{"id":25568,"date":"2024-11-29T11:09:56","date_gmt":"2024-11-29T11:09:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=25568"},"modified":"2024-11-29T11:23:43","modified_gmt":"2024-11-29T11:23:43","slug":"tin-gee-gee-the","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/tin-gee-gee-the\/","title":{"rendered":"Tin Gee-Gee, The"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>The Lowther Arcade<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1894<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>Fred Cape<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN18886<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Fanny Wentworth<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Withers, George ; England : Somerset : 1995
Kane, Alice ; N. Ireland : Belfast ; nd
Unknown singer ; Scotland ; nd <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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I was strolling one day down the Lowther Arcade,
That place for children\u2019s toys,
Where you can purchase a dolly or spade
For your good little girls and boys.
And as I passed a certain stall, said a wee little voice to me:
\"Oh, I am a Colonel in a little cocked hat and I ride on a tin Gee Gee;
Oh, I am a Colonel in a little cocked hat and I ride on a tin Gee Gee.\"

Then I looked and a little tin soldier I saw,
In his little cocked hat so fine.
He\u2019d a little tin sword that shone in the light,
As he led a glittering line 
Of tin hussars whose sabers flashed in a manner \u00e0 la militaree.
And that little tin soldier he rode at their head, so proud on his tin Gee Gee.

Then that little tin soldier he sobbed and he sighed,
So I patted his little tin head.
\"What vexes your little tin soul?\" said I,
And this is what he said:
\"I\u2019ve been on this stall a very long time and I\u2019m marked one-and-nine as you see;
Whilst just on the shelf above my head, there\u2019s a fellow marked two-and-three.

Now he hasn\u2019t got a sword and he hasn\u2019t got a horse,
And I\u2019m quite as good as he.
So why mark me at one-and-nine,
And him at two-and-three?
There\u2019s a pretty little dolly girl over there, and I\u2019m madly in love with she;
But now that I\u2019m only marked one-and-nine, she turns up her nose at me,
She turns up her little wax nose at me and flirts with two-and-three.

And, oh! she\u2019s dressed in a beautiful dress,
It\u2019s a dress I do admire;
She has pearly blue eyes that open and shut
When worked inside by a wire,
And once on a time when the folks had gone, she used to ogle at me.
But now that I\u2019m only marked one-and-nine, she turns up her nose at me.
She turns up her little snub nose at me, and carries on with two-and-three.\"

\"Cheer up, my little tin man,\" said I,
\"I\u2019ll see what I can do;
You\u2019re a fine little fellow, and it\u2019s a shame
That she should so treat you.\"
So I took down the label from the shelf above, and I labeled him two-and-three,
And I marked the other one one-and-nine, which was very, very wrong of me,
But I felt so sorry for that little tin soul, as he rode on his tin gee gee.

Now that little tin soldier he puffed with pride,
At being marked two-and-three,
And that saucy little dolly girl smiled once more,
For he\u2019d risen in life, do you see?
And it\u2019s so in this world; for I\u2019m in love with a maiden of high degree;
But I am only marked one-and-nine and the other chap\u2019s two-and-three\u2014
And a girl never looks at one-and-nine, with a possible two-and-three!<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>
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A big hit for Fanny Wentworth in the Halls of the 1890s. It refers to the Lowther Arcade, a late Georgian shopping arcade famous for its toy shops which was demolished in 1902. The song was written and composed by London-based comic actor, Fred Cape, and seems to be the only song he ever published. It was also popular in the early 1900s in America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It features in the repertoire of several traditional singers and is also as a polka in sessions.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
As recorded by Henry Price:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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