{"id":27699,"date":"2025-07-12T06:25:34","date_gmt":"2025-07-12T06:25:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=27699"},"modified":"2025-07-12T06:43:52","modified_gmt":"2025-07-12T06:43:52","slug":"early-closing-day","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/early-closing-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Early Closing Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>Its my day off tonight
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First Published<\/td>1913<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>Fred E Terry and WH Wallis<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN29845<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Fred Keeton<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Simmonds, E.W. ; England : West Midlands : 1971<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Early closing day (It\u2019s my day off tonight)<\/strong>
Words and music by Fred E Terry and W Wallace
Sung by Fred Keeton

What a fine for situation for one\u2019s constitution
Is Early Closing Day!
The government say we must take a half-day,
Away from our shops set aside just for play
I\u2019m married that\u2019s all that\u2019s the matter with me;
There\u2019s seventeen branches from our family tree.
Hurrah for Lloyd George from the land of the leek!
It\u2019s him that I blame for this half-day a week.

And it\u2019s my day off tonight, it\u2019s my night off today.
Early closing orders of course we must obey.
I shut up the clock as the shop\u2019s striking one.
It\u2019s lovely to know that your day\u2019s work is done.
Then I rush home like mad to the wife and the nippers,
Ten of us dine off a sirloin of kippers.
Then off comes my coat and I pull out my hands,
I wash all the dishes, the pots and the pans, 
I get out the hearthstone and whitewash the grate,
I black lead the butter and scrub little Kate,
I wash out the handkerchiefs used by the twins,
And hot them Swistle-nest milk in their tins.
I\u2019ve got nothing to do only what I do
On my early Closing Day!<\/em>

<\/em>There\u2019s no wife about,  \u2018cos it\u2019s her evening out
On my early Closing Day!
As I walk indoors she walks out just because
A woman wants her half-day off same as yours.
The children lor love \u2018em and curse \u2018em the dears,
With Birch broom and shovel, I shove up their tears.
This half-day off is the \u201cmakings\u201d of me,
I feel twice as strong as a weak cup of tea.

And it\u2019s my day off tonight, it\u2019s my night off today.
Early closing orders of course we must obey.
With needle and cotton I mend the kids\u2019 suits,
I get some brown paper and mend all their boots.
And a woodbine cigar end I puff like a masher,
Whilst making beef tea from a fat bacon rasher.
I\u2019m bound to have corns \u2018round my knees, on my neck
Thro standing up straight like a teetotal wreck.
I clean all the windows with nugget and soap,
The outside I polish with cart grease and rope, 
I scrub all the floors with one pair of fives,
And sharpen the handles of our Sunday knives.
It\u2019s a pastime to pass time, to pass time away
On Early Closing Day!<\/em>

To get some more splosh in I do a week\u2019s washing
On early Closing Day!
The neighbours all think that I\u2019ve taken to drink
When they hear me open a bottle of ink.
That starts the ball rolling, it does on my soul!
I roll down the garden and roll up the pole.
There\u2019s no doubt that George Lloyd ought to be blessed,
I\u2019m tired of my life, through this half-a-day\u2019s rest

And it\u2019s my day off tonight, it\u2019s my night off today.
Early closing orders of course we must obey.
To keep myself fit, and from getting too fat, 
 I shake all the doorsteps and wipe down the mat.
All the neighbours are jealous because I\u2019m so busy,
They look at my apron and say \u201cStick it Lizzie!\u201d
My wife she rolls home from the club about three
Next morning in charge of a \u201cParker,  PC\u201d
Kicks me out of the bed and flies at my throat
And say she\u2019s been out in search of a vote
She knocks me about like a terrible Turk
Till the time comes to start, to start, to starting for work.
It\u2019s a pleasure I treasure this half day of leisure
On Early Closing Day!<\/em>
<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
A song originally written in 1913 by Fred E Terry and \u00a0WH Wallis<\/a> – performed in the Halls by Fred Keeton. It was collected in 1971 from the singing of EW Simmonds by Roy Palmer.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>
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Early 20th century Music Hall songwriters wrote a number of songs critical of Lloyd George and the Liberal welfare reforms of the 1906-1914 and 1916-22 governments. Early closing day<\/em> 0ffers a comic critique of the Shops Act of 1911, which gave shop workers a minimum of half a day off a week. It echoes the themes in three later songs , all written by Weston and Lee:<\/p>\n\n\n\n