Origins: Sally Gee: The lass down on the quay

Subject: Lyr Req: The Lass down by the quay
From: Mr Happy
Date: 22 Jan 03 - 09:05 AM

looked in DT for this, using various combinations- no sign.

anyone got rest of worfs,please?

What I already have goes:

Never tha mind the lass she's kind
and now that she's departed
she's a cast in her eye which makes her look shy
an' i wish we never had parted
************? and she's always good to me
oh i loved that lass despite her cast
the lass down by the quay.

its a geordie song i think.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Lass down by the quay
From: Sorcha
Date: 22 Jan 03 - 09:22 AM

It's in the DT under Sally Gee.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Lass down by the quay
From: Mr Happy
Date: 22 Jan 03 - 09:38 AM

thats it! Thank you Sorcha!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Lass down by the quay
From: GUEST,jancie
Date: 06 Jan 11 - 08:58 AM

I've been looking for this too - all I can remember is:

Nivvor mind, the lass is kind, ah knaa she is knid heared
The cast in her ee meks hor look sly, I wish we nivvor had parted
She waalks with a stick and she gaans with a limp - what is that to me?
I'm fond of the lass that none can pass, the lass doon on the quay

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Lass down by the quay
From: alex s
Date: 06 Jan 11 - 01:56 PM

Listen to Bob Fox's version on Box of Gold

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Lass down by the quay
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Jan 11 - 04:57 PM

Jonny Handle on http://www.discogs.com/High-Level-Ranters-Ranting-Lads/release/2027174

Subject: Origins: Sally Gee
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Dec 20 - 07:19 PM

Can anybody tell us about this song:

SALLY GEE (DT Lyrics)

I'll tell you of a nice young lass and her name is Sally Gee,
I met her in the pub one night, it was down on the quay.
I says to her well I know your face but a divvent knaa from where.
So I asked where abouts she lived and she said down Carliol Square.

Cho: But never mind, the lass she's kind, I knaa she is good hearted,
And the cast in her eye makes her look shy and I wish we never had parted.
She's got a hump and she walks with stick and she's always good to me.
I'm fond of the lass that none can pass, the lass down on the quay.

Every neet I used to meet me Sally on the quay.
I asked her if she'd marry me if she'd be good to me.
How long it is since she washed herself well I'm sure I divvent knaa.
'Cos she's got a face like an old spice cake, as black as any craa.

Chorus:

Well it was all through her I went on the drink, I went headlong to the bad.
I pawned me watch and I pawned me chain, that was everything I had.
And then next morn the landlord appeared and he hoyed us through the door.
And I spent six months in Durham Gaol with me clothes put into store.

filename[ SALLYGEE
CB
oct00

---

Mainly Norfolk has a penultimate verse that we don't have in the Digital Tradition:

She catched us walking out one night with her sister Mary Jane,
She fetched her such a clout on the lug that she never saw straight again.
Then she turned on me with a look that could kill and she telled us where to gang,
But before I could tell her that I loved her still she was off with another man.

Here's a recording by Little Billy Fane: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4ImRn1taTQ

Subject: RE: Origins: Sally Gee
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Dec 20 - 09:16 PM

https://mainlynorfolk.info/folk/songs/sallygee.html

Subject: RE: Origins: Sally Gee
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Dec 20 - 09:46 PM

Here's the article from Reinhard's Mainly Norfolk:

Sally Gee / The Lass Down on the Quay

[trad.]

Tom Gilfellon sang The Lass Doon on the Quay in 1976 on the High Level Ranters' Topic album Ranting Lads. This was also the B-side of their Topic single Dance to Your Daddy, and it was included in 1998 on the Topic anthology Along the Coaly Tyne. They commented in the original album's notes:

A music hall song which we have not yet found in print. It appears to be widely known in the North-East in fragmentary form. The version here is from the singing of James Boyles of Sunderland.

Jim Mageean sang Sally Gee on the 1981 Greenwich Village anthology of songs about the women of Tyneside over the past two centuries, Aall Tegithor Like the Foaks o' Shields.

Bob Fox and Stu Luckley sang Sally Gee (The Lass Down on the Quay) in 1982 on their Black Crow LP Wish We Never Had Parted and in a new recording on their 1997 Fellside CD Box of Gold. Bob noted:

Sally Gee is another Tyneside Music Hall song sometimes known as The Lass Down on the Quay. Inside its jovial exterior is quite a sad tale, and contrary to some people's perceptions the chorus is a celebration of the girl's inner beauty!

Lyrics

Bob Fox and Stu Luckley sing Sally Gee (The Lass Down on the Quay)

I'll tell youse of a nice young lass and her name is Sally Gee,
Well, I met her in the pub one night, it was down by the quay.
I says to her, well I know your face but I divvent naa from where
So I asked her whereabouts she lived, and she said down Carlisle Square.

Chorus (after each verse):
Never mind, the lass she's kind and I naa she is good-hearted
And the cast in her eye makes her look shy and I wish we never had parted.
She's got a hump and she walks with a stick and she's always good to me,
I'm fond of the lass that none can pass, the lass down on the quay.

Well, every night I used to meet with Sally on the quay,
And I asked her if she'd marry me, if she'd be good to me.
How long it is since she washed herself, well I really divvent naa,
Cause she's got a face like an old spice cake, it's as black as any craa.

She catched us walking out one night with her sister Mary Jane,
She fetched her such a clout on the lug that she never saw straight again.
Then she turned on me with a look that could kill and she telled us where to gang,
But before I could tell her that I loved her still she was off with another man.

It was all through her I went on the drink, I went headlong to the bad.
Well, I pawned me watch and I pawned me chain, that was everything I had.
Then next morn the landlord appeared and he hoyed us through the doors
And I spent six months in Durham Gaol with me clathes put into store.

---

Recording by Bob Fox and Stu Luckley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5NCo6ibsZc

Subject: RE: Origins: Sally Gee
From: Reinhard
Date: 07 Dec 20 - 09:56 PM

See also the older thread Lyr Req: Sally Gee: The lass down on the quay .

And it seems that Lass on the Quay is a song from James Weams' No. 1 Tyneside Song Book (1887).

Subject: RE: Origins: Sally Gee
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Dec 20 - 09:56 PM

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Weams

Worth a look, Joe.

Subject: RE: Origins: Sally Gee
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Dec 20 - 09:57 PM

Bingo, Reinhard. The song lyrics are on page 5 of the booklet you mention.

Subject: RE: Origins: Sally Gee
From: Reinhard
Date: 07 Dec 20 - 10:32 PM

The Folk Archive Resource North East has a copy of James Weams' book. They comment:

This is a very popular local song, relating the unfortunate effects of love! An extra verse was anonymously added to the song a number of years after its publication.

This song is taken from perhaps the only surviving copy of the small songbook written by late nineteenth century music hall artist, James Weams. The book was published in 1887 by John Barnes of the Groat Market, Newcastle, and is numbered 'no.1'. Presumably there were to be more of these small publications, but how many followed and what form they took is not possible to say. The book contains what would become some of the most famous and popular 'Geordie' songs to be written. In particular 'Neibors belaw' struck a chord with the thousands of inhabitants of 'Tyneside flats' across the region and has become one of the Newcastle's most well known songs.

At the time this book was printed, music halls had become the chief form of indoor entertainment for the working class. Theatres like the Gaiety Theatre of Varieties, the New Tyne Concert Hall and the Percy Hall and Cirque provided the venue for entertainers such as Joe Wilson, Rowland Harrison and others. Although this is only a small publication, like William Thompson's songbook of twenty years earlier, the book is invaluable as a rare example of a working musician's repertoire at the height of Music Hall's popularity.

---

http://www.farnearchive.com/

Subject: ADD Version: Lass on the Quay (James Weams)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 08 Dec 20 - 01:43 AM

Gee, this thing won't OCR and it's a bear to transcribe.
http://www.farnearchive.com/farneimages/jpgs/G0200500.jpg

LASS ON THE QUAY
(Written and sung by James Weams)

Aw fell in love wiv a nice young lass,
They cae'd hOr Sally Gee;
She axd me of aw'd stand a gill,
One neet upon the Quay—
She said she'd seen maw fyce before,
But cuddint tell us where;
Aw axed hor where abouts she lived,
She whispord, Carliol Square.

CHORUS
Nivvor mind, aw knaw she's kind,
Aw wish that we nivvor had parted;
She's a cast iv hor eye that myed hor look shy,
Aw knaw'd the lass was good hearted,
She had a hop and a kick, she walk'd wiv a stick
What did that mattor to me;
Aw was fond o' the lass, that nyen cud surpass;
The lass aw met doon on the Quay.

Noo ivvory neet aw used ti meet
Sally on the Quay,
Aw tell'd hor aw wad marry hor,
If she'd ony stick ti me;
Hoo oft she used ti wash horsel
Aw really divvent knaw,
Hor fyece was like a corran kyek,
And as black as ony craw.

Thro hor aw got upon the spree,
Aw went heedlang ti the bad,
Aw pawned me coat, watch and chain,
And ivvory thing aw had;
But judge o' maw surprise one neet,
They kick'd me ti the door,
Wivvoot a coat or waistcoat on
Aw got shoved inti store.

PATTOR
The next mornin the Magistrate said, "Young man, where's your clothes?" Aw says, thor at me uncles!
He says, 'Go home to your mother, young man," so aw did. As aw walked hyem, aw cuddint help singing.—CHORUS

Subject: RE: Origins: Sally Gee: The lass down on the quay
From: GUEST,jim bainbridge
Date: 08 Dec 20 - 12:19 PM

It's a great song if not exactly PC for 2020.

The late Alex McKie of (the Felling) on Tyneside was the first and best singer I heard of it, about 1965.
I suspect that most, if not all of the Tyneside singers learned it from Alex at the clubs at that time. Certainly James 'Jim' Boyles of Sunderland got it from him.
Alex was of Irish extraction and with a fine repertoire of Tyneside and Irish songs. He was due to be recorded, but came down with a very sore throat and it nevber happened. Sadly, I'm pretty sure that he never recorded 'Sally Gee' a real pity...
Dick Irwin, the Tyneside comedian & MC at Balmbra's music hall in Newcastle also sang it.