Music hall songs

Music hall songs were sung in the music halls by a variety of artistes. Most of them were comic in nature. There are a very large number of music hall songs, and most of them have been forgotten. In London between 1900 and 1910, a single publishing company, Francis, Day and Hunter, published between forty and fifty songs a month.

Examples

They number in their tens of thousands and include the following:

• "After the Ball" (Charles K. Harris)
• "Any Old Iron" (music by Charles Collins; lyrics by Terry Sheppard) sung by Harry Champion.
• "Boiled Beef and Carrots" (Charles Collins and Fred Murray) sung by Harry Champion.
• "The Boy I Love is up in the Gallery" (George Ware) sung by Nellie Power and Marie Lloyd.
• "Burlington Bertie from Bow" (William Hargreaves) sung by Ella Shields.
• "Daddy Wouldn't Buy Me a Bow Wow" (Joseph Tabrar) sung by Vesta Victoria.
• "Daisy Bell" (Harry Dacre) sung by Katie Lawrence.
• "Down at the Old Bull and Bush" (music by Harry von Tilzer; lyrics by Andrew B. Sterling) sung by Florrie Forde.
• "Goodbye, Dolly Grey" (Paul Barnes; Will. D. Cobb) sung by George Lashwood.
• "Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly?" (C.W. Murphy and Will Letters) sung by Florrie Ford.
• "Hello, Hello, Who's Your Lady Friend?" (music by Harry Fragson; lyrics by Worton David and Bert Lee) sung by Mark Sheridan.
• "Hold Your Hand Out, Naughty Boy" (C.W. Murphy and Will Letters) sung by Florrie Ford.
• "I'm Henery the Eighth, I Am" (1911) (Fred Murray and Bert Weston) sung by Harry Champion.
• "I Live in Trafalgar Square" (C.W. Murphy) sung by Morny Cash.
• "If It Wasn't For The 'Ouses In Between" (music by George Le Brunn; lyrics by Edgar Bateman) sung by Gus Elen.
• "It's a Bit of a Ruin That Cromwell Knocked About a Bit" (Harry Bedford; Terry Sullivan) sung by Marie Lloyd.
• "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" (1914) (Jack Judge and Henry James "Harry" Williams) sung by Florrie Forde.
• "Let's All Go Down the Strand" (Harry Castling and C.W. Murphy) sung by Charles R. Whittle.
• "My Old Man (Said Follow the Van)" (Charles Collins and Fred W. Leigh) sung by Marie Lloyd.
• "Nellie Dean" (Henry W. Armstrong) sung by Gertie Gitana.
• "Oh! It's a lovely war" sung by Ella Shields.
• "Oh, Mr. Porter" (music by George Le Brunn; lyrics by Thomas Le Brunn) sung by Marie Lloyd.
• "Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay" (Harry J. Sayers) sung by Lottie Collins.
• "The Man Who Broke the Bank of Monte Carlo" (Fred Gilbert) sung by Charles Coborn.
• "To Be There" (1886) (written by C.A. Page ; composed by J. Iliffe.) sung by Sam Torr.
• "When Father Papered the Parlour" (Weston and Barnes) sung by Billy Williams.
• "Where Did You Get That Hat?" (James Rolmaz) sung by J.C Heffron.
• "Waiting At The Church" (Henry E. Pether; Frank W. Leigh) sung by Vesta Victoria.
• "Your Baby Has Gone Down The Plughole" (also known as "A Mother's Lament" and "The Angels' Reply") (Writer unknown, but Ian Whitcomb has stated on the Dr. Demento radio show that the song was written by Karl Marx.) (Original singer unknown) Sung by Martin Carthy 1964, Cream 1967, Harry H. Corbett 1974.

References

Peter Gammond (1971) Your Own, Your Very Own!: A Music Hall Scrapbook. London: Ian Allan