{"id":19000,"date":"2023-03-13T12:03:18","date_gmt":"2023-03-13T12:03:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=19000"},"modified":"2024-03-16T14:13:00","modified_gmt":"2024-03-16T14:13:00","slug":"moon-shines-bright-on-charlie-chaplin-the","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/moon-shines-bright-on-charlie-chaplin-the\/","title":{"rendered":"Moon shines bright on Charlie Chaplin, The"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>When the moon shines bright on Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Red Wing [tune]<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1916<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td> Edward Stanning \/ Thurland Chattaway<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN10558<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Lillie Soutter, Lily Lena<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
unknown soldiers, UK, 1916-17
Cash, Claudie; USA : Virginia; 1936
unknown singer, Australia, 1940
schoolchildren; Scotland : Glasgow; 1950s
Robertson, Jeannie; Scotland : Aberdeenshire; 1954
Jewell, Dickie; USA : Arkansas; 1958
Stewart, Lucy; Scotland : Aberdeenshire; 1960
schoolchildren, Scotland : Glasgow; 1960
Siders, Corbin; USA, W Virginia, 1978
Couzsins, Liam; Ireland : Co. Kerry; 1981<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Sheet Music published by B Feldman and Co<\/strong> (1916)\n\nYou've sung of the boys in blue.\nYou've sung of their girls so true.\nYou've marched to the strain\nOf the well-known refrain\nOf \"Who's Your Lady Friend?\" and \"Tipperary\" too.\nOur Tommies so brave and strong\nHave sung every kind of song,\nBut what is the lay\nThey're singing today\nAs they go marching along?\n\nWhen the moon shines bright on Charlie Chaplin\nHis boots are cracking for want of blacking\nAnd his little baggy trousers they want mending\nBefore we send him to the Dardanelles<\/em>\n\nSome day there will come the time\nTo wind up \"The Watch on the Rhine\"\nAnd Tommy and Jack\nWill come marching back\nAnd take a cup for the sake of Auld Lang Syne,\nBut ere that happy day,\nThe Germans have got to pay.\nWhen we march in\nTo capture Berlin,\nWe'll sing them this little lay\n\nOldham Tinkers version<\/a>\nAnd the moon shines bright on Charlie Chaplin\nHis boots are cracking for t' want of blacking\nAnd his old fusty coat is wanting mending\nUntil they send him to the Dardanelles<\/em>\n\nCharlie Chaplin had no sense.\nHe bought a fiddle for eighteen pence.\nThe only tune that he could play\nWas Ta-ra-ra-boom-di-ay.\n\nCharlie Chaplin, meek and mild, \nSwiped a sausage from a child\nWhen the child began to cry, \nCharlie socked him in the eye\n\nCharlie Chaplin went to France \nTo teach the ladies how to dance\nFirst your heel and then your toe; \nLift up your skirts and 'round you go\n\nCharlie Charlie Chuck Chuck Chuck\nWent to bed with three white ducks.\nOne died. Charlie cried.\nCharlie Charlie Chuck Chuck Chuck.\n\nOne, two three, a lera,\nI saw my auntie Sarah\nStanding at the door, a lera\nKissing Charlie Chaplin.\n<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
The chorus of this song was sung by British troops in World War 1 and it was reprised in the great 1969 film and the earlier stage musical,  Oh! What a Lovely War<\/em>. The chorus has been remembered and sung by traditional singers throughout the English-speaking world….<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The earliest reports I can find, starting with one in the Daily News<\/em>, 15 November 1915,  suggest that the song was being whistled and sung by just about everyone and that it had come originally from children on the streets of London. The reports recognised the tune as belonging to an earlier Music Hall hit, Red Wing<\/a>.<\/em> On 28 November a story appeared in Reynolds’s Newspaper <\/em>suggesting the song had been written by the 12 year-old son of a soldier<\/em>, Edward Stanning, commenting:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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It came along when no one was looking\u2026 it caught on right away:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The moon shines bright on Charlie Chaplin\nHis boots are cracking for want of blacking\nAnd his little baggy trousers they want mending\nBefore we send him to the Dardanelles<\/em><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
… All London and the provinces, as well as our soldiers in the trenches and our sailors on the sea are now gaily humming [it].<\/em>… but it was not until it was in everybody’s mouth … that questions were asked as to the authorship … Miss Lily Lena, the popular comedienne ran the real author to earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He is Edward Stanning, a lad of 12, whose father is [fighting] <\/em>in the Dardanelles… He dressed himself in his father’s old clothes and shuffled about in the style of our old friend Charlie [singing] <\/em>“The moon shines bright ..”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\nReynolds’ Newspaper, 28 Nov 1915.<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
The newspaper article goes on to suggest that Lily Lena  tried to arrange for the boy to perform the song on stage at the Chiswick Empire, even gaining permission from the music copyright holders (Feldman’s)  for him to do so. The article goes on to suggest that as an unlicensed child performer,  Stanning was not allowed on the stage, and so as not to disappoint the boy, Lily Lena had sung the song herself whilst the boy joined in from the balcony. The article ends with the news that Feldman’s had produced a new arrangement which would be printed in a future edition of  Reynolds’ Newspaper<\/em>. This was all excellent publicity for the publishers and newspaper….  and the attribution of the lyrics to a named individual meant Feldman’s could claim copyright , so its difficult not to be suspicious about the truth or otherwise of the claims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whatever their origin, the lines  quoted by Reynolds’ Newspaper<\/em> are a close parody on the original chorus of Red Wing<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now the moon shines tonight on pretty Red Wing,
The breeze is sighing, the night bird’s crying,
For afar ‘neath his star her brave is sleeping,
While Red Wing’s weeping her heart away.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Whether the short ditty emerged from street children or soldiers in the trenches, it had to be tidied up before  music publishers could make any money from it. This is exactly what Feldman did, adding a couple of non-descript verses to the catchy chorus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This sheet music shown here associates the song with the performer Lillie Soutter but Feldman’s advertising initially stated it was sung by Lily Lena, before eventually suggesting it was being sung by  “everybody”. Contemporary reports suggest this was not far from the truth – it was in virtually every pantomime of the 1915\/16 season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whilst contemporary reports suggest the song emerged spontaneously out of youthful adoration <\/em>(Daily News 12 Nov 1915), others felt it  reflected bad feeling over his suggested lack of patriotism – Chaplin certainly felt threatened and is quoted as saying: I really thought they were coming to get me. It scared the daylights out of me<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Feldman’s version sung by unknown recording artist:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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