{"id":3744,"date":"2020-06-17T17:39:37","date_gmt":"2020-06-17T17:39:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=3744"},"modified":"2025-12-18T07:09:45","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T07:09:45","slug":"mucking-about-the-garden","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/mucking-about-the-garden\/","title":{"rendered":"Mucking about the garden"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>Muckin’ about in the garden<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1929 <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Lyrics<\/strong><\/td>Q Cumber (Lesley Sarony)<\/td>Music<\/strong><\/td>Lesley Sarony<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN5373<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Jack Hylton with Lesley Sarony and Tommy Handley<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Source Singers<\/strong>
Fred Moss and Daudy Dockerill, 1964\/65, Suffolk, England
James Smith, 1975 to 79, Suffolk, England
George Spicer, 1977, Sussex, England
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We're a happy family, I'd like you all to know. \nWe live with Uncle Joe, in a little bungalow.\nIt has got a garden and it keeps him on the go. \nWhen a friend says, \"Where's your uncle?\" We just answer: Oh!\n\nHe's mucking about the garden, always on the go. \nSeeds begin to show. Weeds begin to grow. \nMucking about the garden, dear old Uncle Joe \nWorks for hours among the flowers, and then begins to crow:<\/em>\n\nEverything is lovely-uvely everywhere, everywhere. \nMorning noon and night he's on the go. Oh!\nMucking about the garden, dear old Uncle Joe Sings, \n\"Ripe tomatoes, apples or plums\": Watching his onion grow. <\/em>\n\nUncle Joe, he thought that it was time to settle down\nHe'd found a girl in town, by the name of Learie Brown\nI said \"If he gets wed he'll never have a family,\nFor its cert that on his wedding night he's sure to be ...\n\nHe's mucking about the garden, always on the go.\nSeeds begin to show. Weeds begin to grow.\nMucking about the garden, dear old Uncle Joe\nWorks for hours among the flowers, and then begins to crow:<\/em>\n\nEverything is lovely-uvely everywhere, everywhere.\nMorning noon and night he's on the go. Oh!\nMucking about the garden, dear old Uncle Joe Sings,\n\"Ripe tomatoes, apples or plums\": Giving his nose a blow<\/em>\n\n\n\nEverything is lovely-uvely everywhere, everywhere.\nMorning noon and night he's on the go. Oh!\nMucking about the garden, dear old Uncle Joe Sings,\nSits among the cabbages and peas, watching his onions grow!<\/em>\n<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Another music hall song of the early 20th century still being sung in the 1960s and 70s by source singers in the pubs of south-east England. Neil Lanham recorded it from the singing of Fred Moss and Daudy Dockerill in the mid-1960s,  available on the CD Comic songs of the Stour Valley<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Written and performed in the Halls by the rather wonderful Lesley Sarony,<\/a> who also wrote I lift up my finger and I say tweet tweet<\/em> and Jollity Farm<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A recording or download of this song can be purchased from Windyridge CDs.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n