"Oh! Mr Porter" is an old British

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the World War I, Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as Varie ...

song about a girl who has got on the wrong train. It was famously part of the repertoires of the artistes

Norah Blaney Norah Blaney (born Norah Mignon Cordwell; 16 July 18937 December 1983) was a pianist, composer, comedienne and music hall performer. She recorded hundreds of songs between 1921 and 1935, many with her performing partner Gwen Farrar. Biography Bl ...

and It was written in 1892 by George Le Brunn and his brother Thomas, and taken on an extended provincial tour that same year by Marie Lloyd. The lyrics include this chorus:

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

is the second city of England.

Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the parish had a population of 55,318 and the built-up area had a population of 74,120. ...

is a town better known as a

railway junction A junction, in the context of rail transport, is a place at which two or more rail routes converge or diverge. The physical connection between the tracks of the two routes (assuming they are of the same gauge) is provided by turnouts (US: switc ...

than as a destination. The fastest route on the

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

to Crewe and stations further north does not use the loop via Birmingham.

Cultural legacy

The song is alluded to in the 1922 novel '' Ulysses'' by

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (born James Augusta Joyce; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influentia ...

. The title of

Rose Macaulay Dame Emilie Rose Macaulay, (1 August 1881 – 30 October 1958) was an English writer, most noted for her award-winning novel ''The Towers of Trebizond'', about a small Anglo-Catholic group crossing Turkey by camel. The story is seen as a spiri ...

's 1926 novel ''Crewe Train'' is a reference to the song. The 1937 film ''

Oh, Mr Porter! ''Oh, Mr Porter!'' is a 1937 British comedy film starring Will Hay with Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt and directed by Marcel Varnel. While not Hay's commercially most successful (although it grossed £500,000 at the box office – equal to ...

'' starring Will Hay was clearly at least in part inspired by the song "Oh! Mr Porter". Hay's character is called Mr William Porter; although he is not in fact a railway porter, but the

stationmaster The station master (or stationmaster) is the person in charge of a railway station, particularly in the United Kingdom and many other countries outside North America. In the United Kingdom, where the term originated, it is now largely historical ...

of a

Northern Irish The people of Northern Ireland are all people born in Northern Ireland and having, at the time of their birth, at least one parent who is a British Nationality Law, British citizen, an Irish nationality law, Irish citizen or is otherwis ...

station; this leads to some confusion, typical of Hay's films. A snatch of the song can be heard over the opening credits although this version says, "I want to go to Birmingham, and they're taking me on to Crewe! Oh, Mr Porter! What a funny man you are!" The 1962 British film '' The Password is Courage'' includes a scene in which British prisoners of war on a German train sing "Oh, Mr Porter!" as they throw burning straw on the explosive cargo of a passing munitions train. In 1966, the band

Herman's Hermits Herman's Hermits are an English rock and pop group formed in 1963 in Manchester and formerly fronted by singer Peter Noone. Known for their jaunty beat sound and Noone's often tongue-in-cheek vocal style, the Hermits charted with numerous tra ...

recorded an arrangement of the song by

Kenny Lynch Kenneth Lynch, OBE (18 March 1938 – 18 December 2019) was an English singer, songwriter, entertainer, and actor. He appeared in many variety shows in the 1960s. At the time, he was among the few black singers in British pop music. He was app ...

. It consists essentially of the chorus repeated several times, but with Liverpool and Manchester as desired destinations rather than Birmingham.

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

was the birthplace of

beat music Beat music, British beat, or Merseybeat is a British popular music Music genre, genre that developed around Liverpool in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The genre melded influences from British rock and roll, British and Music of the United St ...

, but this band originated from

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

. The song was adapted for use in the 199697

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

television

situation comedy A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

Oh, Doctor Beeching! ''Oh, Doctor Beeching!'' is a British television sitcom written by David Croft and Richard Spendlove, and produced for the BBC. After a pilot for the programme was broadcast on 14 August 1995, full production was green-lighted, with the sitcom ...

'' and sung by

Su Pollard Susan Georgina "Su" Pollard (born 7 November 1949) is a British actress, singer, songwriter and author whose career has spanned over 50 years. Pollard is most known for her role in the sitcom '' Hi-de-Hi!'' She also appeared in the sitcoms '' Y ...

. Dr Beeching was a chairman of

British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commis ...

, who became a household name in Britain in the early 1960s for a report which led to far-reaching reductions in the railway network. In 2023 English comedian

Alexei Sayle Alexei David Sayle (born 7 August 1952) is an English actor, author, stand-up comedian, television presenter and former recording artist. He was a leading figure in the British alternative comedy movement in the 1980s. He was voted the 18th g ...

, in his

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

radio series "Strangers on a Train", suggested that the young woman's failure to reach her intended destination was a reference to

premature ejaculation Premature ejaculation (PE) is a male sexual dysfunction that occurs when a male Ejaculation, expels semen (and most likely experiences orgasm) soon after beginning sexual activity, and with minimal penile stimulation. It has also been called ''e ...

and lack of sexual satisfaction

Strangers on a Train
' series 2, episode 1

References

External links

* Music video {{YouTube, 5MuiNI5-aqo, "Oh, Mister Porter!" by

1892 songs Music hall songs Songs about London Songs about occupations Songs about trains

Cultural legacy

See also

References

External links