Songs/poems our Mothers sang

CatB14

I was trying to find the lyrics to the fairy song and this thread came up! My dad used to sing it to me and I wish I could remember all the words to sing to my own children, I know this is an old thread but on the off chance you might see this, please could you share the lyrics?

The Faery Song from The Immortal Hour?

How beautiful they are,
The lordly ones
That dwell in the hills
In the hollow hills…

That one? I can’t remember all the words offhand but if you google “The Faery Song” by Rutland Boughton I’m sure youl’ll find it. Lovely song.

Most of the singing in our house was done by me. I know almost all the songs mentioned here. My mother played the piano but she didn’t sing. My father couldn’t do either.

Oh you can come and see the baby any time you care to call.
He's lying with his mammy on a wee white shawl
He looks so neat and spanky
Like a dumpling in a hanky
And we're going to call him William Angus Jamieson Jock McCall.
My dad sang that to me when I was small.
Alli, balli Alli balli bee
Sitting on my mammy's knee
Greetin for a wee baubee
To buy some Coulter's candy
Was another popular one.

Grandmabatty, my children learned Alli Balli Alli Balli Bee as a two part song when they were at school. We used to sing it on long car journeys.
My Granddad used to sing a song about smoking and we all joined in enthusiastically. I don’t think I remember it all but one verse was
Cigarette, cigarette, you’re the fondest true lover I’ll ever discover, and yet, though I kiss you, do you think I will miss you with tender regret . . .
Strangely enough I don’t remember him smoking.

What a great thread!

My mum had a lovely voice but didn't sing too much at home.
I do remember this one though:

Mary Ellen at the pop shop door
A baby in her arms and a bundle on the floor
She asked for seven and sixpence but he only gave her four!
Mary Ellen at the pop shop door...

I was a grown up before I realised what this song was about!

JamesandJon- my MIL sang Suo - Gan, so I have passed it on to my grandchildren. I think it's lovely.
Chardy, the music hall song Oh Oh Antonio was forbidden in the house of my paternal great grandparents. My great grandfather was Antonio, and he had an ice - cream cart !

keepingquiet
We sang
Mary Ellen at the pop shop door
A baby in her arms and a bundle on the floor
She asked for seven and sixpence but he only gave her four!
So she knocked the bloomin’ handle off the pawn shop door!

I didn’t know what it meant either.

Oh I am so glad someone else knows this song!

I think your version is more sanitised, because I was told it was about prostitution- but maybe not?

Pawn shops were rife in those days- maybe they were called pop shops but as a child I didn't know either.

Thankfully we never had to pawn anything- but we once saw a woman at a bus stop with a suitcase and my mum commented after that she was going to to pawn shop... I don't know how she knew but maybe the suitcase was a signal?

My mother was deaf so couldn't listen to music. All she would sing would be hymns her Methodist minister step father played on the piano with her. She had some strange interpretations of the words. My brother and I used to laugh at 'Itchy on earth hath you neon' I think the correct line was something like 'Yet ye on earth hath union'.
My father, however, used to sing nonsense songs like 'Susanna's a funical man' with pig noises, and I loved 'Brown skinned girl stay home and mind baby', very non-PC now I expect.

I didn't notice that this was an ancient thread, but it is a lovely one to revive.

My Dad used to sing this Wurzel’s song. Not very nice considering we are RSPB members.

* Chardy* Oh Oh Antonio wax my party piece when I was four. My gran used to stand me on the table so I could sing to all and sundry.