{"id":20219,"date":"2023-05-10T16:11:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-10T16:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=20219"},"modified":"2023-05-10T16:15:46","modified_gmt":"2023-05-10T16:15:46","slug":"mr-gallagher-and-mr-sheen","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/mr-gallagher-and-mr-sheen\/","title":{"rendered":"Mr Gallagher and Mr Sheen"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This song uses racist language and draws on stereotypes in a way that was commonplace at the time but is no longer acceptable today.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

AKA<\/strong><\/td><\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1922<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>Ed Galagher and Al Shean (Brian Foy?)<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN29732<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Galagher and Shean in \"Ziegfeld Follies of 1922\", The Two Bobs<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Maguire, John; Northern Ireland: County Fermanagh; 1960s
Hodson, John; England: Aldeborough; 1972
Cornelius, Edward “Soldier”; England: Somerset; 1977<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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British version from Lawrence Wright's sheet music:\n\n(BOTH) There are two funny men, the quaintest ever seen\n(S) One is Mister Gallagher, \n(G) The other Mister Shean,\n(S) When these two cronies meet, \n(G) It surely is a treat,\n(BOTH) The things they say, and the things they do, and the funny way they greet,\n\n(S) Oh! Mister Gallagher! Oh! Mister Gallagher!\n(G) What\u2019s on your mind this morning Mister Shean?\n(S) Ev\u2019rybody\u2019s making fun\nOf the way our country\u2019s run\nIn a mess like this Great Britain's never been;\n(G) Oh, Mister Shean! Oh, Mister Shean!\nSuch a Nat'nal debt before we've never seen,\n(S) And the living is so high, that it\u2019s cheaper now to die\n(S) Positively Mister Gallagher, (G) Absolutely Mister Shean.\n\n(S) Oh! Mister Gallagher! Oh! Mister Gallagher!\n(G) Don't you think that women's rights are past a joke?\n(S) Well I think they all should vote\n(G) Yes but here's what gets my goat,\nNow in public ladies want the right to smoke.\n(G) Oh, Mister Shean! Oh, Mister Shean!\nAnd I hear that on Roulette there very keen,\nThey indulge in games of chance, where a man would lose his pants\n(S) I said \"Ladies\" Mister Gallagher, (G) Where's the diff'rence, Mr Shean.\n<\/em>\n(S) Oh! Mister Gallagher! Oh! Mister Gallagher!\nWhat\u2019s the name of that game they play on the links\n(G) With a stick they knock the ball\nWhere you can\u2019t find it at all\n(S) Then the caddie walks around and thinks and thinks\n(G) Oh, Mister Shean! Oh, Mister Shean!\nSure I've played it often I know what you mean\nIts a very well-known game \n(S) Well then tell me whats its name\n(S) Is It \"croquette\" Mister Gallagher? (G) No its ping-pong, Mr Shean.\n<\/em>\n(S) Oh! Mister Gallagher! Oh! Mister Gallagher!\nShort skirts in town are causing quite a fuss!\n(G) well I don't mind telling you, \nThat I've noticed one or two \nWhen the darlings have been climbing on a bus \n(G) And, Mister Shean! Oh, Mister Shean!\nI think more of women's beauty should be seen,\n(S) well that's lucky 'pon my life\nYesterday I saw your wife\nRollerskating Mister Gallagher, (G) How dare you Mister Shean!<\/em>\n\n(S) Oh! Mister Gallagher! Oh! Mister Gallagher!\nThere was a tiny n***** baby born last night\nIt was just as black as ink\nAnd it weighed a pound I think\nHow the devil was it dark and yet so light?\n(G) Oh, Mister Shean! Oh, Mister Shean!\nIts quite simple if you follow what I mean\nA hen as black as night, can lay an egg that's white\n(S) That's quite easy Mister Gallagher, (G) Can you do it, Mister Shean?<\/em>\n<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
A comic song from 1920s America, adapted for British audiences. Fragments of what appears to be the adapted version were collected from British and Irish traditional singers. You can hear John Hodson sing it for Steve Gardham on the British library Sounds site<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
This was the theme song of an American vaudeville musical comedy double act, whose cross-talking style is demonstrated by question and answer format of the song. They had great success with it in the 1922 Broadway production of Ziegfeld  Follies<\/em>. Some sources credit the song to Eddie Foy, but as far as I can see all official published sources credit Ed Gallagher and Al Sheen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The song was performed by various other stars both in America and on the British Music Hall stage where  The Two Bobs<\/em> <\/a>sang this version adapted from the original by someone in the music publishers Lawrence Wright’s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The startling racism and casual sexism apparent in the British variant also appear in this American version from the original duo:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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