"'The Flies Crawled Up the Window" is a British song originally sung by the actor

Jack Hulbert John Norman Hulbert (24 April 189225 March 1978) was a British actor, director, screenwriter and singer, specializing primarily in comedy productions, and often working alongside his wife (Dame) Cicely Courtneidge. Biography Born in Ely, Ca ...

in the 1932 comedy film ''

Jack's the Boy ''Jack's the Boy'' is a 1932 British comedy film directed by Walter Forde and starring Jack Hulbert, Cicely Courtneidge, Francis Lister and Peter Gawthorne. It became well known for its song "The Flies Crawled Up the Window", sung by Hulbert, ...

''. The lyrics describe the antics of various

flies Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced m ...

as they crawl up windows. In the film it is sung by Hulbert's character, Jack Brown, to his disapproving father (

Peter Gawthorne Peter Gawthorne (1 September 1884 – 17 March 1962) was an Anglo-Irish actor, probably best known for his roles in the films of Will Hay and other popular British comedians of the 1930s and 1940s. Gawthorne was one of Britain's most called-upo ...

) after he has returned drunk from an evening out. The film proved to be a major success, and the song was equally popular. Hulbert was pursued to the South of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

HMV Sunrise Records and Entertainment, trading as HMV (for His Master's Voice), is a British music and entertainment retailer, currently operating exclusively in the United Kingdom. The first HMV-branded store was opened by the Gramophone Company ...

who persuaded him to release it as a record. The song was later covered by other singers such as Pat O'Malley - sometimes with additional verses added.

References

Bibliography

* Mundy, John. ''The British Musical Film''. Manchester University Press, 2007. * Sutton, David. ''A Chorus of Raspberries: British film comedy 1929-1939''. University of Exeter Press, 2000. Songs about insects 1932 songs British songs Songs written for films {{1930s-song-stub