Show Me the Way to Go Home

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"Show Me the Way to Go Home" is a popular song written in 1925 by the English songwriting team Jimmy Campbell and Reg Connelly, using the pseudonym "Irving King". The song is said to have been written on a train journey from London by Campbell and Connelly. They were tired from the traveling and had a few alcoholic drinks during the journey, hence the lyrics. The song is in common use in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and North America.

Contents

Publication

The music and lyrics were written in 1925 by Jimmy Campbell and Reg Connelly. They self-published the sheet music and it became their first big success, selling 2 million copies and providing the financial basis of their publishing firm, Campbell, Connelly & Co. [1] Campbell and Connelly published the sheet music and recorded the song under the pseudonym "Irving King". [2]

The song was recorded by several artists in the 1920s. The first recordings, in 1925, were by Hal Swain's New Princes' Toronto Band a group of Canadian musicians working in London and by American-born male impersonator Ella Shields, in both cases for the Columbia label in London. [3] Other recordings were made by radio personalities The Happiness Boys, [2] Vincent Lopez and his Orchestra, [2] and the California Ramblers. [4] Throughout the twentieth into the twenty-first century it has been recorded by numerous artists.

Lyrics

Show me the way to go home,
I'm tired and I want to go to bed,
I had a little drink about an hour ago,
And it's gone right to my head,
Wherever I may roam,
On land or sea a-foam,
You will always hear me singing this song,
Show me the way to go home.

Parodies

Parodies popular on Midwest American campuses in the 1950s went:

Indicate the way to my abode
I'm fatigued and I want to retire
I imbibed a few about sixty minutes ago
And it percolated right through my cerebellum
Wherever I may perambulate
O'er land or sea or atmospheric vapor
You will always hear me rendering this melody
Indicate the way to my abode [5]

or

Indicate the way to my abode
I'm fatigued and I wish to retire
I had a spot of beverage sixty minutes ago
And its risen right up to my cranium
No matter wherever I may perambulate
On land or sea or atmospheric vapour
You can always hear me chanting the melody
Indicate the way to my abode

or, there is the drunker second stanza

Home me the way to go show
I'm bed and I want to go to tired
I had a little hour about a drink ago
And it's gone right to my cerebellum
Wherever I may roam
Over land or sea or agitated water
You can always sing me finding a song
Home me the way to go show

Some similar versions substitute "terra firma" for land and/or "aqueous precipitate" for foam.

Literature

Film

Television

Football

Supporters of Wimbledon F.C. / AFC Wimbledon have sung an adapted version reflecting their team spending 25 years away from their Plough Lane home stadium: "Show Me The Way To Plough Lane".

Supporters of Liverpool FC sing a version "Show them the way to go home" to mock the away team and away fans that are visiting Anfield stadium:

Show them the way to home
They're tired and they want to go to bed (for a wank)
Cos they're only half a football team
Compared to the boys in red[ citation needed ]

Theme parks

At Universal Studios Florida, in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter Diagon Alley, there is a window of animated shrunken heads. They banter with each other and often break into "Show Me The Way To Go Home". It is also one of the spots where one can use an interactive wand and use the Silencio wand movement to make them stop singing and make muffled sounds as if they suddenly can't move their lips. It is located across from Borgin & Burke's gift shop and next to the Dystal Phaelanges skeleton display. This along with several other design details throughout the Harry Potter themed section are a tribute to the former Jaws attraction, which closed on January 2, 2012 and was replaced by Diagon Alley in 2014.[ citation needed ]

Recordings

References

  1. J. J. Kennedy (4 November 2011). The Man Who Wrote the Teddy Bears' Picnic: How Irish-Born Lyricist and Composer Jimmy Kennedy Became One of the Twentieth Century's Finest Songwriters. AuthorHouse. p. 46. ISBN   978-1-4678-8569-0.
  2. 1 2 3 Marvin E. Paymer; Don E. Post (1999). Sentimental Journey: Intimate Portraits of America's Great Popular Songs, 1920-1945. Noble House Publishers. p. 80. ISBN   978-1-881907-09-1.
  3. "Show Me the Way to Go Home", Secondhand Songs. Retrieved 16 November 2020
  4. Howard T. Weiner (6 November 2008). Early Twentieth-Century Brass Idioms: Art, Jazz, and Other Popular Traditions. Scarecrow Press. p. 115. ISBN   978-0-8108-6246-3.
  5. Francis Edward Abernethy, Kenneth L. Untiedt (2004). Both Sides of the Border: A Scattering of Texas Folklore. University of North Texas Press. p. 192. ISBN   9781574411843.
  6. Wilson, Gregory (2014). I Shall Sing and Dance in the Rain. Xlibris Corporation. p. 41. ISBN   9781493159079.
  7. Hischak, Thomas S. (9 November 2018). The Woody Allen Encyclopedia. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 60. ISBN   9781538110676.
  8. Leggatt, Matthew (14 November 2017). Cultural and Political Nostalgia in the Age of Terror: The Melancholic Sublime. Routledge. p. 172. ISBN   9781315411477.
  9. Sesame Street - The Cow Who was Looking for a Home, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIlim-W645I
  10. https://www.vulture.com/article/the-challenge-40-battle-of-the-eras-recap-episode-18.html
  11. "Frank Crumit Collection 1925-1934 (COMPLETE)". 78 RPMs and Cylinder Recordings. Internet Archive. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  12. "Max Bygraves – Singalong With Max". Discogs. 1975. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
  13. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-53418378