Lyr Req: Forty Years a Chambermaid

Subject: Lyr Req: 30 years a chambermaid
From: Lighter
Date: 20 Feb 05 - 05:44 PM

Am told there was once a British song containing these lines:

Thirty years a chambermaid and never dropped a pot,
Thirty years a chambermaid and never a thank-you got.

A Google search reveals just enough to prove that it does exist. Anyone know the complete words? Tune?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 30 years a chambermaid
From: The Shambles
Date: 21 Feb 05 - 02:10 PM

I don't but if I refresh the thread someone else may be able to help.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 30 years a chambermaid
From: Joe Offer
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 01:26 AM

Hmmm. apparently recorded as "Forty Years a Chambermaid" by Cliff Edwards, also known as Ukulele Ike. More than that, I do not know.
-Joe Offer-

source: http://www.hensteeth.com/e_blue.html#Cliff%20EDWARDS

Subject: Lyr Add: FORTY YEARS A CHAMBERMAID
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 18 Jan 11 - 03:49 PM

From an untitled mimeographed Marine songbook, 1943. Found at www.horntip.com:


FORTY YEARS A CHAMBERMAID
(Tune: I'm a Rambling Wreck from Georgia Tech)

For forty years a chambermaid in a house of ill repute!
For forty years a chambermaid, and never a substitute!
Missing all the fun — never a gent I meet —
I share in all the infamy, but never the gross receipts.

Forty years a chambermaid, and never broke a pot!
Forty years a chambermaid, and never a lay I got.
Never a look or word — never a hug or kiss —
Now ain't that a hell of a life, just emptyin' thot an' this? [sic]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 30 years a chambermaid
From: Lighter
Date: 18 Jan 11 - 06:57 PM

Thanks, Jim. Case, I guess, closed!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Forty Years a Chambermaid
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Jul 15 - 04:55 PM

20 years a chambermaid and never dropped a pot
20 years a chambermaid and damn few tips I got
My kidneys are all rusty and my livers shot to hell
Isn't this a hell of a life just emptying out of that and this

Subject: Lyr Add: TWENTY YEARS A CHAMBERMAID
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 16 Jul 15 - 01:17 AM

Spotify finds this on 2 albums: "The Classic Comedy Collection 3, Vol. 2" and "Vintage British Comedy, Vol. 8":


TWENTY YEARS A CHAMBERMAID
As recorded by Walsh & Barker

Listen, merry gentlemen: when you pay your weekly rent,
Just lend an ear to the chambermaid; you should hear her sad lament:
No one gives a thought to her when cash is freely spent.
She gets all of your abuse, but from you not one cent.

Twenty years a chambermaid, and never a tip she got.
Twenty years of washing up, and never once cracked a pot.
All those long and weary years with never a house or kids—
How's that for a record, boys, what with emptying that and this?

Twenty years a chambermaid, no eau de cologne she knows.
She looks like an onion but she swears that her name is Rose.
She's scrubbing up and scrubbing down; why, never a spot she'll miss.
A chambermaid's duties are never done what with emptying that and this.

Of her work she once grew tired and tied for(?) hours of bliss,
Longed to feel a man's embrace and taste a lover's kiss.
Of this desire she told one day to one of the pantry boys.
He just took one look at her and gave a very rude noise.

Twenty years a chambermaid, her figure is a sin.
The places that were once curved out have now, alas, caved in.
She's running here and running there; why, never a bell she'll miss.
A hell of a life is the chambermaid's, what with emptying that and this.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Forty Years a Chambermaid
From: and e
Date: 05 Jun 24 - 04:36 AM

Forty Years a Chambermaid on youtube here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9zX4Sxl2g4

It is the opening of a medley of different songs.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Forty Years a Chambermaid
From: and e
Date: 05 Jun 24 - 05:01 AM

The master of ceremonies appeared in a flannel
nightgown for the next act with an enameled
pot in one hand and a candle in the other. He
sang a song called, "Forty years a chamber-
maid." He then sang a couplet with different
endings, holding up the candle as he sang:

"Two old maid in a folding bed,
One turned over to the other and said,
Memories, memories."

"Two old maids in a folding bed,
One turned over to the other and said,
'Ah, sweet mystery of life at last I've found
you.'"

"Two old maids in a folding bed,
One turned over to the other and said,
'I'll get by as long as I have you.'"

Report of Edna M. Clark, dated February 3, 1944
investigating a complaint of disorderly conduct
at a bar.