Lyr Req: Nobody Knows Where the Old Man Goes

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Nobody Knows Where the Old Man Goes
From: GUEST,me
Date: 12 Feb 12 - 11:25 AM

The Sheet Music is on eBay for this..Item#        150727161862

Subject: Lyr Add: NOBODY KNOWS WHERE THE OLD MAN GOES
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 22 Aug 05 - 02:04 AM

From the National Library of Australia (see link above):

NOBODY KNOWS WHERE THE OLD MAN GOES
(Words, Thomas J. Gray. Music, W. Raymond Walker. 1912.)

1. Sh! Sh! I'm working on a mystery.
Send out for Sherlock Holmes.
Sh! Sh! For all our fam'ly history
Is spoken in low tones.
The neighbors are all wise to it. They're talking on the sly.
You see them nudge each other when our family passes by.
My old man is to blame for it, for what do you suppose?
He goes out ev'ry ev'ning and we don't know where he goes.
Sister Sue, brother Lou,
Are working on the myst'ry but they haven't got a clue.

CHORUS: Nobody knows where the old man goes,
But he takes his dancing shoes.
He says to exercise but we know it's not.
He goes someplace to do the "Turkey Trot."
He glides all around,
Jumping up and down.
He's always jumping on his toes.
Now I think that he's in love,
For he's full of "Bunny Hugs"
Nobody knows where the old man goes.

2. Oh! Oh! Now things are getting terrible.
He bought a high silk lid.
Oh! Oh! Ma says that it's unbearable.
He called her big fat kid.
He shaves himself now twice a day. He's wearing sporty ties.
My sister says he uses her dark pencil on his eyes.
Why ev'ry night the fam'ly cries, but he don't heed our tears.
He simply dolls himself up cute and slyly disappears.
Down the stoop he will scoot
And run around the corner like a man "looping the loop."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Nobody Knows Where the Old Man Goes
From: Les B
Date: 16 Aug 05 - 11:37 PM

It also seems to work if you click on the "thumbnail" button at the lower left, then when they all come up small, click on the one page you want and it will come up large.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Nobody Knows Where the Old Man Goes
From: GUEST,margaret
Date: 16 Aug 05 - 10:27 PM

Hey Bob, thanks for your success and willingness to find the song...page 1 and all....I can't wait to find someone that can play it so I get some idea of the tune....it has been fun.....to all of you.....THANKS!!!!!!
PS I hope the Old Man Goes Dancing.....I'll have to read the verses clearly...maybe even between the lines..

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Nobody Knows Where the Old Man Goes
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 16 Aug 05 - 10:20 PM

G'day Q,

I certainly can't find anything on the web to support or deny an Australian connection ... beyond the fact that the sheet music was printed here. I'll run it past some people whose interests run closer to this genre. (I might not ask too loud among the NLA types ... they might decide it doesn't belong in our National collection - and then were will you find it?)

Regards,

Bob

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Nobody Knows Where the Old Man Goes
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 16 Aug 05 - 09:29 PM

Forgot to say Thank You for finding out how to get the first page. Cute song!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Nobody Knows Where the Old Man Goes
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 16 Aug 05 - 09:28 PM

Was Walker or Gray Australian? The NLA notes to their collection says that the material p;aced on line has a connection with Australia.

Walker collaborated on at least one song with Irving Berlin, "Oh, What I Know About You." Walker and Gray wrote the music to "Good Night Nurse," also 1912, which was popular in the States.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Nobody Knows Where the Old Man Goes
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 16 Aug 05 - 08:54 PM

G'day again Margaret,

At first, the NLA reckoned the score was OK ... then they had a closer look and came back with a 'work-around' that should get you the first page - until they fix their "glitch":

Dear Bob,

On second look I can see that on the drop down menu there is no page 1 listed. There is a technical glitch here I will try to get resolved.

You can still view the complete score by using the arrow buttons on the top right of the screen to scroll through the pages instead. This way page 1 of the score does appear.

If you would like to print the score, click on the print button on the top left of the page and the complete score will come up so you can print it in its entirety.

Kind regards,

Rashmi Madan

Music & Dance Branch
National Library of Australia
Parkes Place ACT 2600

Visit...
www.musicaustralia.org
www.australiadancing.org

Best of luck: Now you may find out where the old man goes!

Regards,

Bob

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Nobody Knows Where the Old Man Goes
From: GUEST,margaret
Date: 16 Aug 05 - 12:42 AM

I also emailed the National Library of Australia...so may page one will appear....wouldn't that make me on happy lady!!!!!Thanks again..

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Nobody Knows Where the Old Man Goes
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 16 Aug 05 - 12:24 AM

A good song. Surprised it isn't in Levy.

Trivia alert!
Charlotte Brontë- "I haven't got a clue." 1849, in the novel "Shirley."

Lighter (Dictionary of American Slang) notes that "clueless" in the sense of ignorant is found in the OED- 1943, Ward- Jackson, in "Piece of Cake."
It is probably older.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Nobody Knows Where the Old Man Goes
From: Amos
Date: 15 Aug 05 - 11:53 PM

Fascinating...I dunno what's missing from Page 1, but this is the earliest mention I have seen of the popular expression "they haven't got a clue", which has lately evolved into "He/she is just clueless".


A

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Nobody Knows Where the Old Man Goes
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 15 Aug 05 - 11:49 PM

Why not try to contact them and ask for the text of the missing page?
The contact form is here: Nat Lib Australia

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Nobody Knows Where the Old Man Goes
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 15 Aug 05 - 11:47 PM

G'day Margaret,

I've e-mailed the National Library of Australia staff about the missing page. (I just sent it to the standard site contact ... maybe going direct to the boss, Robyn Holmes, is a bit de trop at this stage.)

When I get a reply, I'll pass it on.

Regards,

Bob

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Nobody Knows Where the Old Man Goes
From:
Date: 15 Aug 05 - 11:28 PM

Thank all of you for the fast response....but I wonder where I could find page one? I am NEW to using this service...but this is more than I knew yesterday....which I thank all of you....
Margaret

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Nobody knows where the old man goes when
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 15 Aug 05 - 10:09 PM

G'day Margaret & Masato,

Hmmm... I think the National Library of Australia scanning staff got confused by all the "promo" pages for other songs in sheet music ... and left out Page 1 of the song you actually want! I should go and nag Robin, at the NLA, to fix it ...

Regards,

Bob

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Nobody Knows Where the Old Man Goes
From: masato sakurai
Date: 15 Aug 05 - 10:04 PM

I sent her an e-mail too.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Nobody knows where the old man goes w
From: masato sakurai
Date: 15 Aug 05 - 09:49 PM

Australian sheet music edition is at National Library of Australia.

Creator: Walker, W. Raymond.
Contributor: Gray, Thos. J. (Thomas J.)
Title: Nobody knows where the old man goes [music] / lyric by Thos. J. Gray ; music by W. Raymond Walker.
Date: 1912
Published: Sydney : W.J. Deane & Son, c1912.

---

E-Mail sent.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Nobody knows where the old man goes when
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 15 Aug 05 - 08:22 PM

"Nobody knows where the old man goes," 1912, Music Walker, lyrics, Gray. Didn't find the sheet music at either Levy or American Memory.

Subject: Lyr Req: Nobody knows where the old man goes when
From:
Date: 15 Aug 05 - 08:12 PM

This is the opening line of a song my grandmother told me on her death bed... the line or lines went:

Nobody knows where the old man goes when he gets his dancing shoes;
some say it's music but it's not,something more like a turkey trot...

(that is all the song I have ever heard...anyone out there know the song...by name and the other words?Thanks Margaret