{"id":23394,"date":"2024-02-03T10:35:15","date_gmt":"2024-02-03T10:35:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=23394"},"modified":"2024-02-03T10:40:59","modified_gmt":"2024-02-03T10:40:59","slug":"boys-of-the-chelsea-school","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/boys-of-the-chelsea-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Boys of the Chelsea School"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td><\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1902<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>FW Carter and RP Weston<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN29701<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>George Leyton<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Bentall, Brenda ; England ; 1970<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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From Music Hall Memories number 14<\/strong>\n\nDad is now old and having earned his pension\nNeeded no more his soldier blood run cool\nPleasures he finds his attention\nWatching the youngsters in the Chelsea School\nOnly youngsters learning their vocation\nLearning the calling that their fathers chose\nOnly youngsters tended by the nation\nTo fight someday Britainnia's foes\nDad loves these boys and why?\n'Tis thus he will reply:\n\n\"Boys of the Chelsea School\nAre the sons of the men we admire\nIn ev'ry heart in ev'ry vein\nRuns the blood of a soldier sire<\/em>\nChildren they are, maybe\nBut wait till a few years fly, \nThen as heroes brave, I know they'll behave\nAs tier fathers did in days gone by<\/em>.\"\n\nOft around his knee they'd gather for a story\nTales of the charge at the Balaclava's height\nOnce more he lives the ride of Death or Glory,\nAh! 'Twas an error but a glorious fight!\nFaces flush while eagerly they listen;\nFingers are twitching though their lips are dumb;\nBut the fire that in their eyes will glisten\nTells him someday perhaps their chance may come.\nThen they will do once more\nAs he did in Fifty four.\n\nHe loves on Sunday morning to go \nTo church, and hear them sing \nSome stirring hymn with a martial theme \nA tune with the warlike swing. \nHe loves to watch their faces as \nThe preacher to them describes \nSome righteous war in days of yore \nFought by the ancient tribes\n \nThose boys in fancy he can see \nIn days to come at duty's call. \nReady to fight for Britannia's right \nReady to conquer or to fall \nMarching shoulder to shoulder \nOn many a shot-swept plain, \nAnd the muscle and the nerve of bygone days \nWill be found in those boys again\n\n[Ends with cornet or bugle call]\n<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
To me, a rather unpleasant martial song celebrating the British Empire. It was first performed by Charles Deane<\/a> at the Greenwich Palace Theatre of Varieties in 1901, but later became more associated with the singing of George Leyton. It was recalled by at least one traditional singer in the 1970s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leyton, who in the 1900s toured Music Halls raising money for veterans, performed the song as an elaborate scena<\/em>,  a theatrical term referring to a performance of a scene from an opera usually acted and sung in costume. Leyton would sometimes recruit local schoolboys to supplement his normal company of performers (on at least one occasion this involved boys from the Chelsea School itself.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Its thought to be the prolific songwriter RP Weston<\/a>‘s first published song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n