You can hear this song at The Internet Archive. (It's the 4th of 10 songs on that page.)


GINGER, YOU'RE BALMY!*
Words and music by Fred Murray, 1910.
As sung by Harry Champion

1. I'm always in the fashion. I'm a noted chap for that,
So lately I've been walking about the streets without a hat.
I do without a cady. Why, it saves me half a quid.
I'm like a bloomin' saucepan on the fire without a lid.
I go, you know, strolling round the town, waves my little cane about.
Girls all say, "Look! Ginger's on the mash," dig me in the ribs and shout:

CHORUS: "Don't walk about without your cady on. Ginger, you're barmy.
Get your hair cut," they all begin to cry.
"With nothing on your napper, oh, you are a pie.
Pies must have a little bit of crust. Why don't you join the army?
If you want to be a don, you want a bit of something on. Ginger, you're barmy."

2. Once I went into the zoo with such a smiling face,
But, oh, there was a hullabaloo when I got in the place!
The keepers started chasing me, then I got in a rage.
They put a chain around my neck and they bunged me in a cage.
I cried, "I'm not a monkey, on my word!" I had to buy them all some beer.
When they let me out they told me this: "If you want to keep away from here—CHORUS

3. The missus took me in a pub. The governor, Mister Hogg,
He stroked my ears. He give me a cake. He took me for a dog.
A p'liceman stopping traffic shouted out with all his might:
"Look out! Here comes the North Pole with the top half(?) all alight."
My wife said that my napper's like a sieve. "It's full of little holes, I'll bet.
When it rains, it will let the water in, and then your feet will both get wet. CHORUS


[* The official title, according to the sheet music and the original recording, uses the spelling "balmy" but the word is pronounced "barmy" and the song is often incorrectly referred to with that spelling.

[Cady = hat; napper = head; on the mash = on a spree, drinking.]