Bits o' Bromley Street
Vocals John Howarth, Gerry Kearns and Larry Kearns; Guitar Gerry Kearns; Banjo John Howarth; Mandolin and Whistle Larry Kearns.
BITS O’ BROMLEY STREET
Vote, vote, vote for Mavis Johnson,
She calls Michael in the rope,
Now Michael is the one,
Who will have a bit o’ fun,
But he won’t play with Mavis anymore.
That’s a lie.
All in a bottle of gin, all out a bottle of stout,
All over, bottle of clover, all through a bottle of glue.
As I was in the kitchen, doing a bit of stitching,
In came a Boggy Man and knocked me out.
Our Larry he’s a funnion with a face like a scally onion,
He’s a nose like a squashed tomato,
And legs like cloths props.
Laugh at him, look at him, throw a bit of muck at him
Look at him, laugh at him throw a bit of fat at him.
Tell tail titch your mother can’t stitch,
Your father can’t walk with a walking stick.
Your daft, your potty, your made of treacle toffee,
I like treacle toffee but I don’t like you
On the mountain lives a lady, who she is I do not know,
All she wants is gold and silver, all she wants is a nice young man.
Call on your very best friend, your very best friend, your very best friend
Call on your very best friend, and tell me who it will be.
Oily boily Bob, he bought a twopenny cob, a bit for thee and a bit for me,
And a bit for oily Bob.
And if your Bob doesn’t give our Bob, that bob that your Bob owes our Bob,
Our Bob will give your Bob a bob on the nose.
Paddy on the railway picking up stones, along came an engine and broke his bones,
Oh said Paddy that’s not fair, Oh said the engine you shouldn’t have been there,
Along came another whilst Paddy was there, it pinched his trousers and parted his hair.
It made the people laugh and stare to see poor Paddy with his bum bum bare.
Chin chin chinaman has a little shop, he sell eccles cakes, ginger beer and pop.
Chin chin chinaman has a little shop, chin chin chinaman chop chop chop
Left right a peneth a tripe, I lost mi mother on Saturday night, and were do you think I found her,
In the lobby kissin’ a bobby, and all the kids around her.
Where do you live? down a grid. What number? cucumber. What street? Sweaty feet.
If you tred on a nick, you’ll marry a stick and a black-jack will come to your wedding.
While shepherds wash their feet by night, all seated on the ground.
The angel of the Lord came down and he paid for pints all round.
Good King Wenceslas looked out from his bedroom window,
He fell out and he burnt his snout on a red-hot cinder,
Brightly shone his nose that night, though the frost was cruel,
When Miss Hickey came in sight, riding on a mule.
BITS O’ BROMLEY STREET
Vote, vote, vote for Mavis Johnson,
She calls Michael in the rope,
Now Michael is the one,
Who will have a bit o’ fun,
But he won’t play with Mavis anymore.
That’s a lie.
All in a bottle of gin, all out a bottle of stout,
All over, bottle of clover, all through a bottle of glue.
As I was in the kitchen, doing a bit of stitching,
In came a Boggy Man and knocked me out.
Our Larry he’s a funnion with a face like a scally onion,
He’s a nose like a squashed tomato,
And legs like cloths props.
Laugh at him, look at him, throw a bit of muck at him
Look at him, laugh at him throw a bit of fat at him.
Tell tail titch your mother can’t stitch,
Your father can’t walk with a walking stick.
Your daft, your potty, your made of treacle toffee,
I like treacle toffee but I don’t like you
On the mountain lives a lady, who she is I do not know,
All she wants is gold and silver, all she wants is a nice young man.
Call on your very best friend, your very best friend, your very best friend
Call on your very best friend, and tell me who it will be.
Oily boily Bob, he bought a twopenny cob, a bit for thee and a bit for me,
And a bit for oily Bob.
And if your Bob doesn’t give our Bob, that bob that your Bob owes our Bob,
Our Bob will give your Bob a bob on the nose.
Paddy on the railway picking up stones, along came an engine and broke his bones,
Oh said Paddy that’s not fair, Oh said the engine you shouldn’t have been there,
Along came another whilst Paddy was there, it pinched his trousers and parted his hair.
It made the people laugh and stare to see poor Paddy with his bum bum bare.
Chin chin chinaman has a little shop, he sell eccles cakes, ginger beer and pop.
Chin chin chinaman has a little shop, chin chin chinaman chop chop chop
Left right a peneth a tripe, I lost mi mother on Saturday night, and were do you think I found her,
In the lobby kissin’ a bobby, and all the kids around her.
Where do you live? down a grid. What number? cucumber. What street? Sweaty feet.
If you tred on a nick, you’ll marry a stick and a black-jack will come to your wedding.
While shepherds wash their feet by night, all seated on the ground.
The angel of the Lord came down and he paid for pints all round.
Good King Wenceslas looked out from his bedroom window,
He fell out and he burnt his snout on a red-hot cinder,
Brightly shone his nose that night, though the frost was cruel,
When Miss Hickey came in sight, riding on a mule.
Bits o’ Bromley Street
Vocals John Howarth, Gerry Kearns and Larry Kearns; Guitar Gerry Kearns; Banjo John Howarth; Mandolin and Whistle Larry Kearns.
Children’s songs have always been favourites of the Oldham Tinkers, and for a decade now they have been compiling and singing medleys of them. However, It occurred to Gerry lately that the medleys were becoming more and more academic and that they aroused nostalgia amongst adults, they were becoming more and more incomprehensible to the children in the audience. For this reason Larry concentrated on remembering songs , chants and games performed during his own childhood in Bromley Street where he and Gerry were brought up. The resulting medley is authentic in that every part of it relates in Larry’s mind to Bromley Street. The people in the medley are real. Anything in the medley Larry could not remember being sung, said or chanted in Bromley Street was rejected. The Oldham Tinkers are aware that many of the items in the medley were common in nearly every street in the country and that others were isolated. The medley is simplicity itself. Children can easily identify with it and it still brings back to adults fond memories of childhood.
Vocals John Howarth, Gerry Kearns and Larry Kearns; Guitar Gerry Kearns; Banjo John Howarth; Mandolin and Whistle Larry Kearns.
Children’s songs have always been favourites of the Oldham Tinkers, and for a decade now they have been compiling and singing medleys of them. However, It occurred to Gerry lately that the medleys were becoming more and more academic and that they aroused nostalgia amongst adults, they were becoming more and more incomprehensible to the children in the audience. For this reason Larry concentrated on remembering songs , chants and games performed during his own childhood in Bromley Street where he and Gerry were brought up. The resulting medley is authentic in that every part of it relates in Larry’s mind to Bromley Street. The people in the medley are real. Anything in the medley Larry could not remember being sung, said or chanted in Bromley Street was rejected. The Oldham Tinkers are aware that many of the items in the medley were common in nearly every street in the country and that others were isolated. The medley is simplicity itself. Children can easily identify with it and it still brings back to adults fond memories of childhood.
FOR OLD TIME’S SAKE L.P. 12TS276
First published by TOPIC 1975
Produced by Tony Engle
Recorded by Tony Engle, London, July 1975
Side 2 track 6, ‘For Old Time’s Sake’ recorded by Pete Johnson at Piccadilly Radio Studios, July 1975
Notes by The Oldham Tinkers and A.L. Lloyd
Sleeve désigne by Tony Engle
Sleeve picture ‘Children’s Games by Tom Dodson, courtesy of Bell Galleries Publications.
Released as a CD 2006
FOR OLD TIMES’S SAKE PIERCD 507
Pier Records is a Wooden Hill Recordings Ltd label
Released under license from Topic Records Ltd, England.
First published by TOPIC 1975
Produced by Tony Engle
Recorded by Tony Engle, London, July 1975
Side 2 track 6, ‘For Old Time’s Sake’ recorded by Pete Johnson at Piccadilly Radio Studios, July 1975
Notes by The Oldham Tinkers and A.L. Lloyd
Sleeve désigne by Tony Engle
Sleeve picture ‘Children’s Games by Tom Dodson, courtesy of Bell Galleries Publications.
Released as a CD 2006
FOR OLD TIMES’S SAKE PIERCD 507
Pier Records is a Wooden Hill Recordings Ltd label
Released under license from Topic Records Ltd, England.