Goodbye Little Village 1938 'Great Days'

Dr. Pitt-Payne in London UK - 07 Jul 2002

It won't be long before
the dear old camp is here again,
On Saturday we'll all be
at the station in the train,
a last farewell to Mothers
and a hope we've ev'rything,
as we pull out of Waterloo,
we'll wave our hats and sing:

Goodbye little village
you will miss us when we go,
Don't cry, little village,
keep an eye on 'Rotten Row'
We shall miss the scenes
of the 'NightClub Queens'
to the 'Square' we're giving the air,
Goodbye, little village
get along somehow.

Oh London Town won't be the same
as soon as we move out,
and foreigners will say
"Is this the place we've heard about?"
The P'lice will have an easy time,
excitement will be rare,
it's useless raiding nightclubs
when they know we won't be there:

Goodbye little village
you will miss us when we go,
Don't cry, little village,
keep an eye on 'Rotten Row'
We shall miss the scenes
of the 'NightClub Queens'
to the 'Square' we're giving the air,
Goodbye, little village
get along somehow.

We shan't be talking scandal
about Mayfair's latest joy,
we shan't be having supper
in the Grille at The Savoy,
The West End will be Oh so dull,
the restaurants so slack,
and Charlie Cochran's Op'ning Night
must wait till we get back:

Goodbye little village
you will miss us when we go,
Don't cry, little village,
keep an eye on 'Rotten Row'
We shall miss the scenes
of the 'NightClub Queens'
to the 'Square' we're giving the air,
Goodbye, little village
get along somehow.

'Ere we depart we'll see the Press
and hand the boys some laughs,
The Tatler and the Bystander
will carry photographs,
the Gossip Boys will write of us,
I know they'll make a din,
I'm quite the rage with Charlie Graves
and famous Godfrey Winn:

Goodbye little village
you will miss us when we go,
Don't cry, little village,
keep an eye on 'Rotten Row'
We shall miss the scenes
of the 'NightClub Queens'
to the 'Square' we're giving the air,
Goodbye, little village
get along somehow.

Goodbye to all the office rust,
the ledgers and the clouds of dust,
Forget 'em,
Each morning when we sign the book
our bosses give a sneaking look,
Forget 'em,
The clatter from the typist's room,
the Senior Clerk and all his gloom,
Forget him,
The dreary routine day by day
and all for such paltry pay,
Forget it.

Each morning sees the same old fuss,
the same old run to catch the bus,
forget it,
the same place ev'ry day for lunch
and always meet the same old bunch,
forget it,
then back to work the same old tricks,
and then we slog 'til half past six,
forget it,
and going home at night the rush
to get your train, oh what a crush,
forget it.

So you can wonder why we're glad
to leave it all behind?
We're off upon our holidays
with nothing on our mind,
the world is throwing out its arms
and calling ev'ryone,
and how that call is answered now
by ev'ry mother's son:

Goodbye little village
you will miss us when we go,
Don't cry, little village,
keep an eye on 'Rotten Row'
We shall miss the scenes
of the 'NightClub Queens'
to the 'Square' we're giving the air,
Goodbye, little village
get along somehow.

Soft karaoke
Words
str 25
str 50
str 110
fr hrn 60
brass 75
flute
bassoon
pizz str
*
Goodbye Little Village 1938
by Ralph Reader
copyright 1938 by Francis, Day and Hunter Ltd., London
sequence and karaoke by Dr. Pitt-Payne in London UK
on Sunday 07 July 2002 at 20.41
in association with Doug Grierson
*
from Ralph Reader's Gang Show of 1938
'Great Days'
*