Lyr Add: I Never Cried So Much in All My Life

Subject: Lyr Add: I NEVER CRIED SO MUCH IN ALL MY LIFE
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 17 Mar 11 - 07:59 PM

You can find this recording at The Internet Archive under the (mistaken, I think) title THE BETRAYAL, the 5th recording on this page. It seems to have been taken from a radio broadcast. I don't think it's the original recording. It's only 2:10 long. I suspect the original was longer.


I NEVER CRIED SO MUCH IN ALL MY LIFE
Words and music by Will E. Haines, Jimmy Harper & Harry Castling, ©1936.
As sung by Gracie Fields, 1942.

SPOKEN: The first time Joe and I went to the cinema together—

Joe took me to the movies the other evening; it was fine.
They called it "The Betrayal" and the acting was divine.
It's the best film that they've had for years down at the Hippodrome,
And it's a good job I took my handkerchief with me when I left home.
Oh, it was a lovely picture, and I did enjoy it so.
Oh, I never cried so much in all me life!
When the villain seized the maiden, everybody shouted, "Oh!"
Oh, I never cried so much in all me life!

He promised he would wed her and would ever hold her dear,
But once the marriage vows were signed, he leered an evil leer,
Then took her home and hung her from the parlour chandelier.
Oh, I never cried so much in all me life!

It takes a lot to make me cry but, oh dear, when I start,
And think of what that girl went through, I'm like a water cart.
I see her eyes; I hear her voice at night when I'm in bed,
And here's a scene I'll never, never get out of me head:
As she passed the blinding snowstorm and came trudging through the town,
Oh, I never cried so much in all me life!
Oh, and when I saw her carrying her baby upside down,
Oh, I never cried so much in all me life!

She lingered near the Rose and Crown; the wind was howling wild,
When up the street her husband came, the father of her child,
So she tapped him for a tanner for a pint of old and mild.
Oh, I never cried so much in all me life!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Never Cried So Much in All My Life
From: Amos
Date: 17 Mar 11 - 09:39 PM

Wow!! What a curious song!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Never Cried So Much in All My Life
From: michaelr
Date: 18 Mar 11 - 03:39 AM

Shouldn't that "be tapped him for a tenner"?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Never Cried So Much in All My Life
From: The Doctor
Date: 18 Mar 11 - 06:09 AM

No it shouldn't be 'tenner'. In the days when this song was written sixpence - a 'tanner' - would have been enough to buy a pint of old and mild. I used to have this song on a 78 when I was a boy, along with 'The biggest aspidistra in the world', various others and a wind-up gramophone. It was performed in a semi-spoken form and strong Lancashire accent. The missing verses are as follows:
After 'When the villain seized the maiden.....'

He told her that he'd wed her, ha-ha-ha, then enticed her on his yacht,
And then he got her tied up in a proper sailor's knot.
Then he kissed her twice, the dirty dog, upon her beauty-spot,
Oh-oh-oh I've never cried so much in all me life.

(The 'oh's, apart from the last two verses, are long, drawn-out warbly affairs.) Then after the last verse quoted above:

The villain called on her one night, she was his one desire - ha-ha-yeah
And because she wouldn't stand for him what do you think he did, eh, What do you think he did? Ha! Set the house on fire!
She rushed towards the window with her face all pale and sad,
But the villain only laughed - ha-ha! - then walked away, the cad!

Oh, she looked so very pitiful upon the window-sill,
Oh!(shrieked) I've never cried so much in all me life.
"Jump! Jump!" the people shouted, but she sat there calm and still.
Oh!(shrieked) I've never cried so much in all me life.

The flames burnt her kimona(sic) but she didn't seem to mind.
Then she slid down a ladder, oh she did look so refined.
Till upon a rusty nail she left her underclothes behind.
Oh(shrieked) I've never cried so much in all me life.

They don't write songs like that any more.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Never Cried So Much in All My Life
From: michaelr
Date: 18 Mar 11 - 01:10 PM

Thank you, Doctor. I'd never heard a sixpence coin called a tanner.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Never Cried So Much in All My Life
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 19 Mar 11 - 01:31 AM

You can hear, or download, the full version—or at least a fuller version—of I NEVER CRIED SO MUCH IN ALL MY LIFE, sung by Gracie Fields, at The Internet Archive. It is song #7 on that page.

The Doctor's memory was very accurate.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Never Cried So Much in All My Life
From: The Doctor
Date: 19 Mar 11 - 06:18 AM

I cannot claim total omniscience I'm afraid. I have it now on a CD. Also the words can be found on a number of sites via Google. Only the personal reminiscences are mine.