Lyr Req: Only a working man

Subject: Lyr Req: Only a working man
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 20 Nov 02 - 07:54 PM

Does anyone have the words to a music-hall song performed by Lilly Morris - "Only a Working Man"?

It was used as the theme tune for a UK TV series during the 1960's, "The Worker", starring Charly Drake.

Doug C

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Only a working man
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 20 Nov 02 - 08:04 PM

Am I experiencing déja vu, Doug ?

Murray

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Only a working man
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 20 Nov 02 - 08:16 PM

I did ask this question in the thread on British Music Hall Songs back in April, but as it did not elicit any replies, I thought I'd ask again. There are plenty of new 'Catters who have joined since then and who knows, one of them might just have the answer.

Doug C

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Only a working man
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 21 Nov 02 - 10:29 AM

As a start, part lyrics might help. The following are from memory, only cover part verses, and may have lines wrongly associated from one verse to another. But it's a start!

Well I gets up in the morning whent the clock strikes ...
..Line missing..
With a nice cup of tea, a little round of toast
I do the best I can
'Cos I'm only doing what a bloke should do
'Cos I'm only a working man

Well I gets to work each morning as the clock strikes eight
I'm always punctual, never ever late

Well I leaves my work each evening when I'ts five o'clock
Strong as an elephant, steady as a rock
..line missing..
I've done the best I can
And I'm only doing what a bloke should do,
'Cos I'm only a working man.

I have only heard this in the Charlie Drake version (from the tv series) and have left in some of the bits which may have been re-writes for his speech manner. I have also left out some of his less understandable traits. IIRC 'elephant' was mis-pronounced, possibly as 'heffalump'; and verses starting 'Well' tended to have it pronounced 'Hwell' (with the method of some of the lower classes of aspirating words unnecessarily to overcompensate for 'dropped' aitches)

Hope this helps
Nigel

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Only a working man
From: Sir Roger de Beverley
Date: 21 Nov 02 - 11:08 AM

I don't think that it is the one you want but there is a music hall song by Billy Bennett(almost a Gentleman) called "Poor Hard working Man"

Find it here http://monologues.co.uk/Poor_Hardworking_Man.htm

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Only a working man
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 22 Nov 02 - 02:52 AM

Nigel,

I have the same sort of half-remembered lines form the Charley Drake version, which is why I find it so frustrating not knowing the correct words. I think I can add a couple of lines to your first verse :

Well I gets up in the morning when the clock strikes ...
..Line missing..
With a nice cup of tea, a little round of toast
The Sporting Life and the Winning Post
I get all nice and tidy and I toddle off to work
I do the best I can
'Cos I'm only doing what a bloke should do
'Cos I'm only a working man

I'm not sure, but I think that the lines

"Well I gets to work each morning as the clock strikes eight
I'm always punctual, never ever late"

might be combined with the first to lines of the verse above to give

Well I gets up in the morning when the clock strikes strikes eight
I'm always punctual, never ever late
With a nice cup of tea ..........................

I can't add anything to the last verse except that I thought that it was
......get home in the evening about 6 o'clock


Come on Mudcat ! Where are you when I need you ?


Doug C

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Only a working man
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 23 Nov 02 - 04:46 PM

Well, the DigiTrad has one verse: CUP OF TEA. Oddly enough, it's told from his wife's point of view:

I wakes him nice and early...
... 'cos he's only a working man.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Only a working man
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 23 Nov 02 - 05:07 PM

Actually, it's not so odd, considering that Lily Morris recorded it! Her recording appears on the compilation "Round the Town: Following Grandfather's Footsteps - A Night at the London Music Hall" Bear Family CD 16021, 2000.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Only a working man
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 23 Nov 02 - 05:39 PM

While searching for "Only a Working Man" a.k.a. "He's Only a Working Man", I stumbled on this compilation of Music Hall Choruses. It has only the one chorus that is in the DT (I misspoke when I called it a verse) but you might enjoy browsing through the choruses of other songs.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Only a working man
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 25 Nov 02 - 04:06 PM

Thanks for the leads Jim. I would never have thought of searching under "Cup of Tea". I remember, some years ago, watching a crackly black and white film on the Old Grey Whistle Test of a woman, whom I assume must have been Lilly Morris, singing the version that's in the D.T.


Doug C

Subject: Lyr Add: ONLY A WORKING MAN
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 14 Jan 12 - 03:02 AM

ONLY A WORKING MAN
As sung by Lily Morris on "British Music Hall Memories" (2009)

1. When you pick up your Sunday-morning papers,
It's nearly always trouble that you read.
Man and wife, always having strife,
For separation each of them will feed.
Now if a woman only used a little bit of tact,
With happiness they always would be blessed.
Do the same as I do and you'll never have a row.
Believe me, my old man's one of the best.

CHORUS: I wake him every morning when the clock strikes eight.
I'm always punctual, never, never late,
With a nice cup o' tea and a little round o' toast,
The Sporting Life and The Winning Post.
I make him nice and cosy, then I toddle off to work.
I do the best I can,
For I'm only doing what a woman should do,
'Cause he's only a working man.

2. I hurry home each day and cook the dinner
And give it to him nice and hot in bed.
It's nice to know when to work I go,
He's always thinking of me, so he said.
He lies in bed so patiently till I come home to tea.
I wouldn't have him vexed at any cost;
And if he backs a loser, never says an angry word,
'Cause I give him back the money that he's lost.

[The following verse was posted by The Doctor in another thread; however, it does not appear in the above recording:]

At six o'clock when public houses open,
Like a hero he'll get out o' bed, and then
Off he'll go to the pub, you know,
And mixes with his fellow working men.
He lectures them on labour, says, 'God bless the working man'.
By everyone my husband is admired,
Comes home and has his supper, then goes to bed again,
And falls right off to sleep, worn out and tired.