Thursday, September 29, 2011

What A Mouth, What a North & South

So for those not in the know "north & south" is rhyming slang for mouth. A song recorded in the 1960's by Tommy Steele and originally written by music hall comedian Harry Champion and arranged by R.P. Weston, between them responsible for a host of comedy songs.

Champion, himself immortalized in song (Harry Was A Champion) by Chas & Dave, was responsible for such songs as Any Old Iron, Boiled Beef & Carrots, I'm Henry The Eighth I am and other rather curiously titled songs A Little Bit Of Cucumber and It's Cold Without Your Trousers. A generation ahead of Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel, Champion was a music hall giant in the early 1900s.

R. P. Weston could also be considered a music hall giant, but behind the scenes as a song and monologue writer (mostly with Bert Lee), they co-wrote My Word You Do Look Queer and my favourite Brahn Boots, about a man who turned up for his mother's funeral in brown boots (no, it really is funny, I'll probably mention it again another day).

So back to the topic, the person who made this video seems to be a fan of Rowan Atkinson (no bad thing) and there appears to be no footage of Tommy Steele singing it or indeed any recordings of Harry Champion.



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