Glossop Road

Lyrics

1
I’m just in the vein to sing a little strain so pin your attention down,
To a tale I’ll tell of a Hallamshire swell I shall introduce as Brown.
He was in the Rifle Corps an’ I mustn’t say more to you that listens to me ode.
Do the thing that’s right all on a Sunday night with the girls up Glossop Road.
With the girls up Glossop Road, with the girls up Glossop Road
Do the thing that’s right all on a Sunday night with the girls up Glossop Road.

2
Now Brown was a spark, rather fond of a lark, and a married man though not chaste,
And little he cared how his own wife fared if another girl took his taste.
So himself he dressed in his regimental best, and proud as a peacock strode,
Admiring the curls, crinolines and pearls of the girls up Glossop Road.
Of the girls up Glossop Road, of the girls up Glossop Road,
Admiring the curls etc.

3
Well he accosted a fair with dark wavy hair, blue boots and a red leather belt,
And he smiled and he talked as they onward walked, endeavouring her heart to melt;
Then this sly volunteer gave a wink and a leer, enquiring her name and abode,
And he felt as grand as a lord of the land with the girls up Glossop Road.
With the girls etc.

4
Well at length Mr Brown and this girl settled down in a neat little inn close by,
Where he ordered a drain of draught champagne and a quarter of a cold pork pie;
Then he huddled and pressed, close cuddled and caressed and kisses he gave her a load,
And he fell upon his knees just as swoony as you please with the girls up Glossop Road.
With the girls etc.

5
Now, this quaint little man had scarcely begun his love tale out for to pour,
When who should he see but his own Mrs B peeping at the parlour door.
With the bound of a bear she fastened on his hair, crying as her anger rose,
“I’ll tear away your eyes if you come to exercise with the girls up Glossop Road.
With the girls etc.

6
So to set the matter right the women had a fight and a right old-timer up and down;
They smashed to smithereens hats, gowns and crinoleens, and then they went to work on Brown.
Well he was jolly well thrashed and his head got smashed, and the crowd their anger did bestow,
And his fine uniform went to blazes in the storm with the girls up Glossop Road.
With the girls etc.

7
So a lot of the police, ’cos they’d broken the peace, took Brown to the Town Hall cells,
Where he had to ruminate on his unlucky fate with many other fast young swells,
And his wife ran away the very next day, and the close of this little episode,
He’s a volunteer still, but he never goes to drill with the girls up Glossop Road.
With the girls etc.

This is a traditional song about Yorkshire, collected in Yorkshire.

Provenance

This song was written by prolific song writer J B Geoghegan (pronounced Gaygan), originally from Lancashire, but resident in Sheffield by the 1860s. Many of his songs are still being sung today in oral tradition and in the folk clubs. He is responsible for Hey, John Barleycorn, Ten-thousand Miles Away, Down in a Coalmine, Johnny I hardly knew you, Pat works on the Railway, Rock the Cradle, John, They all have a mate but me and Roger Ruff, or A Drop of Good Beer, as well as numerous topical Sheffield songs. Some of his earlier local songs and recitations, like this one, were published on broadsides, his more popular pieces like John Barleycorn were printed as sheet music, and some appeared in musical anthologies like The Scottish Student’s Songbook.

The broadside title is

GLOSSOP ROAD, A Comic Song and a True One, written by J B Geoghegan
Author of ‘Sons of Old John Bull’, ‘John Barleycorn’, ‘Wasn’t She a Beauty’ &c, And sung by him with immense applause.  Professional Singers and Printers; Singing, Printing or Selling this Song, without the Author’s Permission, will be proceeded against under the Law of Copyright. JBG.

For at least a hundred-and-fifty years Glossop Road was the ‘red-light’ district of Sheffield and still was as late as the 1960s. The prime reason for its location there was the presence of Glossop Road Barracks, once the headquarters of a battalion of the Yorks and Lancs Regiment.

Ken’s version is pretty close to the original with just a few words different here and there, and his fourth stanza is a splicing of two stanzas in the original eight-stanza version. He learnt the song in the 1970s at The Royal Hotel, Dungworth, from Mary Butler.

A full version with music score was printed in The South Riding Songbook, 1998, p48, edited by Paul Davenport, one of our contributors.