‘See, the conquering hero comes! Sound the trumpets, beat the drums’: music and sport in England, 1880–1939

Abstract

This study provides a broad overview of the key synergies between the fields of music and sport between 1880 and 1939. It demonstrates that sport formed a common topic within commercial popular music, especially the music hall, a reflection both of sport's central position within society and the music industry's acute understanding that engagement with it generated a sense of modernity. The presence of sportsmen as popular entertainers also helped cement this relationship. With regard to the role of music in sport, it is shown to have been useful for fund raising and as a vehicle for the entertainment and self-entertainment of spectators and has served as a significant force in the construction and articulation of a variety of self- and collective identities. It is argued that, in comparison with the period from the late twentieth century, the relationship between music and sport was largely natural and unforced and showed relatively little of the self-consciousness that so typifies much recent practice. Sport and music did not so much ‘crossover’ as draw from a common cultural pool.

Acknowledgements

The author is extremely grateful to Alexander Jackson for help with ideas, material and leads on footballers and music.

Notes

^1. Era, April 17, 1886.

^2. For pioneering work on the pre-1939 period see Horrall, Popular Culture in London; Huggins and Gregson, ‘Sport, Music-Hall Culture’; Huggins and Gregson, ‘Northern Songs Sporting Heroes’; and Hill, ‘War, Remembrance and Sport’. Valuable work on the post-1945 era includes McGuinness, ‘Friday Night and the Gates are Low’; and Thrills, You're Not Singing Anymore.

^3. The digitization of sources, especially newspapers, makes work on this topic far easier, with valuable needles now more easily discovered in previously often impenetrable haystacks.

^4. Russell, Popular Music in England; and Nott, Music for the People.

^5. Russell, Popular Music in England.

^6. Ehrlich, Music Profession in Britain, 209; and Russell, ‘Amateur Musicians’, 145–50.

^7. Nott, Music for the People, 211–13.

^8. Williams, ‘Samson in Senghennyd’.

^9. Scowcroft, ‘Sport and Music’.

^10. Travers, 94 Declared, 24–5; The Stage, April 28, 1904, May 12, 1904, September 8, 1938.

^11. Horrall, Popular Culture in London, 3.

^12. Era, February 17, 1900.

^13. Era, April 1, 1877, March 30, 1878, March 14, 1880. For Derby Day, Era, April 4, 1875, May 14, 1875, May 18, 1879, June 27, 1885 and March 13, 1897; Rae, W.G. Grace, 389, 396. Era, January 12, 1895 (see also June 15, 1895 and August 10, 1895); Era, August 15, 1896.

^14. For Curran and Ripon see Maloney, Scotland and the Music Hall, 96–7. Curran's, ‘Dooley Football Club’ was to form the basis of Robin Hall and Jimmie McGregor's hit song ‘Football Crazy’ in 1960. www.rampantscotland.com/songs/blsongs_football.htm (accessed May 14, 2011). Era, March 28, 1891 for Ripon's court case; November 26, 1892, November 25 1893 and December 2, 1893 for Bostock.

^15. Era, July 27, 1889, August 31, 1889 and August 5, 1898 for Traynor. Rust, British Music Hall, 245, lists Shields's Edwardian recordings. Although he sang, much of his output took the form of comic recitals. The Stage, December 29, 1933.

^16. Thrills, You're Not Singing Anymore, 73; The Stage, March 15, 1932 and March 5, 1936.

^17. Huggins and Gregson, ‘Northern Songs Sporting Heroes’.

^18. British Library [BL] H. 3980, LL (55); [BL] H. 3981, VV (22). It was recorded under the title ‘At the Football Match last Saturday’. Rust, British Music Hall, 241; Thrills, You're Not Singing Anymore, 73; [BL] H. 3480 (9). ‘Josser’ broadly equates to ‘fool’. For cricket and music hall see Allen, A Song for Cricket, 149–59.

^19. Era, December 28, 1889; Gänzl, British Musical Theatre, 402, 433.

^20. Music was by Thomas Dunhill and Alfred Reynolds, respectively. The Stage, December 30, 1931 and January 28, 1932; A.P. Herbert, Tantivy Towers and Derby Day, 60–1, 20; and A.P. Herbert, A.P.H. His Life and Times, 90–6.

^21. Boddy, Boxing, 181–6; and Dewsbury Reporter, November 20, 1915.

^22. Bill in author's private collection. For early performances in Coventry and Leicester see Era, May 23, 1891 and May 30, 1891.

^23. The Stage, July 5, 1928. See also January 12, 1922, April 30, 1922, and July 12, 1928; May 2, 1935, and June 6, 1935, for Rimmer ‘scoring as usual’ in vaudeville programmes. Harding, Living to Play, 241, 249.

^24. Palmer, Minstrel of Quarry Bank, Part two, 64; and Northern Echo, February 2, 1895.

^25. The Stage, September 9, 1906, Horrall, Popular Culture in London, 157; and Derby Mercury, June 4, 1890.

^26. Athletic News, August 6, 1884.

^27. Herbert, British Brass Band; and Berrow's Worcester Journal, August 10, 1878.

^28. Chelsea Chronicle, September 1907–February 1910.

^29. Leeds Mercury, February 3, 1896; and Chelsea Chronicle, April 2, 1907 and April 4, 1907.

^30. Liverpool Mercury, April 2, 1894; Sheffield Independent, April 23, 1900; Times, April 27, 1914; and Manchester Evening News, April 24, 1915.

^31. McKibbin, Classes and Cultures, 54. For community singing see Russell, ‘Abiding Memories’; and Hill, ‘War, Remembrance and Sport’, 165–7.

^32. Daily Express, December 23, 1926 and January 15, 1927.

^33. Official Cup Final programme, 1938, National Football Museum, Preston archive.

^34. Yorkshire Post, April 25, 1936.

^35. Daily Express, April 16, 1927; Hill, ‘War, Remembrance and Sport’, 165; Garland, Henry Francis Lyte, 126.

^36. Islington Gazette, April 28, 1930 and April 29, 1936; Halifax Guardian, April 28, 1894 and April 27, 1903.

^37. Handel, Judas Maccabeus, iv; London Evening Post, September 8, 1774; Morning Post, November 16, 1802.

^38. Leeds Mercury, February 3, 1896.

^39. Blackburn Standard, April 5, 1884.

^40. Russell, Popular Music in England, 182; Palmer, Minstrel of Quarry Bank, Part 1, 63.

^41. Palmer, Minstrel of Quarry Bank, Part 2, 66; Russell, Popular Music in England, 226; Yorkshire Observer Budget, March 18, 1911; The Stage, April 28, 1921.

^42. Athletic News, September 3, 1884; Batley News and Advertiser, May 4, 1901; and Halifax Evening Courier, April 30, 1903.

^43. Leeds Mercury, May 30, 1895; Manchester Evening News, April 24, 1909, April 26, 1909; Manchester Evening Chronicle, April 24, 1926; Huddersfield Daily Examiner, April 21, 1928 and March 5, 1928; Wharton and Clarke, Tommy Talker Bands, 8–10.

^44. Manchester Evening Chronicle, April 24, 1926; Chelsea Chronicle, November 18, 1911.

^45. Bradford Observer, May 19, 1897, May 20, 1897 and May 31, 1897.

^46. Leicestershire Chronicle, May 14, 1892; Halifax Guardian, April 28, 1894; and Huddersfield Examiner, April 25, 1928, and April 28, 1930.

^47. Berrow's Worcester Journal, August 10, 1878.

^48. Blackburn Standard, April 5, 1884; and Halifax Evening Courier, April 27, 1903, June 26, 1936 for obituary.

^49. Batley News, May 17, 1924; Huddersfield Examiner, April 26, 1920, May 1, 1922 and May 2, 1938.

^50. Allen, A Song, 21, 42–4, 58–9, 76; Huddersfield Daily Chronicle, October 31, 1893; A Fine Hunting Day; Batley News, May 6, 1898; Halifax Evening Courier, April 27, 1903, Era, August 27, 1898 and November 12, 1898.

^51. Monk, Novellos Part-song Book, 5–8; [BL] H. 1787 N (49); Jackson's Oxford Journal, April 28, 1888; Essex Standard, August 27, 1881. For songs of similar sentiment see Allen, A Song for Cricket, 59–60; and ‘Play the Game’.

^52. Holt, Sport and the British, 348.

^53. Islington Gazette, April 24, 1936.

^54. Sheffield and Rotherham Independent, October 21, 1895 and April 21, 1896. Although the local paper referred to this as a ‘well-known air’, it has not proved possible to identify it. Merrills, Dicks Out 2, 76–7; Yorkshire Observer Budget, March 11, 1911; Thrills, You're Not Singing Anymore, 92; Merrills, Dicks Out 2, 7.

^55. Thrills, You're Not Singing Anymore, 34; http://www.whufc.com (accessed July 12, 2011); Huddersfield Examiner, April 27, 1920 and April 30, 1938. The printed version usually shows ‘Smile the while’.

^56. News Chronicle song sheet, Rugby League Final, 1933. I am grateful to Tony Collins for providing this. News Chronicle song sheet, FA Cup Final, 1938, National Football Museum; and Collins, Rugby League in Twentieth Century, 60–1.

^57. Leeds Mercury, February 3, 1896 for ‘Heart of Oak’ and ‘Garryowen’ at the England v Ireland rugby international; Yorkshire Evening Post, June 2, 1902; Hill, ‘Rite of Spring’, 87.

^58. McLeod, ‘We are the Champions’.

^59. Thrills, You're Not Singing Anymore, 40. McLeod, ‘We Are the Champions’, 526.