{"id":24540,"date":"2024-06-04T13:02:09","date_gmt":"2024-06-04T13:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=24540"},"modified":"2024-07-07T08:58:52","modified_gmt":"2024-07-07T08:58:52","slug":"they-were-very-very-good-to-me","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/they-were-very-very-good-to-me\/","title":{"rendered":"They were very very good to me"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td><\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1899<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writer\/composer<\/td>WP Keen and Fred Leigh<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN22665<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>TE Dunville<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Yates, Joe ; Australia ; 1980s<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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THEY WERE VERY, VERY GOOD TO ME.
Written and Composed by W. P. KEEN & FRED. LEIGH.
Sung by T. E. DUNYILLE.


In my childhood days, not so very long ago, 
I was always a fav'irite with the ladies, don't You know; 
I had \"topknots\" on my \"tuppenny\" and nails upon my toes, 
And a\tlittle bit of putty which they called my nose; 
As I sat among the ladies they appeared, somehow, 
To talk of things before me as they don't do now,
They used to take me on their knees - I do it now instead
And they used to come and kiss me as I laid in bed


They were very, very good to me,
Very, very good to me;\t
If I ever had a pain in my rum-tum-tum,\t
Or tic dou-lou-reux in my kingdom come;
Lor' bless your heart, they would rub that part 
In a way that was good to see, 
They never do it now, I wish they would \u2014
They were very, very good to me.<\/em>
[twice]

We had two spare rooms in the villa where I dwell,
Said the wife, \"Take some lodgers in,\" said I, \"Very well\"; 
So in the parlour window we put up a card to say,
\"Two young men lodgers wanted\" \u2014 they were there next day. 
They made themselves at home and we got on quite nice,
They said our place was like a little paradise.
The missis took their breakfast up each morn at 10 A.M., 
And hoped that we should never, never part with them.

They were very, very good to me,
Very, very good to me ;
When I asked for the rent they paid me quick \u2014<\/em>
With a hob-nailed boot and half a brick;
One ran away with the wife one day,
But the best of it was; you see,
The other one married my mother-in-law \u2014 
They were very, very good to me.<\/em>

With a lady once I was horribly in love,
Her nose was heavenly \u2014 it pointed up above;
They said her hair was not her own, a falsehood, I declare, 
For I know the very barber's where she bought that hair. 
One day I proposed \u2014 and she accepted me,
But I didn't seem in favour with the fam-i-lee ;
Still I resolved to win the girl \u2014 she'd saved up seven pound, 
And when the wedding day arrived they all came round.
 
They were very, very good to me,
Very, very good. to me ;
The shoes and the boots at me they shied,
But the worst of it was there were feet inside ; <\/em>
As for the rice, it wasn't very nice,
They boiled it first, you see,
And a dollop went wollop down the back of my neck, T<\/em>
hey were very, very good to me.<\/em>
 
When the sun shines bright in the merry summer-time, 
Then a dip in the briny is a fair pantomime,
I once went in to have a swim \u2014 of course with nothing on, 
And when I came ashore I found my clothes all gone.
I was far away from anywhere and\u2014dear, oh lor,  
I soon put on a frown and that was all I wore ;
Two ladies high upon the cliff looked down at me by chance, 
And they saw my awful misery in one short glance.
 
They were very, very good to me,
Very, very good to me ;
They told me to wait, and in half a jiff
A bundle dropped from the top of that cliff. <\/em>
One pair of socks \u2014 and it gave me shocks <\/em>
When the rest I came to see,
A lady's gamp and a pair of \u2014 well,
They were very, very good to me.<\/em>
<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
This song, performed in the early 20th century by TE Dunville<\/a>, written by WP Keen and Fred Leigh<\/a>, is almost certainly the same song collected from the singing of Joe Yates by John Meredith in the 1980s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is another song which follows the lyrical themes of  I wish they’d do it now, <\/em>though in this case it was sung to a tune which borrows a great deal from The Sailor’s Hornpipe<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
London and Provincial Entr’acte –  10 June 1899<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n