ROLLING AROUND PICCADILLY
Hargreaves / Damerell

as recorded by George Formby
June 11th 1926


(banter)

I'm such a hot headed young scoundrel,
I might be an under done steak.
My father, you know, was a gardener,
So I've turned out a bit of a rake.
I know I'm too restless and darin',
But youth wants its fling, you're aware.
I once told that to some girl's husband,
And he flung me down three flights of stairs!
I'm so fast I'll get into trouble, no doubt,
I terrify London each time I go out!

When I'm rollin' around Piccadilly,
Givin' the girls wrong ideas,
Dashin' along just as bold as brass,
Flashin' me stick on each lamp post I pass.
Winkin' me eye in a manner
That made hundreds of women leave home,
And the News Of The World expects big things of me,
Ee, I'm not safe to be out alone!

(banter)

Now I'm thinkin' of joinin' a night club,
Such wicked tales of them they tell!
I'll join some night club where the birds are,
And I might join a goose club as well!
I know this gay life's tellin' on me,
My end will be tragic and grim.
My dad turned me out and won't let me
Sleep on the same doorstep as 'im!
I spend twice the money of other young scamps,
With fourpence in cash and three ha'pence in stamps!

I go rollin' around Piccadilly,
Makin' smoke come down me nose.
Cheap cigarettes never touch my lips,
I only collect those fag ends with gold tips!
When I'm out I look such a gay dog
That a butcher once threw me a bone,
And I've sent Scotland Yard nearly out of their minds,
Ee, I'm not safe to be out alone!

(banter)




(Transcribed by Peter Akers - June 2017)