"We'll Keep a Welcome" is a

popular Popularity or social status is the quality of being well liked, admired or well known to a particular group. Popular may also refer to: In sociology * Popular culture * Popular fiction * Popular music * Popular science * Populace, the total ...

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

composed by

Mai Jones Mai Jones (6 February 1899 – 7 May 1960), was a Welsh songwriter, entertainer and radio producer. Biography Jones was born in Newport, Monmouthshire, the daughter of the local railway stationmaster. Having won a scholarship to study music ...

with lyrics by Lyn Joshua and Jimmy Harper in 1940. It was introduced in the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical theatre, musical performances, sketch comedy, magic (illusion), magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is ...

Welsh Rarebit Welsh rarebit or Welsh rabbit ( or ) is a dish consisting of a hot Cheese sauce, cheese-based sauce served over slices of Toast (food), toasted bread. The original 18th-century name of the dish was the jocular "Welsh rabbit", which was later fo ...

'' and remains strongly associated with

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. Jones joined the BBC in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

as a radio producer of light entertainment. In this position, she devised ''Welsh Rarebit'', a

originally broadcast on the

BBC Forces Programme The BBC Forces Programme was a national radio station which operated from 7 January 1940 until 26 February 1944. History Development Upon the outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1939, the BBC closed both existing National and Regional radi ...

and intended for Welsh people serving in the armed forces during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. "We'll Keep a Welcome", with music credited to Jones and words by Lyn Joshua and Jimmy Harper, was written to close each edition. The song's lyric was intended to reflect the

hiraeth () is a Welsh word that has no direct English translation. The University of Wales, Lampeter, likens it to a homesickness tinged with grief and sadness over the lost or departed, especially in the context of Wales and Welsh culture. It is a mix ...

those away from home would be experiencing. It was first performed on the programme on 29 February 1940 by the BBC's resident 25-strong

male voice choir A men's chorus or male voice choir (MVC) (German: ''Männerchor''), is a choir consisting of men who sing with either a tenor or bass voice, and whose music is typically arranged into high and low tenors (1st and 2nd tenor), and high and low bass ...

, the Lyrian Singers. After the war, ''Welsh Rarebit'' moved to the

BBC Light Programme The BBC Light Programme was a national radio station which broadcast chiefly mainstream light entertainment and light music from 1945 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 1. It opened on 29 July 1945, taking over the ...

where it was the most popular show in 1949. By then, "We'll Keep a Welcome" had become "a British as well as a Welsh favourite", according to the '' Western Mail''. Such was the song's success, when the Lyrian Singers were unavailable for a postponed ''Welsh Rarebit'' tour in 1950, their replacement was billed as "the Welcome Choir". By the 1950s, the song was sometimes referred to as "Wales' second national anthem". The song first appeared on

record A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

in a rendition by the George Mitchell choir issued by

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in We ...

in July 1949. The Lyrian Singers version, on

His Master's Voice His Master's Voice (HMV) was the name of a major British record label created in 1901 by The Gramophone Co. Ltd. The phrase was coined in the late 1890s from the title of a painting by English artist Francis Barraud, which depicted a Jack Russ ...

, followed in November 1949. A recording by

Harry Secombe Sir Harold Donald Secombe (8 September 1921 – 11 April 2001) was a Welsh comedian, actor, singer and television presenter. Secombe was a member of the British radio comedy programme ''The Goon Show'' (1951–1960), playing many characters, m ...

, who had been among the performers in ''Welsh Rarebit'', was issued by

Philips Records Philips Records is a record label founded by the Dutch electronics company Philips. It was founded as Philips Phonographische Industrie in 1950. In 1946, Philips acquired the company which pressed records for British Decca's Dutch outlet in A ...

in 1956. This version was later included on the album ''Harry Secombe Showcase'' (1959). A version by pianist

Russ Conway Russ Conway, DSM (born Trevor Herbert Stanford; 2 September 1925 – 16 November 2000) was an English popular music pianist and composer. Conway had 20 piano instrumentals in the UK Singles Chart between 1957 and 1963, including two number one ...

features on his album ''Family Favourites'' (1959). A performance of the song by the Treorchy Male Voice Choir features on ''Transatlantic Exchange'' (1957), a 10-inch record issued by South Wales area of the National Union of Mineworkers. The live recordings document the miners'

eisteddfod In Welsh culture, an ''eisteddfod'' is an institution and festival with several ranked competitions, including in poetry and music. The term ''eisteddfod'', which is formed from the Welsh morphemes: , meaning 'sit', and , meaning 'be', means, a ...

at the

Grand Pavilion, Porthcawl The Grand Pavilion is an entertainment venue in Porthcawl, Bridgend County Borough, Wales, opened in 1932. It has an octagonal dome and extensive frontage, and was originally intended as a Palm Court for hosting tea dances, balls and civic fu ...

on 5 October 1957, where

Paul Robeson Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, stage and film actor, professional football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for his p ...

performed from a

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

studio via the recently completed transatlantic telephone cable TAT-1. Robeson was unable to appear in-person due to his passport having been confiscated by the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...

and the release served as a fundraiser and protest at his treatment. The song, with its appropriate sentiment, was dedicated to Robeson by the South Wales NUM president

Will Paynter William Thomas Paynter (6 December 1903 – 11 December 1984) was a Wales, Welsh miners' leader involved in the hunger marches of the 1930s. Paynter was born in Cardiff, where he had a basic education before going to work at a colliery at the ...

. It is the title track of a 2000 studio album by Welsh

bass-baritone A bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing thr ...

Bryn Terfel Sir Bryn Terfel Jones, (; born 9 November 1965) (known professionally as Bryn Terfel) is a Welsh bass-baritone opera and concert singer. Terfel was initially associated with the roles of Mozart, particularly '' Figaro'', ''Leporello'' and ''D ...

. The song is referenced in the

Monty Python Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four ...

Election Night Special "Election Night Special" is a Monty Python sketch comedy, sketch parodying the coverage of United Kingdom general elections, specifically the 1970 United Kingdom general election, 1970 general election, on the BBC by including hectic (and downrig ...

" sketch. The song's title has been appropriated in various contexts, including as a slogan for

Manx Airlines Manx Airlines was an English-owned, Isle of Man-based airline that existed between 1982 and 2002. Its head office was located on the grounds of Isle of Man Airport in Ballasalla, Malew. An airline of the same name existed between 1947 and 1958. ...

and as the title of a 2022 concert at the

Principality Stadium The Millennium Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm y Mileniwm), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm Principality) for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it is the home of the Wales national rug ...

featuring Welsh musical acts

Stereophonics Stereophonics are a Welsh rock band formed in 1992 in the village of Cwmaman in the Cynon Valley, Wales. The band consists of Kelly Jones (lead vocals, lead guitar, keyboards), Richard Jones (bass guitar, harmonica, backing vocals), Adam Zind ...

, Tom Jones and

Catfish and the Bottlemen Catfish and the Bottlemen are a British indie rock band from Wales. The band's debut album, ''The Balcony'', reached number 10 in the UK Albums Chart and achieved Platinum status on 30 December 2016. The band have toured in South America, Japan ...

References

{{reflist 1940 songs Welsh patriotic songs Welsh songs