I TOOK MY HARP TO A PARTY
Noel Gay (m) Desmond Carter (l)  1934

as rec by by Harry Fay w Billy Cotton & his Band  1934

also rec by -
Gracie Fields w Peter Yorke & his Orch  '49
Lesley Sarony


Christmas is coming, (Christmas is coming)
Christmas is coming again;
That never thrills me,
The though of it chills me,
I tell you it fills me with pain!

It makes me remember
A Christmas gone by,
When I was extremely upset;
A night in December,
An evening that I
Would very much like to forget!

For I took my harp to a party,
But nobody asked me to play;
The others were jolly and hearty,
But I wasn't feeling so gay!

They might have said, "Play us a tune we can sing",
But somehow I don't think they noticed the thing!

For I took my harp to a party,
But nobody asked me to play,
So I took the darned thing away!

They asked Mrs Morgan
To play a mouth organ,
Somebody else did a dance.
They let Mrs Carter
Perform a sonata,
But I wasn't given a chance!

A north country person
Called Sandy Mcpherson
Played bagpipes and took off his coat,
While both the Miss Fawcetts
Burst out of their corsets
In trying to take a top note!

They sang "'Ome Sweet 'Ome" and
"The Banks Of Loch Lomond",
Then "All The King's Horses" and "Trees",
While nephews and nieces
Kept playing their pieces,
And spreading their jam on the keys!

A daughter called Lena
Played her concertina,
We all played ridiculous games!
Till old Mr Dyer
set his whiskers on fire,
And the fire engine played on the flames, oh!





(Transcribed by Peter Akers - July 2011)