Song ID from partial song lyrics (Australian?)

Subject: Song ID from partial song lyrics.
From: GUEST,Julie
Date: 11 Mar 05 - 08:10 PM

Can anyone identify the song that my father used to sing the last two lines of please?
"I once was as young and as gay as them all ... but I'm rather to old for that now".
He may have had the words a little wrong but I have been told that it was a short ditty played by his mother on the piano, and could have been something to do with a comedy sketch involving their small band that played here in Oakleigh Victoria Australia around 1930 to 1950.

Subject: RE: Song ID from partial song lyrics.
From: Sorcha
Date: 12 Mar 05 - 04:30 PM

Refresh

Subject: RE: Song ID from partial song lyrics.
From:
Date: 12 Mar 05 - 06:23 PM

Perhaps someone who can edit the Subject can reference the Aussie aspect to highlight it for our Australian Mudcatters.

Done.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Song ID from partial song lyrics.
From: Joybell
Date: 12 Mar 05 - 09:39 PM

Julie, What was the name of the band? I grew up not far from Oakleigh. I have several older friends (I was 5 in 1950) who were on the music scene during that time too. Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: Song ID from partial song lyrics (Australian?)
From: GUEST,Julie
Date: 16 Mar 05 - 09:12 PM

Sorry for the delay.
I don't think that the band had a name but I will ask my Uncle who is the only one still alive.
Their surnames were BLACK and they were all of the same family. I recall them playing at the UFS Hall in Atherton Road at one time and they were a dance band primarily. I was only 3 in 1950 and grew up in Oakleigh but I remember this quite vividly.
My grandmother ran a men's boarding house in Atherton Road and that is where they had their practice sessions.
The band was still playing about three years later when a school dance was held in Notting Hill for my primary school there. It probably wasn't Johnny Ray but an impersonator who performed that night as well. He was definitely introduced as Johnny Ray though.

Subject: RE: Song ID from partial song lyrics (Australian?)
From: Joybell
Date: 17 Mar 05 - 05:56 PM

Julie, It's a long shot. A very long shot, and of course "Black" is such a common name. But Black is the family name of the descendants of a popular performer on the Goldfields in central Victoria from the 1860s to the early 1900s. Do you have the name "Barlow" on your family tree? I've been searching for this particular "Black" family for years.
I'll keep asking about your original question. No luck so far.
Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: Song ID from partial song lyrics (Australian?)
From: JulieG
Date: 17 Mar 05 - 10:07 PM

No BARLOW sorry.
But my BLACKs were definitely in Ballarat during the goldrush times.
Family legend has us related to the George BLACK of Eureka fame. The one on the Wanted Poster, but I haven't been able to prove anything.
Tell me about your BLACK musician please?
You never know!
My uncle hasn't responded with a name of the group either.
I have just joined this forum so now just have to work out how to use it!

Subject: RE: Song ID from partial song lyrics (Australian?)
From: Joybell
Date: 18 Mar 05 - 05:24 PM

Welcome Julie. Good to have another Victorian here. It's a friendly place here. I'll send you a message for practice.
My long-time obsession has been with the many performers, during the 19th Century, who took on the character of "Billy Barlow". A Robert "Billy" Barlow came here from England during the goldrush. I've found out quite a bit about him but I know there is more out there. His only daughter, Margaret, married a man named "Black". By this time the family was in Gympie and I've no evidence that Margaret ever lived in Victoria. "Billy" returned frequently, though. Margarets male descendants would be named "Black". (one was a "George Black" but he was born too late to be yours.) It was a long shot, but you never know. Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: Song ID from partial song lyrics (Australian?)
From: JulieG
Date: 22 Mar 05 - 11:52 PM

Hello Joy
No reply yet from my uncle about the band's name.
Isn't that a strange co-incidence ... my mother's name was Margaret and my father's surname was BLACK.
Have you tried Her Majesty's Theatre BALLARAT
Peter Freund
Web: www.hermaj.com
[e-mail]
Publicist and Historian.
He has been able to provide a lot of information for me about another performer during the gold rush. He might have something on your Billy ... worth a try!
regards
Julie

Subject: RE: Song ID from partial song lyrics (Australian?)
From: freda underhill
Date: 23 Mar 05 - 12:01 AM

I've heard that song, Julie, years ago, my father may have sung it (and he came from the western districts of Victoria, so could have heard it down there). most of our catters are on the way to our national folk festival right now - so its worth refreshing this thread after Easter Bob Bolton will be back and if he doesnt know it, he'll know who may know!

i'm interested to find out more too, and will keep my eye on this thread!

bes wishes

freda

Subject: RE: Song ID from partial song lyrics (Australian?)
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Mar 05 - 12:49 PM

This really rings a bell; I am almost certain I have heard Martyn Wyndham-Read use it, song or maybe poem. Anyone in touch with him?

Subject: RE: Song ID from partial song lyrics (Australian?)
From: Joybell
Date: 23 Mar 05 - 05:59 PM

freda, I'm out here in the Western District. Hadn't thought to ask around home. I'll do that.

Just had a thought!! That line sounds a bit like something Gracie Fields might have sung. Her sort of words aren't they?

Julie, Thank you for the lead. I've visited the theatre where "Billy" performed in Castlemaine but haven't talked to Peter Fruend. I'll get onto it. Maybe have to be when we get back from the US.
Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: Song ID from partial song lyrics (Australian?)
From: freda underhill
Date: 23 Mar 05 - 10:26 PM

My dad grew up in Coleraine, Joybell.

I agree re the gracie fields connection - and that takes up to Bernard Boland as a possible source of info..

Subject: RE: Song ID from partial song lyrics (Australian?)
From: Joybell
Date: 24 Mar 05 - 05:49 PM

Now that's a good idea, freda. Anyone in contact with Bernard Bolan?

Coleraine is a lovely little town. And they have those wonderful chocolates AND Kelpies - the canine ones not the Faerie types.   Also I really like the phallic symbol carved on the hill as you drive back East from the town. Yes! I know it's suposed to be the Boy Scout logo!
We are South of there. Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: Song ID from partial song lyrics (Australian?)
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 03:25 AM

Hello again Joy and all of you other nice people who are trying to help me.
My Uncle says this ...
The big drum had nothing on it in the form of a name.
The scene painted on it was done by Mr Kirk, a blacksmith on Dandenong Rd near Clayton Rd on the North side. It was a scene of a country house with a stream running by. We had a globe in it that intermittently flashed , the paint on the window was thin and appeared to have someone inside turning the light on and off. The painting was done approx 70 years ago.
So if any friends recognise this description then we might be on our way to finding out more about this band.
And as for the song ...
I would really love to know what it was my dad was singing.
regards
Julie

Subject: RE: Song ID from partial song lyrics (Australian?)
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 11:38 PM

G'day Julie, Freda & Joybell,

I had a look at this thread quite early ... but the lines, while familiar, didn't suggested ant specific Victorian era song.

Our GUEST: 23 Mar 05 - 12:49 PM mentions Martyn Wyndham-Read ... and I do seem to (distantly) hear MW-R doing a variant of the "My get-up-and-go has got up and went ... " tale - but don't hold me to it! That would certainly fit in with Julie's recollection: "... that it was a short ditty played by his mother on the piano, and could have been something to do with a comedy sketch ..."

Regards,

Bob

Subject: RE: Song ID from partial song lyrics (Australian?)
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 11 Apr 05 - 11:31 PM

G'day again Julie,

I did have a look at the My get-up-and-go song in the Digital Tradition (Pete Seeger's version of an American-collected one) ... and it doesn't have your words, however, the lines you quote do seem to match something quite similar in feel. I'll try to keep an eye out for anything better-fitting.

Regards,

Bob

Subject: Lyr Add: KINDNESS (Samuel William Partridge)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 10 Nov 07 - 03:36 PM

Not quite the same, but close:

From Important Truths in Simple Verse by Samuel William Partridge, London, 1841:


KINDNESS.

"COME, honest old dame, let me carry your pail,
'Tis too heavy for you, I can see;
My legs are more active, my arms too are strong,
'Tis a plaything for me who am healthy and young,—
Come, give up your burden to me."

"Now bless you, my boy, you're a generous lad,
To offer so free and so kind;
My limbs are, alas, growing feeble and old,
And even that paltry light pail that you hold
Is too much for my weakness, I find.

"But I once was as young and as hearty as you,
And was strong as the best of them then;
And many a feat, my brave boy, I could tell,
How I bore two large buckets a mile from the well,—
But I never shall do it again.

"Ah me, how time flies!—it appears but last week,
Since Jane, Poll, and Nancy, up town,
All frolicsome girls, laid a wager with me
They would carry their pails from the well to that tree,
But I tired every one of them down.

"But I see your young playmates are waiting for you,
And impatient as they can well be;
So do not stay longer, but off to your fun,
And thanks for your service, which few would have done
To help a poor woman like me."

"Very welcome, old Janet: I love a good game
At cricket, or marbles, or ball;
But although 'tis so pleasant, believe me, I find
That to do a good turn or an action that's kind,
Is a pleasure far greater than all."