{"id":20615,"date":"2023-11-14T11:52:33","date_gmt":"2023-11-14T11:52:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=20615"},"modified":"2023-11-15T10:27:54","modified_gmt":"2023-11-15T10:27:54","slug":"where-do-flies-go-in-the-wintertime","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/where-do-flies-go-in-the-wintertime\/","title":{"rendered":"Where do flies go in the wintertime"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td><\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1919<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>Frank Leo and Sam Mayo<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN37286<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Sam Mayo, Jack Pleasants, Ernie Mayne, GS Melvin, Fred Barnes<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Alice Kane recalled singing this song as a child in Ulster in the early 20th century<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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WHERE DO FLIES GO IN THE WINTER TIME?\nWritten and composed by Sam Mayo & Frank Leo\nPerformed by Jack Pleasants \n \nA schoolmaster was standing in his schoolroom with his scholars\nLike a schoolmaster has often stood before\nHis scholars stood before him just like scholares always will stand\nAnd like scholars used to stand in days of yore\nA fly flew in the schoolroom, like a fly will often fly in\nAnd it settled on the schoolmaster's bald head\nHe flicked it off, it came back, then he flicked it off again\nAnd then the schoolmaster to all his scholars said\n\n'Where do flies go in the Winter time?\nDo they go to gay Paree?\nWhen they've finished buzzing round our beef and ham\nWhen they've finished jazzing round our raspberry jam\nDo they clear like swallows every year?\nTo a distant foreign clime\nTell me, tell me, where do flies go in the Winter time?'<\/em>\n\nAn express train was running once expressedly for the people\nWho'd expressed a wish to go by the express\nAnd in one first class carriage, two old fellows gassing\nAnd the subject of their gas, you'll never guess\nIt lead up to an argument, and then they started fighting\nAnd when one took his revolver out to shoot\nThe other pulled the cord that stopped the train\nAnd when the guard walked up, he said\n'Oh guard, can you end the dispute.'\n\nWhen Parliament was sitting once, well, when I say was sitting\nSome were standing up, but you know what I mean\nThe members well remembered how Lloyd George got quite excited\nAnd the 'House' has never yet seen such a scene\nBottomley, he shouted, 'Where does Britain's money go to?'\nAnd then Lloyd George in a temper quickly rose\nAnd said, There's your four\nHundred pounds and other things to pay for\nGentlemen, we all know where the money goes, but\n<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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A song recalled by Alice Kane (1908-2003), a song she learnt in her Ulster childhood. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Originally written and composed by Frank Leo and \u00a0Sam Mayo<\/a><\/a>, it was  performed in a many pantomimes in winter 1919\/20.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sam Mayo can be seen performing a medley of his songs in an early film on the British Pathe<\/a> site. The film includes an extract of Mayo’s answer song I Know Where the Flies Go<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Jack Pleasants sings it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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