Lyr Req: Songs by Harry Clifton (1832-1872)

Subject: RE: Help: Harry Clifton Songwriter
From: Artful Codger
Date: 18 May 10 - 10:32 AM

Does that mean the round's on you?

Subject: RE: Help: Harry Clifton Songwriter
From: GUEST, Sminky
Date: 18 May 10 - 10:48 AM

"A Chat with David Gray

On Monday, May 1st, 1865 - so well do I remember the date - I entered the service of Hopwood and Crew, in Bond-street. They were then the publishers of all the popular songs.

...............

I was twelve years with Hopwood and Crew, and in those cirumstances met most of the well-known artists of that day - Harry Clifton, for instance, whose 'motto' songs were mostly set to Mr Coote's waltzes, such as the 'Cornflower', 'Queen of the Harvest' and 'Innocence'."

Era, Sep 25, 1897



"Editorial

Now, Harry Clifton was his own lyric author and composer, and very rarely sang any but his own compositions. In London he was an immense favourite, and made a speciality on motto songs. Amongst these effusions may be mentioned 'Never look behind', 'Up with the lark in the morning', 'It's not the miles we travel', 'There's nothing succeeds like success' and 'Paddle your own canoe', a song that is still sung in remote parts of the country. We heard an old boy of seventy-two struggle through it only a couple of Easters ago.

One scarcely looks for the subject of a comic song in the Bible, but that's where the sentiment of 'Paddle your own canoe' comes from. When this ditty was written - 1863 - Mr J Mcgregor was travelling all over Europe with his celebrated boat, the Rob Roy, and canoes were all the vogue. Mr Clifton also gave 'The dark girl dressed in blue', 'On board the Kangaroo', 'My Matilda Jane', but the greatest of all his successes was undoubtedly 'Pretty Polly Perkins'.

..........

Mr W H Morrish, still happily alive, "ran" Mr Harry Clifton and his concert party through all the principal towns in England in 1867, when 'Polly Perkins' and 'Paddle your own canoe' were, perhaps, the most popular items.

It may be pointed out that at least one song, 'Percy St Barbe', was written and composed by Charles Blatherwick. Many of the composers of the day supplied him with melodies, including F A Springthorpe, J Holbrook, Charles Coote jnr, M Hobson and G Operti. But Harry Clifton did the lion's share of the numberless songs he presented to the laughter-loving world.

Poor Harry Clifton! He was a most successful man, cast off in the very prime of life, for he died as far back as 1872, on July 15th, aged only forty years. But he did more than most of us, for he certainly added to the gaiety of his fellow man and he left behind him several compositions that are still alive."

Era, Jun 3, 1899


"To the Editor of the Era

..............

I may add that I enjoyed the acquaintance of the late Harry Clifton. Harry Clifton was very near my prototype. I made up the characters as he did, and sang his songs long after his death at Evans's Hotel - 'Jolly Old English Squire', 'Welcome as the flowers in May', etc, and Mr Charles Coote, of the firm of Hopwood and Crew, printed my name on the title pages.

Yours faithfully, J W Rowley
156 Lambeth-walk. June 8th."

Era, Jun 10, 1899


The above is presumably the same J W Rowley for whom Joseph Bryan Geoghegan wrote Down in a coal mine.

Subject: RE: Help: Harry Clifton Songwriter
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 18 May 10 - 03:03 PM

As Welcome as the Flowers in May, published by Metzler actually credits Rowley as having sung it, but his name doesn't appear on any of the Hopwood and Crew covers I've seen. The other singer who crops up a lot is Fred French.
I think the editor of Era has got the wrong date on 'Paddle' unless there was an earlier edition. The serial number fits in the 1866 bracket which is the date given by the Era in the contemporary mention.
These early references prior to 1860 are very interesting. We know very little about this period. The Music Hall was just in its infancy then.

I think it says somewhere in the thread earlier on that Fanny emigrated to America in about 1889.

Subject: RE: Help: Harry Clifton Songwriter
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 18 May 10 - 03:16 PM

Here is a much fuller listing of Hopwood and Crew's serial numbers for HC's sheet music chronologically arranged.
1862

407
416

1863

485
492
493
495
496
(589)

1864

516
563
573

1865

588
600
607
703
732

1866

737
760
766
787
795
936
944
952
988
989
995
996
997
(1371)
(1477)

1867

1158
1215
1222
1258
1263
1267
1389

1868

1383
1429
1479
1480
1542
1589
(1893)

1869

(1388)
1601
1656
1723
(2183)

1870

1851
1879
1944
1947
2172 may be later (1871)

Apart from a few misplaced they seem to follow a regular pattern well enough to date any others that turn up without a date.

Subject: RE: Help: Harry Clifton Songwriter
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 18 May 10 - 06:50 PM

Oxford Library OLIS has 85 Clifton songs catalogued online and available for inspection or purchase of copies. Some are in multiple copies and a few are duplicated in the 85.
They are part of the Bodleian Collection pre 1920 Catalogues, either in the Harding Music Collection or in Music Vol III.
Go to the search and bring up authors then enter 'Clifton, Harry'
Useful for serial numbers, dates, lithographs and first lines, etc.

Subject: RE: Help: Harry Clifton Songwriter
From: GUEST, Sminky
Date: 19 May 10 - 06:39 AM

Steve,

Extracts from an account of John Mcgregor, quoting entries in his diary, from the year 1865:

"Idea about canoe voyage was in germ to-day,"
and ten days later, "Canoe project hatched."
On June 21 he wrote, "Went to see my canoe the Rob Roy"
and on the 27th, "Saw the Rob Roy completed."
A month after that he started on his first famous tour.

So an 1863 date for 'Paddle', based on Mcgregor's exploits, is plainly wrong.

In 1890 Fanny Edwards was appearing in 'The Gondoliers', playing the part of the Duchess, at the Chicago Opera House.

Fred French crops up regularly, particularly after HC's death, being credited on a number of occasions with the authorship of HC's songs. Indeed, it was these spurious claims which prompted some of the letters to The Era, quoted above. Mr French "never achieved such success and popularity as Harry Clifton, whose songs he frequently sang" (Era, Jun 3, 1899).

Subject: The Young Man on the Railway
From: Artful Codger
Date: 19 May 10 - 09:27 AM

New thread for the song "The Young Man on the Railway" (or, "The Mail Train Driver"):
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=129575

Subject: RE: Help: Harry Clifton Songwriter
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 19 May 10 - 05:00 PM

I'm about to send the scores for 'Lannigans Ball' and 'Jones's Musical Party'.
If anyone else has any particular preference for a Clifton song not already posted please let me know and I'll do my best. Artful has asked me to prioritise the comic songs and I will do so. If anyone wants any of the motto songs do ask. Even if I haven't got the score I might have the text on a broadside.

Subject: RE: Help: Harry Clifton Songwriter
From: Artful Codger
Date: 20 May 10 - 02:52 AM

Words for "My Old Wife" posted in the thread for "My Rattling Mare and I"; the former was apparently the precursor of the latter, and the tune is the same for both (already posted).

Subject: My Mother-in-Law
From: Artful Codger
Date: 20 May 10 - 05:57 AM

New thread for the song "My Mother-in-Law" (or "Advice to Persons About to Marry"):
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=129590

It seemed a suitable companion piece for "My Old Wife" and "My Rattling Mare and I". A PDF of the sheet music is available in the Lester S. Levy Collection; lyrics and (soon) MIDI are the new thread.

Subject: RE: Help: Harry Clifton Songwriter
From: GUEST, Sminky
Date: 20 May 10 - 10:40 AM

We can now date 'Paddle', 'Kangaroo', 'The hardware line' and 'Girls of ------ Road' to no later than 1865.

The Word on the Street website (courtesy of the National Library of Scotland) has some dated broadsides which themselves list a 'Catalogue of Newest Song' - this one for example (scroll down for the list).

Jemima Brown also appears, again with an 1865 date.

Subject: RE: Help: Harry Clifton Songwriter
From: GUEST, Sminky
Date: 21 May 10 - 06:53 AM

A list of HC titles on sale at The SheetMusic Warehouse:

Forty Years Ago
sung by Fanny Edwards at Harry Cliftons Concerts
W&M: Arthur Willoughby

I Am One of the Olden Time or Fifty Years Ago
sung by Harry Clifton, W&M: H Clifton, Arr. M Hobson

Jones Musical Party (The Comical Concert)
a song of songs sung by Harry Clifton
W&M: H Clifton, Arr. M Hobson

Mary Ann or The Roving Gardener
W&M: Harry Clifton

My Mother in Law or Advice to persons about to Marry
W&M: Harry Clifton

My Old Wife
Characteristic Song sung by Harry Clifton
W&M: H Clifton, Arr. M Hobson

On Board of the Kangaroo
sung by Harry Clifton
W&M: H Clifton, J Candy

Paddle Your Own Canoe
The Celebrated Song - Transcribed for Pianoforte, Written and Sung by Mr Harry Clifton
Transcribed for Pianoforte by Brinley Richards

Paddle your own Canoe
sung by Fred French, also sung by Hary Clifton
Harry Clifton, Arr. M Hobson

The Way to be Happy
a song with a sentiment sung by Harry Clifton, dedicated to Duncan McLaren
W&M: H Clifton

Up with the Lark in the Morning
serio-comic song sung by Harry Clifton
W&M. H Clifton, F A Springthorpe, Arr. M Hobson

Love and Pride
W&M: H Clifton, M Hobson

Modern times or Past and Present
W&M: H Clifton, C Coote Jun

Subject: RE: Help: Harry Clifton Songwriter
From: GUEST, Sminky
Date: 21 May 10 - 09:56 AM

and some more 'no longer available':

A Bit of My Mind
sung by Harry Clifton
Words & Music: Harry Clifton

Bear it like a Man
sung by Harry Clifton
Words & Music: H Clifton, arr. M Hobson

Love and Pride
Words & Music: H Clifton, M Hobson

Never Look Behind or Whats the use of Looking Back
sung by Harry Clifton
dedicated to Mr John Skinner
Words & Music: Harry Clifton

Polly Perkins of Paddington Green or the Broken Hearted Milkman
Words & Music: Harry Clifton, Arr. J Candy

Pulling Hard Against the Stream
Words & Music: M Hobson, H Clifton

Very Suspicious
comic duet sung by Fanny Edwards & Harry Clifton
Words & Music: Harry Clifton, Arr. M Hobson

Where Theres a Will Theres a Way
serio comic song sung by Harry Clifton & Fred French
Words & Music: H Clifton, Arr. M Hobson

Subject: RE: Help: Harry Clifton Songwriter
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 21 May 10 - 03:59 PM

Sminky,
I have a full set on microfiche of 'The Glasgow Poet's Box' which is presumably the dated broadsides you refer to. Clifton seems to have been particularly popular in Glasgow. I haven't registered 'The Girls of _____Road' as a Clifton song. Once again I would imagine this is a Joe Geoghegan song, 'The Girls of Glossop Road'. It starts 'I'm just in the vein to sing you a strain'. I haven't got a note of that particular copy, but in looking in my indexes I found another version 'The Girls Up the Road' printed by Such of London. The song is on our website www.yorkshirefolksong.net sung by Ken Hinchliffe.

Aha! just found another version in the Glasgow Poet's Box where it's called 'The Girls of Paisley Road'. Great stuff. If you hadn't posted that I wouldn't have connected all of these 4 versions. All of this needs transferring to the Geoghegan thread.

Subject: RE: Help: Harry Clifton Songwriter
From: Artful Codger
Date: 21 May 10 - 08:36 PM

"The Girls of ___ Road" is probably "The Girls up the Road" (in the online Bodley collection). Within the lyrics, the road's name is blanked out (as in the first-given title), presumably to avoid lawsuits--it's about hookers.

Subject: RE: Help: Harry Clifton Songwriter
From: Artful Codger
Date: 22 May 10 - 05:38 AM

New thread for "True Blue and Seventy-Two" (cover says "Seventy-Two and Hard as Steel"): http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=129633
With a transcription of the lyrics, and ABC of the melody and (soon) a couple MIDIs.

Subject: RE: Help: Harry Clifton Songwriter
From: Artful Codger
Date: 23 May 10 - 10:14 PM

New thread for "Jemima Brown (the Queen of the Sewing Machine)": http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=12967511
Original sheet music at the Levy. I posted an ABC/MIDI of the melody and linked to lyrics at Word on the Street transcribed from a broadside.

Subject: RE: Help: Harry Clifton Songwriter
From: Artful Codger
Date: 24 May 10 - 02:19 AM

New thread for "Granny Snow": http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=129677
With lyrics, notes and ABC transcription from the original sheet music. MIDI (voice and accompaniment) to follow.

Subject: A Jolly Old Country Squire
From: Artful Codger
Date: 25 May 10 - 03:51 AM

New thread for "A Jolly Old Country Squire" (also titled "The Leicestershire Squire"):
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=129708
With lyrics, notes and ABC transcription from the original sheet music. MIDI of melody to follow.

Subject: RE: Help: Harry Clifton Songwriter
From: GUEST, Sminky
Date: 25 May 10 - 05:45 AM

Steve,

Sorry about my mix-up (again!). HC and JBG have become one and the same person in my head!

Subject: RE: Help: Harry Clifton Songwriter
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 25 May 10 - 03:40 PM

No probs, Sminky.
Hopefully when we've got as much Clifton stuff up there as we can we'll be able to make a start on Joe Geoghegan, and then Harry Fox, Harry Linn, Arthur Lloyd, Sam Cowell etc. All of these left us a decent legacy of folk song.

Subject: Jones' Musical Party
From: Artful Codger
Date: 27 May 10 - 02:27 AM

New thread for "Jones' Musical Party":
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=129753
This is a rather long piece, a "song of songs". A polyphonic MIDI of the whole piece is on the way; meantime, there are ABCs of the main parts, as well as the usual lyrics and notes, and some information on a the songs used.

Subject: RE: Help: Harry Clifton Songwriter
From: GUEST, Sminky
Date: 27 May 10 - 12:29 PM

No composer given for this one:

"
'Down by the Sea'
Sung by Miss Fanny Edwards at Mr Harry Clifton's Popular concerts.

Words and music at Hopwood and Crew's, 42, New bond-street."

Era, Feb 18 1866

Subject: RE: Help: Harry Clifton Songwriter
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 27 May 10 - 02:57 PM

'Down by the Sea'
New one on me.
Kilgarriff has a song of that title but it's dated 1891 so it can't be that. I can't see it on the lists on any of the back covers.

Subject: RE: Help: Harry Clifton Songwriter
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 27 May 10 - 06:24 PM

BL catalogue has an entry of that name from c1835 published by George and Manby, London: Down By The Sea, a ballad written and composed with an accompaniment for the pianoforte by F.W.Smith.

Mick

Subject: RE: Help: Harry Clifton Songwriter
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 27 May 10 - 06:34 PM

I'd have thought 1835 was too early, Mick. It's possibly one of HC's lesser known pieces.

Subject: RE: Help: Harry Clifton Songwriter
From: Artful Codger
Date: 27 May 10 - 06:47 PM

Could it be "Meet Me Down by the Sea", "Composed and sung by H. S. Thompson"? (Canteen Songster, 1866)

Subject: Very Suspicious / Awfully Jolly
From: Artful Codger
Date: 29 May 10 - 10:36 PM

New thread for the song "Very Suspicious":
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=129824
This "song" incorporates tunes from nine other songs, which I'm either posting or linking. Among them is Clifton's song "Awfully Jolly"; I'll be posting lyrics, ABC and MIDI for "Awfully Jolly" in the same thread.

Subject: Folly and Fashion
From: Artful Codger
Date: 31 May 10 - 10:13 PM

New thread for "Folly and Fashion", a duet sung by Harry Clifton and Fanny Edwards:
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=129869

Subject: Lyr Add: BROKEN DOWN (Harry Clifton)
From: Artful Codger
Date: 31 May 10 - 11:14 PM

BROKEN DOWN
   Written and sung by Harry Clifton. [1860s]

Once I'd money plenty!
   And friends, too, by the score,
Then fortune smiled upon me
   And no one pass'd my door,
Now I'm poor and lonely,
   And not worth half-a-crown,
Now no one seems to know me,
   I'm completely Broken Down!

        CHORUS.
   I wander thro' the world,
     And meet with many a frown,
   No one seerns to know me now,
     Because I'm Broken Down.

With an ample fortune
   I went it rather fast,
The pace was almost killing,
   And I found it couldn't last
Too proud to put the curb on,
   I thought myself high bred,
And now, for want of bread at times
   I have to fast instead.

The immortal Shakespeare
   Says, "All the world's a stage
And every man must play his part,
   From childhood to old age,"
And when I think of days gone by,
   How I was made a fool
Of rogues, and sharps, 'tis then I know
   My part has been the fool.
        I wander, &c.

Friends could recognize me,
   When Poole he made my coat,
But when I had no note to change,
   How soon they changed their note.
An object sad and needy,
   I wander thro' the town,
A living paradox am I,
   Hard up, yet broken down.

   I wander thro' the world,
     And meet with many a frown.
   The time to try your friends you'll find
       Is when you've Broken Down.

Source: Bodley Ballads, Harding B 11(199); between 1840 and 1866
Printer: J. Harkness, Preston. Sheet no.: 978
On same sheet: Bear good will to all men

Subject: Lyr Add: THE HARDWARE LINE (Harry Clifton)
From: Artful Codger
Date: 31 May 10 - 11:46 PM

THE HARDWARE LINE.
   [Words by Harry Clifton, 1865.
   Music by Andrew Banks.
   Arranged by Martin Hobson.]

Yes, my old dad was a money making notary
   And, sipping his wine, has often told
That woman was a riddle aad marriage a lottery,
   And wives at the Altar were bought and sold.
     His reason for this I cannot divine,
     For it was not the case with the wife of mine,
She'd a father, and a mother, and a sister, and a brother.
     And they all got a living in the Hardware line.
                Chorus—She'd a father, etc.

The words that he utter'd caused quite a panic
   In my youthful mind, so I soon did decide
To cut broad cloth, and, in the garb of a mechanic,
   From the unwash'd multitude seek a bride,
     'Twas there I found this wife of mine,
     When I laid my heart at Cupid's shrine,
She'd a father, and a mother, and a sister, and a brother
     And they all got a living in the Hardware line.
                She'd a father, etc.

Ev'ry town and village I did rummage 'em,
   England, Ireland, and Scotland through,
Till at last I came to the good old town of Brummagem,
   A second edition of the Wand'ring Jew ;
     'Twas there I lost this heart of mine
     To one of the gender feminine ;
She'd a father, and a mother, aud a sister, and a brother.
     And they all got a living in the Hardware line.
                She'd a father, etc.

Her brother was a gunsmith, her sister was a burnisher,
   Her mother made buttons at three-pence a gross,
Her father he plated harness furniture,
   She kept the books of profit and loss;
     Three months for her did I waste and pine,
     Before I asked her to resign ;
Her father, and her mother, her sister, and her brother
     That all got a living in the Hardware line.
                Her father, etc.

She's a first rate hand at a brewing or a baking,
   She can knit silk purses, or make mince pies,
Her bonnets and her dresses are all her own making,
   Her home-made bread takes all by surprise;
     Champagne or Claret from the banks of the Rhine
     Can't be compared to her Gooseberry wine,
Tho' she's a father, and a mother, and a sister, and a brother,
     And they all get a living in the Hardware line.
                Tho' she's a father, etc.

My days they pass in one round of pleasure,
   I feel as if I should never grow old,
For a wife that is good is a priceless treasure,
   And more to a man than silver and gold;
     Far better than a useless lady-fine,
     Is this busy, merry, cheerful little wife of mine,
Tho' she's a father, and a mother, and a sister, and a brother,
     And they all get a living in the Hardware line.
                Tho' she's a father, etc.


Source: Tony Pastor's Carte de Visite Album Songster (1865), p.31
Part of the set of songsters labelled _Tony Pastor's 201 Bowery Songster_:
        http://books.google.com/books?id=l4kvAAAAYAAJ
Note: Pagination resets for each songster

From the OLIS catalog:
Written & sung ... by Harry Clifton; sung also by Frank Sadlier.
[Composed by Andrew Banks; arranged by M. Hobson.]
London : Hopwood & Crew, [1865]
H & C.588

Subject: RE: Help: Harry Clifton Songwriter
From: Artful Codger
Date: 02 Jun 10 - 03:27 AM

New thread for "The Family Man" (A Respectable Family Man):
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=129901

Subject: Never Look Behind (Harry Clifton)
From: Artful Codger
Date: 03 Jun 10 - 03:56 AM

New thread for "Never Look Behind":
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=129936

Subject: RE: Help: Harry Clifton Songwriter
From: GUEST,Sminky
Date: 04 Jun 10 - 11:27 AM

I've been tracing the last few months of Harry's life (all quoted are form Era Magazine unless otherwise stated):

Jan 1870
Fifth year of his Concert Company's tour of the UK begins, starting in Edinburgh (where Fanny Edwards sang 'Murmur of the Shell').

Known Venues: Edinburgh, Gt. Yarmouth, Ipswich, Gravesend, Falmouth, Folkestone, Bristol, Aberdare, Hereford, Bury (Lancs.), Dublin.

Nov 6 1870 - Dublin
"In Dublin Mr. Clifton spent much of his early life and in Dublin he has achieved both fame and success. His occasional visits to his old home are always welcome."

Known Venues: Accrington, Bradford, Bacup, Bridgewater.

Sep 10 1871
"Harry Clifton - This favourite vocalist, author and composer leaves for a time the scenes of his early triumph, and early in '72, under the management of Mr F.J.Cooper, business director for Colonel Holmes Gorver, sails for New York, California, Japan, the Sandwich Islands and Australia."

Dec 10 1871
"Unfortunately, the 'Prince of Comics' was suffering from a severe cold, and after a couple of unuccessful attempts, had to retire for the evening."

Feb 1872
Known Venues: Bedford, Gt Yarmouth.

Apr 21
"Mr Redfern Hollins, Tenor, and Miss Annie Kinniard [sic], Soprano, conclude their third season with Harry Clifton's Concert Company on May 4th, when they will be at Liberty to accept Engagements."

May 3 - Bath Assembly Rooms
"On the 3d inst. Mr Harry Clifton and his talented party gave a farewell concert at these rooms."

July 21
Announcement of Harry's death.


There are no announcements of any new songs throughout this period.

The Bath 'farewell' concert is aptly named - it appears to be his last.

Did he go on his 'world trip'? Was it strictly a business venture, or for health reasons?

Did Hollins and Kinnaird jump ship because they realised there would be no more tours?

Subject: RE: Help: Harry Clifton Songwriter
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 04 Jun 10 - 03:05 PM

The newspapers for Sept/Oct 1871 in NY, California and Australia should throw some light on it.

Subject: A Motto for Every Man
From: Artful Codger
Date: 04 Jun 10 - 06:11 PM

New thread for "A Motto for Every Man":
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=129964

Subject: RE: Help: Harry Clifton Songwriter
From: Artful Codger
Date: 07 Jun 10 - 06:46 AM

Lyrics (and soon, MIDI) for "Where the Grass Grows Green" posted to the thread "Lyr Req: Danny Blake":
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=5352
(The song begins "I'm Denny Blake from County Clare")

In that thread, Jim Dixon had previously posted the lyrics from an American broadside. The version I posted is from American sheet music corresponding a bit closer to the original. The Bodley has several broadside copies of the lyrics online, and two copies of the original sheet music in its stacks.

Subject: RE: Help: Harry Clifton Songwriter
From: Artful Codger
Date: 09 Jun 10 - 02:11 AM

New thread for "Wait for the Turn of the Tide":
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=130051

Subject: Shabby Genteel
From: Artful Codger
Date: 11 Jun 10 - 04:23 PM

New thread for "Shabby Genteel":
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=130117
Lyrics and two settings, one (presumably) by Clifton, the other by Gus Williams.


I also recently posted the original versions of these songs in their respective threads:

Faithless Maria; or She Lived in the Land of Green Ginger:
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=67211

I'll Go and Enlist for a Sailor; or Song of the Unfortunate Tailor:
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=25049

Many thanks to Mike Heaney for his transcriptions of some of the Clifton songs from sheet music in the Bodley vaults!

Subject: RE: Help: Harry Clifton Songwriter
From: Artful Codger
Date: 15 Jun 10 - 12:30 AM

New threads for:

It's Not the Miles We Travel, But the Pace That Kills:
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=130179

The Way to Be Happy:
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=130178

Subject: The Weepin' Willer
From: Artful Codger
Date: 24 Jun 10 - 05:06 AM

New thread for "The Weepin' Willer":
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=130380

Subject: RE: Help: Harry Clifton Songwriter
From: GUEST, Sminky
Date: 06 Jul 10 - 10:10 AM

Digging into people's genealogical background often throws up some interesting info:

Fanny (Frances Wright) Edwards was a Burnley lass, born 1843 to a Scottish father, George, and Irish mother, Alice.

A lodger at their Curzon St. home in 1851 was an Edward Wilson, comedian, and one wonders whether this exposure to 'show business' at an early age was to influence her career path (the alternative was working in the cotton mill, presumably). She was already styled 'vocalist', aged 17, by the time the family had moved to Manchester.

Her sister Hannah (b.Burnley 1852) married the tenor Redfern Hollins (b.Sheffield) and adopted the stage name of Miss Annie Kinnaird. Husband and wife were both members of HC's travelling company (see above).

A brother George (b. Manchester 1855) adopted the name of Julian Edwards and became a successful composer on Broadway.

Interestingly, Fanny styled herself 'Fanny Clifton, widow' on the 1881 census.

Fanny Edwards

Subject: RE: Help: Harry Clifton Songwriter
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 06 Jul 10 - 02:06 PM

Fascinating stuff, Sminky.

Somebody should write the book or at least set up a website. As far as material ending up in oral tradition is concerned there can't be many other writers/performers who have contributed so much, whether you like his stuff or not.

Subject: RE: Help: Harry Clifton Songwriter
From: GUEST, Sminky
Date: 07 Jul 10 - 05:54 AM

Very true, Steve. I just wish he'd live a bit longer (It's not the miles we travel, but the pace that kills!).

Here's a 'family gathering' I found in the John Johnson Archive of Printed Ephemera (Bodleian Library):

            Agricultural Hall, Brignorth
  
                  One Night Only, 
  
               Saturday, 30th August
  
           Popular Concert and Operetta Party
  

During the evening:

Miss Fanny Edwards (Mrs. H. Clifton) will sing

Ye maiden in springtime, (Dinorah), The Minstrel Boy, Whither, Ship Boy's Letter, &c.

Miss Annie Kinnaird will sing

Snake in the Grass, Bailiff's Daughter, While walking out so early, &c.

Mr. Redfern Hollins will sing

Death of Nelson, Dreaming all the day, Pilgrim of Love, &c.

Mr. E. C. Dunbar will sing

Selections from all the most refined effusions of the day, including

Ten Minutes too late, Don't be after Ten, Harry Clifton.


Inexplicably, the website gives the 'date of the event' as Tuesday November 23rd 1909. Fanny Edwards died in the US in 1908, of course.

Subject: RE: Help: Harry Clifton Songwriter
From: GUEST, Sminky
Date: 07 Jul 10 - 06:08 AM

I should have added that Mr. Julian Edwards was Pianist and Musical Director of the event.

Subject: RE: Help: Harry Clifton Songwriter
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 07 Jul 10 - 06:12 AM

Interesting, yes. The date would appear to be wrong. She emigrated to the US in the 1880s, we have the date somewhere above, so presumably it is dated before then. Clifton's songs certainly went through a revival in the 1880s.

Subject: RE: Help: Harry Clifton Songwriter
From: GUEST, Sminky
Date: 07 Jul 10 - 12:32 PM

CORN EXCHANGE, PRESTON
Thursday and Friday, January 13th and 14th

Mr Harry Clifton "will select eight of the following comic and chorus songs:-
Comical Concert, Wedding of Biddy M'Grane, Shabby Genteel, Put the break on, Wait for the turn of the tide, The adventures of Robinson Crusoe (new comic extravaganza), Musical miseries, Ten minutes too late, Rip von Groggenheim &c. &c. and will, in conjunction with Miss Fanny Edwards, appear in two comic burlesque medley duets entitled Cupid in the kitchen and The style of the period, introducing parodies on the most popular songs of the day."

Preston Guardian, Jan 8 1870

Rip von who??? The only Google entry I can find is that it was sung in New Zealand some 5 years later.

I actually sang on the stage of the Corn Exchange when I was a lad of 10 or 11. The bulldozers moved in during the 1970's to make way for a new road. Just the entrance foyer (now a pub) remains. Ah, me.

Subject: The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe
From: Artful Codger
Date: 09 Jul 10 - 05:37 AM

New thread for "The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe", a "comic medley extravaganza" with lyrics by Harry Clifton set to a number of popular tunes:
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=130676
Lyrics posted; ABCs and MIDIs to follow. In that thread, I'll also provide information on the works Clifton used, as well as lyrics and full tunes, when I've been able to obtain them.

Subject: RE: Help: Harry Clifton Songwriter
From: GUEST,Chris`
Date: 09 Aug 10 - 07:06 AM

Does anybody have the lyrics to As Welcome As The flowers in MAY?

Regards

Subject: RE: Help: Harry Clifton Songwriter
From: GUEST, Sminky
Date: 09 Aug 10 - 07:30 AM

Chris - a version was collected by Alfred Williams.