Yip I addy I ay

AKA Yip I addy
First Published 1908
Writer/composer Will D Cobb and George Grossmith Jnr / John H Flynn Roud RN31109

Music Hall Performers George Grossmith Jnr in "Our Miss Gibbs"
Folk performances Collected from the singing of:
US Soldiers and sailors; Europe; 1917-18
Bond, Frank; England : Hampshire; 1965		 

As adapted by George Grossmith, from the British Sheet Music (Chappell and Co)

Young Herman Von Bellow, a musical fellow,
Played on a big cello each night;
At a restaurant where
All the gallant and fair
Would drop in for a chat and a bite
He played tunes that you know
By Wagner and Gounod
To give the gay building a tone
But the place began swaying
When he started playing
A wonderful waltz of his own

Yip I Addy I Ay , I Ay!
E Yip I Addy I Ay!
I don’t care what becomes of me,
When he plays me that sweet melody.
Yip I Addy I Ay , I Ay!
My heart wants to shout “Hooray!” (Hooray)
Sing of joy, sing of bliss,
Home was never like this,
Yip I Addy I Ay!
[chorus x2]

Now, some sort of music 
Makes me sick and you sick,
And some kind is noble and grand;
But the kind that our hero
Was fiddling like Nero
Was of a quite different brand.
And sweet Sally Frampton
Who lived down at Hampton
Her train home was trying to decide
But when Herr Von Bellow
Began on his cello
She tore up her ticket and cried:

This fellow von Bellow
With cello so mellow
Proposed to Sally who said
"I'll be yours on condition
Your sweet composition
You'll play me each day when we are wed"
Such excitement he was in
He bought some more rosin
The morning the wedding bells rang,
And when they'd addressed 'em
And joined 'em and blessed 'em
She kissed all the curates and sang:

A song which originated in the musical theatre rather than the Music Hall, it was originally written for an American audience by Will Cobb and John H Flynn to be performed in a burlesque of The Merry Widow . The lyrics were adapted by George Grossmith and he performed the adapted version at The Gaiety Theatre in the 2 act musical play Our Miss Gibbs. The song does not appear in the original list of songs associated with Our Miss Gibbs when it opened in Jan 1909, but it seems have been introduced later that year. Several commercial recordings were released in 1909 both in America and Britain. There have subsequently been a multitude of recordings – it became something of a pop/trad jazz standard.

The song seems to have been popular amongst American and British troops in the latter years of World War I and was later collected from singing of Frank Bond in 1965

As recorded by George Grossmith:

Sources: