Lyr Add: He Holds the Lantern (Grey/Terker/Jacobs)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: He Holds the Lantern (Grey/Terker/Jacobs)
From: GUEST,Jim T
Date: 08 Jan 12 - 04:11 AM

I am from australia and my mother had this as a 78rpm record. I think the earliest I remember would have been 1953 and I am not sure but the artist may have been Tex Morton, a cowboy come novelty singer. His big hit was Barnacle Bill the Sailor.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: He Holds the Lantern (Grey/Terker/Jacobs)
From: GUEST,Robert Hofmann
Date: 09 Jul 11 - 09:35 PM

Hey Mr Bob Bolton,
You mentioned back in 28 july 2000 that you had a copy of the music of this song "He Holds the Lantern" are you still around and are you able to scan it to me?
Robert

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: He Holds the Lantern (Grey/Terker/Jacobs)
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Dec 10 - 07:17 PM

Thank you so much for providing the info in this thread, the words and the links. An older family member often sings just the first line of this song, but couldn't remember more other than that it was a comedy song. I'm thrilled to be able to find this information!

A little bit of social history brought back to life again, eh!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: He Holds the Lantern (Grey/Terker/Jacobs)
From: GUEST,Andrew (U.K.)
Date: 03 Sep 10 - 08:21 AM

Hi there

My Dad used to sing little ditties to accompany whatever activity he was doing. When he was chopping up chips for lighting the fire, he would sing and abridged version of this that went:

'He holds the lantern while his mother chops the wood.
He holds the lantern like every good boy should
And when his mother's tired cause she's done her very best,
He puts down the lantern and helps her to rest.'

I remember him singing this from the time I was a young child in the early 1960s, when he would have been getting on for 50. We didn't have a radio or TV at that time, so I don't know where he had picked it up,but since he also sang distorted bits of things by Nellie Wallace and Norman Long my guess is that he had heard it in the music halls here in England sometime in the 1930s

It's nice to be reminded of it. I guess chopping up chips is something nobody does any more

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: He Holds the Lantern (Grey/Terker/Jacobs)
From: GUEST,Libby
Date: 11 Jul 10 - 11:18 PM

Thanks!

My mother used to sing the chorus when she was guilting us in the 1970's and I've sung it for my kids =)

I didn't know it was an actual song and she had the tune correct. Mom used to brag they always made her sing solo, so low no one could hear, but hearing the tune was wonderful!

Thanks again all you who did the research so some middle aged woman might stumble on it wondering if it really was a song!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: He Holds the Lantern (Grey/Terker/Jacobs)
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Jan 10 - 09:59 AM

Thanks for the lyrics to this song. I, too, have been looking for it! You're very helpful. Thank you.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: He Holds the Lantern (Grey/Terker/Jacobs)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 02:40 AM

Hey, and there's an MP3 recording on this page (click).

Oh, and there's a short bio of songwriter Lanny Grey at imdb.com:

Biography for Lanny Grey
Date of Birth: 2 January 1909, Elkins, West Virginia, USA
Date of Death: 15 October 2003, Palm Beach, Florida, USA
Birth Name: Alan L. Grey

Mini Biography
Commercial-jingle writer ("I Go For a Man Who Wears an Adam Hat", "Baby, Bring Me Barricini"), composer, novelty songwriter ("I Would If I Could But I Can't"), singer, pianist and producer, educated at Wharton School and the University of Pennsylvania. He joined the staff of a New York music-publishing firm and later formed, with his wife, the radio singing team of Ginger and Lanny and the production firm Ginger and Lanny Grey Productions to write musical commercials. He also founded the Little Grey Fixit Shop and Grey Industries. Joining ASCAP in 1941, his chief collaborators included Mitchell Parish and Bing Crosby. His popular-song compositions include "He Holds the Lantern While His Mother Chops the Wood", "I Would If I Could But I Can't", "I Never Harmed an Onion So Why Should They Make Me Cry?", "Sayonara-Goodbye", and "My Flame Went Out Last Night With Somebody Else".

IMDb Mini Biography By: Hup234!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: He Holds the Lantern (Grey/Terker/Jacobs)
From: GUEST,Grant
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 02:33 AM

Hi Joe,

This is too good to be true! Many thanks for doing that for me. I've now downloaded a pdf of the melody from concertina.net as you suggested and will copy this into Sibelius, work out some chords, add the lyrics and away we go.

Our group are going to have a lot of fun with this and when we have fun so do the old folks. One of our girls loves to choreograph our songs so I can see myself digging out my old hurricane lantern but I might have to persuade her to leave the axe out of it for OH&S reasons!

Thank you again and best wishes,

Grant

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: He Holds the Lantern (Grey/Terker/Jacobs)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 12:39 AM

Hi, Grant-



I hope you find this thread again. Up above, I changed Bob's MIDItext tune into a MIDI and posted it. I also added a link to concertina.net, where you can paste the ABC tune and change it into normal notation.
Highlight the entire ABC text, from X:1 to the final || double bar, right-click and select "copy," and then paste [CTRL-V] the whole shebang into the Concertina box and submit.

Hope that helps.

-Joe Offer, Forum Moderator-

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: He Holds the Lantern (Grey/Terker/Jacobs)
From: GUEST,Grant
Date: 25 Jun 09 - 09:17 AM

Hello Bob,

I came across this thread while Googling 'He Holds A Lantern'. I play piano and prepare programs for a group of people that visit Hobart nursing homes. We stay away from Long Way To Tipperary, Ramona and all the 'worn to death' songs they get so much of, and instead try to present a lot of fun music - My Old Man's A Dustman, Barnacle Bill, I Never Cried So Much In All My Life etc. Our audiences would love 'He Holds The Lantern', hence my search, and I was delighted to find the lyrics you had posted above. I can remember the first dozen bars of the melody or so from my childhood but that's about all and I'd be very keen to somehow access either the sheet music or even a lead sheet with chords.

Are you able to help out with these in any way?

Many thanks,

Grant

Subject: RE: Add: He holds the lantern while mother chops wood
From: GUEST,Fran Mason
Date: 24 Apr 09 - 05:17 AM

My husband remembered snatches of this song from his childhood. It bought back so many memories for him Thanks a lot. Cheers.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: He holds the lantern while mother ch
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 30 Mar 09 - 10:01 PM

The catalogue entry at the National Library of Australia gives a copyright date of 1943.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: He holds the lantern while mother ch
From: maeve
Date: 29 Mar 09 - 12:02 PM

Thanks, Bob. My mother used to sing snatches of this to make us laugh.

maeve

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: He Holds the Lantern, While His Moth
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 01 Aug 00 - 09:07 AM

G'day again,

Eileen, Good night, Eileen ...

(I hope you did come back for the words)

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: He Holds the Lantern, While His Moth
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 30 Jul 00 - 02:46 AM

G'day Eileen,

Are you out there?

I know it took a while, but the best things are worth waiting for.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: Lyr/Tune Add: HE HOLDS THE LANTERN (WHILE HIS...^^
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 29 Jul 00 - 03:51 AM

G'day ,

This is for GHUEST: Eileen, who asked for these words a few weeks back. I was able to scan them from the shhet music. It PROBABLY worked out easier with the scanner (compared to simply typing it all out) – I just had to do a lot of re-assembly to get the 3 pages back into verse form.

Anyway, here are the words for your Father:

He Holds The Lantern (While His Mother Chops The Wood)
(by Lanny Grey, Arthur Terker, and Roy Jacobs)

Tempo de Hill-billy
I know the best hearted fellow,
He'd even give his oldest shirt a way,
The neighbors all know he's a kind hearted fellow and here's what you hear them say: Oh!

1. HE HOLDS THE LANTERN while his mother chops the wood,
He holds the lantern just as any good son should,
He's mighty handy and he's always standing by,
When she's through chopping one load he'll get her a new supply,
And when she is exhausted he's equal to the test,
He lays right down beside her and helps his maw to rest,
Oh! While she is axing, He is busily relaxing,
HE HOLDS THE LANTERN while his mother chops the wood,

2. HE HOLDS THE LANTERN while his mother chops the wood,
He holds the lantern and he surely does it good,
She hacks and hacks away until her back is sprained,
While her son holds the lantern so her eyes will not get strained,
You'll never find him stopping to take a holiday,
'Cause when it comes to chopping ev'ry day is Mother' Day,
While she's perspiring her dear son is most inspiring
HE HOLDS THE LANTERN while his mother chops the wood,

3. HE HOLDS THE LANTERN while his mother chops the wood,
While she is pantin', he pants too, that's under stood,
He's tender hearted when she chops he almost cries,
He can't stand seeing mother work so he just shuts his eyes,
He's big and strong and healthy and he weighs two fifty net
But moving those big muscles is what he ain't done yet,
But he's sure respected her and to show he's not neglectin' her,
HE HOLDS THE LANTERN while his mother chops the wood,

4. HE HOLDS THE LANTERN while his mother chops the wood,
He has a tantrum if she doesn't chop it good,
It's second nature for this boy to hold a lamp,
When paw worked on the railroad he was the lampholding champ!
Her son is always gallant, he loves the golden rule,
But maw has all the talent, when it comes to chopping fuel,
While she is chopping his poor brow he keeps on mopping
HE HOLDS THE LANTERN while his mother chops the wood,

5. HE HOLDS THE LANTERN while his mother chops the wood,
He holds the lantern so the work turns out real good,
You may not think it but he's not afraid to toil,
'Cause when the lantern's running low he fills it up with oil,
According to the neighbors and they say these are the facts,
He buys his maw each Christmas a brand new shiny axe,
He tries to save her ev'ry bit of extra labor
HE HOLDS THE LANTERN while his mother chops the wood.

And here is the tune, in MIDIText format:

Click to play

ABC format:

X:1
T:
M:4/4
Q:1/4=128
K:C
F8|DFF2F2F2|^DG6G|AAAAG2A2|^A2GF4F|DFF2F2FF|
^D2GGGG2G|FF2FG2A2|^A4F4|F4D3^D|F2^A2A2^A2|
c^A3A2GF|-F8|F8|-F4F3^D|D2F2E2F2|G2F2^D2DC|
-C8|F8|-F4D3^D|F2^A2A2^A2|c2^A2A2G2|F6^A2|
A2c2^D2A2|G2^A2D2G2|F2^F2G2A2|^A6D2|C2^A2A2G2|
A2F4D2|C2^A2A2G2|A6D2|C2^A2A2G2|A2F4D2|D2F2E2G2|
F4F4|F4D3^D|F2^A2A2^A2|c2^A2c2^c2|d2d6|^d4^d3^d|
d2^A2A2^A2|cG3A2F2|^A13/4||

Regards,

Bob Bolton
^^

To play or display ABC tunes, try concertina.net

Subject: Lyr Add: HE HOLDS THE LANTERN (WHILE HIS MOTHER...
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 29 Jul 00 - 03:47 AM

G'day Eileen,

I hope that you are still checking this thread (not giving up in despair!). Here are the words to the song your Father wanted. I will also post the words and the tune (in MIDIText format) to a new Lyr Add thread (below).

Reagrds,

Bob Bolton

G'day ,

It PROBABLY worked out easier with the scanner (compared to simply typing it all out) – I just had to do a lot of re-assembly to get the 3 pages back into verse form. Anyway, here are the words for your Dad:

HE HOLDS THE LANTERN (WHILE HIS MOTHER CHOPS THE WOOD)
By LANNY GREY, ARTHUR TERKER and ROY JACOBS

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: He Holds the Lantern, While His Moth
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 28 Jul 00 - 08:19 PM

G'day Eileen,

Well, this won't break any records for a Mudcat reply speed, but I have now a copy of the song. I was contacted b a lovely chap, Charkie Phippen, who has a massive collection of sheet music ... with a specialty in the "Hill Billy" genre. We had a good natter over the phone and I mentioned your request.

Charlie just called in, on his way to a Saturday local market, and gave me a sheet music album with this one in it! As I suspected, it is American: copyright 1943 by Southern Music, Broadway, New York and written by Lanny Grey, Arthur Terker and Roy Jacobs. It has an Australian copyright date of MCMXLIX (1949) and the album is published ~1954.

I will have to type in the words (unless you would like an image that you can print out ... it would be 3 pages of scan in (say) GIF format and I could email to your private email, if you advise me of the address to my personal page on Mudcat). OCR Scanning (to save typing out the text)won't be easy, as the words are set out in the lines of the sheet music.

I need to go and do some shopping, but I will get back to this sometime and give it to you in whichever format suits you best.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: He Holds the Lantern, While His Moth
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 11 Jul 00 - 11:47 PM

G'day Eileen,

I can remember the song - it used to get a run on city radio stations, here in Australia, every other Mothers' Day ... if no other time. I don't know that the record played here was Australian - since it is a "country" style song, accents are not helpful.

I'll have a look around for local versions, but it is not really my main area.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: He Holds the Lantern, While His Moth
From: bob jr
Date: 11 Jul 00 - 10:02 PM

i was looking for a song about a man and his pet moth i suspect it was going to have a sad ending ...maybe someone here can write one? maybe rich r??

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: He Holds the Lantern, While His Moth
From: GUEST,Allan S.
Date: 11 Jul 00 - 06:27 PM

My mother born 1900 also used the expression he holds the lantern while his mother chops the wood. to refer to a lazy person. I dont remember it as part of a song tho it probably came from one. In other words I reard it back in the 1930's Good luck Allan

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: He Holds the Lantern, While His Moth
From: raredance
Date: 10 Jul 00 - 11:34 PM

Darn, from the thread title, I thought maybe this was another insect song dealing with lepidopteran immolation.

rich r

Subject: He Holds the Lantern, While His Mother
From: GUEST,Eileen
Date: 10 Jul 00 - 04:47 PM

My Father gives me challenges to find the lyrics of old songs. Here is one I've been looking for a Long time.

"He holds the lantern, While his mother chops the wood."