{"id":19032,"date":"2023-03-18T10:08:22","date_gmt":"2023-03-18T10:08:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=19032"},"modified":"2024-10-31T07:45:29","modified_gmt":"2024-10-31T07:45:29","slug":"take-me-back-to-dear-old-blighty","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/take-me-back-to-dear-old-blighty\/","title":{"rendered":"Take me back to dear old Blighty"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>Dear Old Blighty<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1916<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>AJ Mills, Fred Godfrey and Bennett Scott<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN10669<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Ouida Macdermott, Lily Morris, Ella Retford, Dorothy Ward, Daisy Wood, Florrie Forde<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Stewart, Lucy; Scotland : Aberdeenshire; 1960
Costello, Cecilia; England : Warwickshire ; 1967
Mills, Bob England : Hampshire : Winchester 1978
Bunn, Walter; England : Birmingham; 1987
Hall. Mabs; England : Sussex; 1989
Kane, Alice; Northern Ireland; early 20th century<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Jack Dunn son of a gun over in France today*<\/strong>\nKeeps fit doing his bit, up to his eyes in clay\nEach night after the fight, to pass the time along\nHe's got a little gramophone that plays this song.\n\nTake me back to dear old Blighty\nPut me on a train to London Town\nTake me over there, drop me anywhere\nBirmingham, Leeds, or Manchester, well, I don't care\nI should love to see my best girl\nCuddling up again we soon would be, Whoa\nTidley-idley-iti, hurry me home to Blighty\nBlighty is the place for me.<\/em>\n\nBill Spry started to fly up in an aeroplane\nIn France taking a chance, wished he was down again\nPoor Bill feeling so ill, yelled out to pilot Brown\n'Steady a bit, yer fool, we're turning upside down.'\n\nJock Lee having his tea, says to his pal Mac Fayne\n'Look chum, apple and plum, it's apple and plum again\nSame stuff isn't it rough, fed up with it I am\nOh for a pot of Aunt Elizer's raspberry jam.'\n\nOne day, Mickey O' Shea, stood in a trench somewhere\nSo brave, having a shave, trying to part his hair\nMickey yells (dodging the shells and lumps of dynamite)\nTalk of the Crystal Palace on a fireworks night.\n\n* <\/strong>[or] <\/strong>Jack Dunn strafing the Hun somewhere in France today<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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A song written for the Halls by the prolific AJ Mills <\/a>, Bennett Scott<\/a> and Fred Godfrey, it was widely sung by soldiers and sailors. It comes from a time when the songs of the Halls had started to move away from jingoistic recruiting songs. Whilst the songs of this period in no way reflected the full horrors of the fighting, they at least recognised that the battlefield was a place servicemen longed to escape from. The full and fascinating  story of this song can be found on the excellent Fred Godfrey website<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Its one of the early 20th century songs that was not particularly associated with one performer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It has been collected from several late 2oth century traditional singers – the Vaughn Williams Memorial Library has recordings of Bob Mills<\/a> and Cecilia Costello<\/a> singing it<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Bob Mills sings it, courtesy VWML<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
In the early 2oth century songs were often printed on postcards, like these from Bamforth and Co:<\/p>\n\n\n\n