Lyr Add: The Sun Has Got His Hat On (Gay, Butler)

Subject: Lyr Add: THE SUN HAS GOT HIS HAT ON (Gay, Butler)
From: Mr Happy
Date: 20 Aug 06 - 05:22 AM

The sun has got his hat on. Noel Gay and Ralph Butler.


All the little bells are ringing.
All the little birds are singing.
What a lot of fun for everyone.
Sitting in the sun all day.

The sun has got his hat on.
Hip-hip-hip-hooray!
The sun has got his hat on.
He's coming out today.

Now we'll all be happy.
Hip-hip-hip-hooray!
The sun has got his hat on.
And he's coming out today.

He's been burning Negroes out in Timbuctoo.
Now he's coming back to do the same for you.
So jump into your sunbath.
Hip-hip-hip-hooray!
The sun has got his hat on.
And he's coming out today.

Never saw the grass so greener.
Never saw the sky serener.
What a lot of fun for everyone.
Sitting in the sun all day.

All the little boys excited.
All the little girls delighted.
What a lot of fun for everyone.
Playing in the sun all day.

Now we'll all be happy.
Hip-hip-hip-hooray!
The sun has got his hat on.
And he's coming out today.

He's been burning Negroes out in Timbuctoo.
Now he's coming back to do the same for you.
So jump into your sunbath.
Hip-hip-hip-hooray!
The sun has got his hat on.
And he's coming out today.


********

This song is from the UK musical 'Me & My Girl' 1939

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The sun has got his hat on
From: Mr Happy
Date: 20 Aug 06 - 05:24 AM

Since some lyrics in this song can be considered non-pc, here's a sanitised version:

The sun has got his hat on.


Joy bells are ringing,
The songs birds are singing,
And ev'ryone's happy and gay.
Dull days are over,
We'll soon be in clover,
So pack all your troubles away.

The sun has got his hat on
Hip-hip-hip-hooray!
The sun has got his hat on,
He's coming out today.

Now we'll all be happy,
Hip-hip-hip-hooray!
The sun has got his hat on,
And he's coming out today.

He's been roastin peanuts out in Timbuctoo,
Now he's coming back to do the same for you.
So jump into your sunbath
Hip-hip-hip-hooray!
The sun has got his hat on,
And he's coming out today.
Never saw the grass so green
Never saw the sky so blue
What a lot of fun to ev'ryone,
Sitting in the sun all day.

All the little boys excited,
All the little girls delighted,
What a lot of fun to ev'ryone,
Sitting in the sun all day.

Now we all be happy
Hip-hip-hip-hooray!
The sun has got his hat on,
And he's coming out today.

He's been roastin peanuts out in Timbuctoo
Now he's coming back to do the same for you.
So jump into your sunbath
Hip-hip-hip-hooray!
The sun has got his hat on,
And he's coming out today.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The sun has got his hat on
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 20 Aug 06 - 07:09 AM

What a pointless song and a pointless thread.

eric

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The sun has got his hat on
From: Mr Happy
Date: 20 Aug 06 - 08:09 AM

many thanks for your pointless comment!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The sun has got his hat on
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 20 Aug 06 - 08:24 AM

The sun has got his hat on, let's all sing and dance.
The sun has got his hat on and he's buggered off to France!

Huw & Tony Williams circa 1980.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The sun has got his hat on
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 20 Aug 06 - 09:20 AM

eric

Many songs posted on this forum may be considered pointless in some general sense, but that doesn't mean noone is interested in them. (And as for pointless threads, do read this forum?! As least this one has some musical reference).

As for this song in particular, I can remember playing this at a late-night ceilidh at Chippenham festival in the early 80s or thereabouts; just because a song came from a popular musical doesn't mean it can't enter the oral tradition (probably more people would recognise The Sun Has Got His Hat On than would recognise The Golden Glove to take another song with an item of clothing in the title).

Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The sun has got his hat on
From: Mr Happy
Date: 20 Aug 06 - 09:32 AM

Mick,

Thanks.

I agree.

I was prompted to add this when someone added to/refreshed the thread 'Hole in the elephants bottom', as its in similar vein.

Also, at my weakly sinaround, allcomers & all kinds songs invited, as me + fiends believe that ultimately true folk songs are the ones everybody knows/can relate to - not just 'folkies'.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The sun has got his hat on
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 20 Aug 06 - 09:34 AM

In an interview, Mike Harding asked Dick Gaughan how he chose a song to sing, Dick said " well , firstly it has to mean something. "

eric

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The sun has got his hat on
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 20 Aug 06 - 10:02 AM

Sometimes meaning is more than just narrative or political or emotional content. Motion songs for example usually have none of these - usually just some infectious rhythm. They have a meaning in the sense that they engender a feeling of goodwill. Some songs are utterly silly but just make you laugh out loud and feel good. I make no great claims for The Sun Has Got Its Hat On except that it does have a catchy tune and people would probably recognise it. (On the other hand for me a song like The Burning Times, superficially full of meaning, fills me with nothing but dread every time someone says they're about to sing it - a tissue of gross exaggeration and mixed mythologies robs it of all meaning for me).

Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The sun has got his hat on
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 20 Aug 06 - 10:46 AM

I just remembered that I had a similar, but opposite, discussion with Pete Betts (mudcatter Betsy) in Middlesbrough 30-odd years ago. At that time I was singing a lot of American singer-songwriter songs and claiming that songs should have meaning as well as being entertaining, while Pete was trying to persuade me that a song could be entertaining just for its own sake. I seem to have come round to his way of thinking! Well argued Pete, even if it's taken a long time to get there.

Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The sun has got his hat on
From: Mr Happy
Date: 20 Aug 06 - 10:51 AM

Dick Gaughan not really an appropriate example - don't recall him ever doing whimsical/comic songs.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The sun has got his hat on
From: Dave (the ancient mariner)
Date: 20 Aug 06 - 10:53 AM

This song was popular in the UK when I was a lad, lot's of people would sing just the chorus for fun; including my mother, her sisters and me.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The sun has got his hat on
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 20 Aug 06 - 03:21 PM

Sometimes a cigar is just a smoke... sometimes a song is just for fun.

LTS

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The sun has got his hat on
From: Paul Burke
Date: 21 Aug 06 - 04:18 AM

The song is much older than 1939, and I suspect that Christmas Homosexual merely adapted it. The real origin is in anciet Egypt. Amenhotep IV renounced the ancient gods, and replaced their worship with worship of the Sun, called Aten. He changed his name to Akhenaten (Servant of the Sun). He composed this hymn in praise of the rising Sun, and it has survived to this day. This is a better trabnslation:

The Sun, as God, is Aten
Hip hip hip hooray!
The Sun, as God, is Aten
And he's coming out to play!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The sun has got his hat on
From: GUEST,Mr Happy
Date: 21 Aug 06 - 05:25 PM

Paul,

Your genus is astounding!!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The sun has got his hat on
From: JesseW
Date: 22 Aug 06 - 02:52 AM

It seems like a quite nice, fun little song. Happy - please don't be dissuaded from posting further songs by certain idiots^S^S^S^S^S gentlemen on the forum.

Can anyone post the tune for this, by any chance?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The sun has got his hat on
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 22 Aug 06 - 09:28 AM

I haven't heard this song for decades.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The sun has got his hat on
From: Paul Burke
Date: 22 Aug 06 - 09:43 AM

The same ancient song is at the root of the long- standing dispute between the two main branches of Islam, Sunna and Shia. The Shia Moslems originated largely in the former Persian empire, present day Iran. The Sunnis, on the other hand, were concentrated in Egypt, Palestine and North Africa, which had been part of the Roman empire. The Shias gradually became suspicious that the Sunnis were backsliding to Roman ways, and reviving the worship of the former Pagan gods. And taunting them, they sang, "The Sunnis' god is Saturn..."

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The sun has got his hat on
From: Mr Happy
Date: 23 Aug 06 - 07:57 PM

By sheer coincidence, spotted this;http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2006/08/21/btgirl21.xml in the paper this weak.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The sun has got his hat on
From: Mr Happy
Date: 23 Aug 06 - 08:09 PM

Paul- brilliantine!!

BTW, ARE SHEER MUSLINS THE ONES ZORRO ASTRA SPAKETH of?

[Zorro being spokesperson of the Persian Zara Thustra fan club at the time.]

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The sun has got his hat on
From: Mr Happy
Date: 23 Aug 06 - 08:14 PM

who had a big hit in the 70's with Art C. Garfunkel's 'Mrs Robinson's 2001 odyssey: A waste of space'!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The sun has got his hat on
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 23 Aug 06 - 09:10 PM

Didn't it get Lost in Space?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The sun has got his hat on
From: Mr Happy
Date: 24 Aug 06 - 10:32 AM

Lost in Space?

nope I think it got lost in France, or more likely lost in translation!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Sun Has Got His Hat On (Gay, Butler)
From: GUEST,Mrs. Sunrise
Date: 02 Sep 06 - 11:24 AM

On BBC Radio 2 Tuesday August 29, 2006 Desmond Carrington's first song is this 'The Sun Has ........etc:' I use to sing this when I was a kid back in the UK and now living in Toronto, Canada I have taught this catchy song to my 4 and 5 year old grandchildren. They just love it and sing their little hearts out when, after a day of rain the sun pops out and it's sunny again. By the way the words have changed over the years (due to politican correctness).

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Sun Has Got His Hat On (Gay, Butler)
From: Rumncoke
Date: 02 Sep 06 - 01:50 PM

Ah - this took me back 50 years to the front lawn and a wind up gramophone outside the family home.

The record had only 4 verses, lots of hiss and crackle, but it was played regularly along with some Spike Jones and his City Slicker's records, and other vaguely comic songs. I think the records came to us after the death of a great aunt or distant cousen.

I wonder what songs today's 7 year olds will have to sing to their grandchildren.

Anne

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Sun Has Got His Hat On (Gay, Butler)
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Sep 06 - 02:55 PM

It's a big Opening Number in the second half of "Me and My Girl" opening again in the West end soon.

...and yes it cheers me up...which must mean something.


also, another great number from Noel Gay...was "Who's been polishing the sun?!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Sun Has Got His Hat On (Gay, Butler)
From: M.Ted
Date: 02 Sep 06 - 03:02 PM

Mr. Happy's link above is an article related to the revival tour of "Me and My Girl" which open last night at Plymouth Theatre Royal-Me and My Girl Incidentally, Noel Gay was actually Reginald Armitage, a church organist.

Also incidentally, "Me and My Girl" is enormously popular in Japan, where it is performed as an extravaganza by the an all female cast Takarazuka Revue Theatre.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Sun Has Got His Hat On (Gay, Butler)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 25 Aug 17 - 12:23 PM

The link posted by Mr. Happy on 23 Aug 06 - 07:57 PM doesn't bring up anything relevant. I'd call that a dead link, even though it does bring up a generic page for the Telegraph.

So I searched at the Telegraph website for "The Sun Has Got His Hat On" and found these, from May, 2014:

May 10, 2014: Broadcaster forced to quit by BBC after accidentally playing a song with the N-word

May 11, 2014: Boris Johnson: BBC's treatment of veteran broadcaster has been utterly disgraceful

May 12, 2014: N-word radio show was pre-recorded but 'no one at BBC listened to it'

May 14, 2014: David Lowe: I thought, 'The Sun Has Got His Hat On'. Now that's a nice, safe choice


Wikipedia has an article about the song.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE SUN HAS GOT HIS HAT ON (Gay, Butler)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 25 Aug 17 - 01:28 PM

THE SUN HAS GOT HIS HAT ON
As recorded by Henry Hall & the BBC Dance Orchestra, 1932.

Hip hooray! Hip hooray!

The sun has got his hat on. Hip-hip-hip-hooray!
The sun has got his hat on and he's coming out today.

The sun has got his hat on. Hip-hip-hip-hooray!
The the sun has got his hat on and he's coming out today.

Now we'll all be happy. Hip-hip-hip-hooray!
The sun has got his hat on and he's coming out today.

He's been tanning n****rs out in Timbuktu.*
Now he's coming back to do the same to you.

Oh, jump into your sun bath. Hip-hip-hip-hooray!
The sun has got his hat on and he's coming out today.

Never saw the grass look greener; never saw the sky serener.
What a lot of fun for ev'ryone, sitting in the sun all day!

All the little boys excited. All the little girls delighted.
What a lot of fun for ev'ryone, sitting in the sun all day!

The sun has got his hat on. Hip-hip-hip-hooray!
The sun has got his hat on and he's coming out today.

All the little birds are singing; Canterbury bells are ringing.
Pussy on the tiles is wreathed in smiles, sleeping in the sun all day.

Hip-hip-hooray!


* The same line was used by Ambrose and his Orchestra, and by Syd Lipton and his Grosvenor House Orchestra, in 1932.

In 1971, "Nemo" (Jonathan King) substituted "Negroes."

A version by Justin Fletcher has:

"He's been beaming at me, smiling at me too."

A version by David Kernan has:

"He's been roasting peanuts out in Timbuktu."

(By the way—I looked it up—Mali does indeed export peanuts and peanut oil.)

The Ambrose version also contains this verse:

All the little birds are singin'. All the little gnats are stingin'.
All the little bees in twos and threes, buzzin' in the sun all day.