Jim, is the sheet music available for viewing?

There are two transcriptions in the Digital Tradition. I think this one is the better one: http://www.mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=6891 - filename[ RESTDAY

The one line I question is "tune the Gramophone" - "mend the Gramophone" from the other version makes more sense, and that's what's in the recording I found. Oh, and I think it should be "boil the kids" in the third verse.

The other transcription is almost the same, but has many more errors: http://www.mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=8434.

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I found the song on a wonderful Musical Traditions CD, Just Another Saturday Night - Sussex 1960 (MT CD 309-10). Here are the lyrics and notes from the Musical Traditions Website, with my corrections and Digital Tradition formatting:

16 The Rest of the Day is Your Own (sung by Cyril Philips) (Roud 1485)
(Recorded on 18.2.60 at The Cherry Tree, Copthorne)

THE REST OF THE DAY IS YOUR OWN
(Worton David and J.P. Long)

One day when I was out of work a job I went to seek
To be a farmer's boy.
At last I found an easy job at half a crown a week,
To be a farmer's boy.
The farmer said, "I think I got the very job for you.
Your duties will be light and this is all you'll have to do...

"Rise at three, every morn,
Milk the cow with the crumpled horn,
Feed the pig, clean the sty,
Teach the pigeons the way to fly,
Plough the field, mow the hay,
Help the cocks and hens to lay,
Sow the seeds, tend the crops,
Chase the flies from the turnip tops,
Clean the knives, black the shoes,
Dust the kitchen and sweep the flue,
Help the wife, wash the pots,
Grow the cabbages and car-rots,
Make the beds, dust the coal,
Mend the gramophone...
Then, if there's no more work to do...
The rest of the day is your own."

I scratched me head and thought it would be absolutely prime
To be a farmer's boy.
The farmer said, "Of course, you'll have to do some overtime
When you're a farmer's boy."
Said he, "The duties that I've given you, you'll be quickly through,
So I've been thinking up a few more jobs that you can do...

"Skim the milk, make the cheese,
Chop the meat for the sausage-ees,
Bath the kids, mend their clothes,
Use your dial to scare the crows,
In the milk put the chalk,
Shave the hairs on the pickled pork,
Shoe the horse, rake the coal,
Take the cat for his midnight stroll,
Cook the food, scrub the stairs,
Teach the parrot to say his prayers,
When the wife's got the gout,
Rub her funny-bone...
Then, if there's no more work to do...
The rest of the day is your own."

I thought it was a shame to take the money, you can bet,
To be a farmer's boy,
And so I wrote me duties down In case I should forget
I was a farmer's boy.
It took all night to write them down—I didn't go to bed—
And somehow I've got all mixed up and this is how they read...

"Rise at three every morn,
Milk the hen with the crumpled horn,
Scrub the wife every day,
Teach the nanny-goat how to lay,
Shave the cat, mend the cheese,
Fit the tights on the sausage-ees,
Bath the pigs, break the pots,
Boil the kids with a few car-rots,
Roast the horse, dust the bread,
Put the cocks and hens to bed,
Boots and shoes black with chalk,
Shave the knobs on the pickled pork...
All the rest I have forgot,
For somehow it has flown,
But I got the sack this morning so...
The rest of my life is my own.


Cyril considered this "the oldest song in my repertoire ... a song about a boy working on a farm. A man named Kemp Scott used to sing it at the village smoking concerts in the twenties. He was a good entertainer and I remember him from Eastbourne."

Of course, it's not old at all - as usually seems to be the case when a singer says something of this sort. It was written in 1915 by David & Long, and sung on the halls, and recorded, by Jack Lane - which is probably where Kemp Scott heard it. Jack Lane recorded this song on Regal-G7032 in 1915, but only two verses. Cyril's version is almost exactly the same as the sheet-music. The other side of Jack's record is Oh, Dear, What Can the Matter Be?

THE REST OF THE DAY'S YOUR OWN
Written and composed by Worton David and J.P. Long; sung by Jack Lane.
London: Francis, Day & Hunter, ©1915.