FIDDLER KEPT ON FIDDLING, THE
(
Harry Gifford / Fred E Cliffe)

as recorded by George Formby
May 29th 1935


Mister Fiddler Joe
Took his fiddle and bow
Most everywhere he went.
Got married one day
In a hotel so gay,
A lovely evenin' spent!
And the fiddler kept on fiddlin',
Fiddlin' all the time!
To bed his bride had gone,
But he still kept fiddlin' on!
For hours he played,
Up the stairs then he strayed
And he heard the midnight chime,
Started kissin' his bride, then he found in the gloom,
With a frowsy old made he was in the wrong room!
But the fiddler kept on fiddlin',
Fiddlin' all the time!

On a charabanc ride
He sat by the side
Of the driver, 'pon my soul!
But alas, by and by,
Poked the bow in his eye
And the driver lost control!
But the fiddler kept on fiddlin',
Fiddlin' all the time!
They went racin' down the hill,
At the bottom had a spill.
In a hospital bed,
There a nurse to him said,
"Very quiet, you must recline,
Or in heaven a harp
You will play, mighty sharp!"
He jumped up and he shouted,
"To hell with the harp!",
And the fiddler kept on fiddlin',
Fiddlin' all the time!

In a theatre band
He was gettin' on grand,
Till a fire occurred one night.
Though it caused such a scare,
He still sat in his chair
With his whiskers all alight!
And the fiddler kept on fiddlin',
Fiddlin' all the time!
His pants were burnt right through,
And he singed his E string too!
So brave he behaved,
A panic he saved
In that Christmas pantomime.
The principal boy, who had had too much gin,
Slipped and fell with her legs across his violin,
But the fiddler kept on fiddlin',
Fiddlin' all the time!




(Transcribed by Peter Akers - August 2017)