{"id":19765,"date":"2023-04-17T10:33:07","date_gmt":"2023-04-17T10:33:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=19765"},"modified":"2025-12-08T19:30:55","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T19:30:55","slug":"algy-or-the-piccadilly-johnny-with-the-little-glass-eye","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/algy-or-the-piccadilly-johnny-with-the-little-glass-eye\/","title":{"rendered":"Algy, or the Piccadilly Johnny with the Little Glass Eye"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
First Published<\/td>1895<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>Harry B Norris<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN29892<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Vesta Tilley<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Jones, Frank; England : West Midlands; 1984<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The set of boys I chum with are the best-known set down town\nAnd in that set a noted chap is young Algernon Brown\nHe's just come into heaps of coin, he doesn't know what he's worth\nAnd all the ladies say that he is the nicest boy on earth.\n\nHe's very well known is Algy, to the ladies on the stage\nSuch a jolly good chap is Algy, just now he's all the rage\nAnd a jolly good favourite Algy, with the barmaids at the 'Cri'\nHe's very well known is Algy,\nAs the Piccadilly Johnny with the little glass eye.<\/em>\n\nHe'll drive a girl to Richmond as some other Johnnies do\nHe buys perhaps a diamond ring, a watch and bracelet too\nGirls say they'll never leave him, and they keep their word and don't\nAnd while his cash holds out, you bet your Sunday hat they won't.\n\nHe goes to all the Theatres, where he knows the Coryph\u00e9es\nHe takes them out to supper, also buys them large bouquets\nThey call him \u201cAlgy Darling\u201d to his face, the usual way\nBut when they chat behind the scenes poor Algy's called a 'Jay.'\n\n\n<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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A big hit for the great male impersonator   Vesta Tilley<\/a> in the 1890s – she sang it at the Royal Command Performance of 1912, where it is said she scandalised the Queen  by wearing trousers … She purchased the song from Harry Norris for the paltry sum of one guinea (just over \u00a31, allowing for inflation around \u00a3180 today). Norris later died in poverty after being committed to a lunatic asylum in Cheadle, Greater Manchester<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 1984 the song was collected by Roy Palmer from the singing of Frank Jones, under the title A well known chap is Algy to the Ladies of the stage<\/em>.  The recording is held at the British Library  but is not available online at the time of writing.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
A recording or download of this song can be purchased from Windyridge CDs.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vesta sings a fragment of it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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