IF A GREY HAIRED LADY SAYS "HOW'S YER FATHER?"
(Ted Waite)


Flanagan & Allen - 1939
Jack Warner - 1940



If a grey haired lady says "How's yer Father?"
That'll be Mademoiselle
If she smiles and says, "How's yer Father?"
That will be Mademoiselle

If she says, "Parlez-vous, toot suite, tell me do,
How is he after all these years"
If a grey haired lady says "How's yer Father?"
That's Mademoiselle from Armentieres

SPOKEN:
You're going across the sea, my lad
I wish you luck, my son (Thanks, Dad)
You've got a great big job to do
A job that must be done (Yes, Dad)
If you should meet a lady there that I knew years ago (Yes?)
Just give her my kind regards (How will I know?)

If a grey haired lady says "How's yer Father?"
Oh, that will be Mademoiselle
If she smiles and says, "How's yer Father?"
That will be Mademoiselle

If she says, "Parlez-vous, toot suite, tell me do,
How is he after all these years"
If a grey haired lady says "Don't tell your Mother?"
That's Mademoiselle from Armentieres

SPOKEN:
Ah, I remember one time, son
We were coming out of the trenches
And although Armentieres was eighty kilos away
(Eighty kilometres, that's a long way, Dad)
Yes, son, I went and saw her
And another time we were going up the line at Passiondale
And, you know, it was a dark anight and you could hear
"Shell 'ole on the right, shell 'ole on the right, shell 'ole on the right
Shell 'ole on the left, shell 'ole on the left, shell 'ole on the left"
(FEMALE VOICE: Shell hole on the left)
Huh-huh, there she was, Mademoiselle from Armentieres
Coming up the line with us (Blimey, Dad, did you do any fightin' at all? Oi!)

If she says, "Parlez-vous, toot suite, tell me do,
How is he after all these years"
If a grey haired lady says "Don't tell your Mother?"
That's Mademoiselle from Armentieres



(Transcribed by Mel Priddle - March 2017)