{"id":6076,"date":"2020-10-27T12:35:14","date_gmt":"2020-10-27T12:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=6076"},"modified":"2025-12-10T07:31:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T07:31:13","slug":"are-we-to-part-like-this-bill","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/are-we-to-part-like-this-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Are we to part like this Bill?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>Are we to part like this<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td> 1903
<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Writer\/composer<\/td>Harry Castling & Charles Collins<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN17700<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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

\n
Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Kate Carney<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Source Singers<\/strong>
unidentified 1960-04-02 England
Copper, Jim 1936 England : Sussex
Costello, Cecilia 1967 England : Warwickshire
Brazil, Danny 1978 England : Gloucestershire
Messenger, Alice 1975-80 England : Suffolk
Birch, Robert 1982 England : Yorkshire
Smith, Wiggy 1995 England : Gloucestershire<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
Three weeks ago, no longer\nI was as gay as a bird on the wing\nBut since me and Bill have been parted, you know\nLife is a blank and it's changed everything\nI saw him out with another last night\nNone can guess how I felt at the sight\nWith tears in my eyes that I tried to keep back\nI crept to his side and said,\n\nAre we to part like this Bill\nAre we to part this way?\nWho's it to be, 'er or me?\nDon't be afraid to say\nIf everything's over between us\nDon't never pass me by\n'Cos you and me still friends can be\nFor the sake of the days gone by.<\/em>\n\nWe went to school together\nLived side by side, me and Bill, in the mews\nWhen 'e was ill, too, I stayed up for nights\nNursed him - to do it I'd never refuse\n'E used to tell me his wife I should be\nI never thought that he'd turn against me\nSleeping or waking, at work or at home\nI find myself murmuring this,\n\nDown in a little laundry\nMe and 'er work side by side every day\nShe was my pal and I looked to 'er well\nTrusted and helped 'er in every way\nStill if my Bill cares more for 'er than me\nI wish 'em no harm no, but prosperity\nI try to forget him, but each day I find\nThese words running through my mind.<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
A sentimental song from the turn-of-the-century halls, remembered by many traditional singers in the late 20th century. It was written and composed by  Harry Castling<\/a> and Charles Collins<\/a>..<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kate Carney<\/strong> (1868-1950) was for many the Cockney Queen of the turn-of-the-century music halls. McQueen Pope seems to be projecting perhaps an idealised view of London in his description of her:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
a wonderful woman who sang wonderful songs. She was the type that’s sold flowers around Eros in Piccadilly Circus, to whom everyone was a “duck” or a “dear” or a “love”, who attended Covent Garden Market in the early morning to buy their wares. Or sat by their husbands barrow selling good stuff honestly at cheap prices \u2013 hard-working, honest people<\/p>\nMacQueen Pope, The Melody Lingers p342<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
 Carney expressed something similar, but perhaps with less of a romanticised view:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
I have shown the English public types of the flower girls, the coster girls, the factory workers and the other toilers from the slums, not as she might be supposed to be, but as she is. I know the London working girl. I ought to, for I was one.<\/p>\nKate Carney quoted in Baker, p175<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Carney was second generation Music Hall , the daughter of performers . She started her career singing Irish songs, but gradually replaced them with the Cockney songs for which she is remembered. An extremely successful performer who was cautious with her money, after the First World War she could afford to pick and choose when she performed which she continued to do intermittently until 1949 . <\/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