old slum in the dials\n Where I played as a boy, with a brick for a toy\n And was known as a moocher for miles\n Papa was boozing nightly\n And Mother was shifting the gin\n And the Lodger was taking the old girl out\n And the old man in<\/em><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>
\n
Leo Dryden, born in London in 1861 – in his teenage years he was an engineer, printer and amateur minstrel. Despite his reputation for patriotic songs of empire, according to Willson-Disher he could doff his picturesque garb in a Trice and appear the next moment as a dude, in topper and boiled shirt, to sing about beer and mothers in law.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
The miner\u2019s dream<\/em> was Leo Dryden’s one big hit, one of many patriotic ballads that featured in the halls in the rather warlike 1890s. This is by no means the most jingoistic but Dryden did try other patriotic songs like “Bravo, Dublin Fusiliers”<\/em> in response to the Boer War, “For freedom in Japan”<\/em> about the Japanese-Russian war, “Remember Louvain” <\/em>at the outbreak of World War I. None of them quite reached the success of The miners dream. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Dryden almost ended his career in poverty singing on the streets, but experienced a late career boost in the 1920s touring with the Veterans of Variety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Herbert Campbell wrote a popular parody of The miners dream,<\/em> a fragment of which I have included above..<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The song seems to have been popular with traditional singers on both sides of the Atlantic, there is a good summary of traditional versions at the Mainly Norfolk<\/a> site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sources:<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sheet Music: Bumper Book of Music Hall Songs  and New York Public Library<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lyrics: monologues.co.uk<\/a>
Dryden\u2019s story from Willson-Disher Winkles and Champagne<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n
John Kirkpatrick sings it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n