They're Moving Father's Grave To Build A Sewer
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"They're Moving Father's Grave to Build a Sewer" (
Roud The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud. Roud's Index is a combination of the Broadsid ...
10391) is a classic comic song, often thought to be from the
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 ...
tradition. It is usually sung in a straight key of
C major C major is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. C major is one of the most common keys used in music. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative minor is A minor and its parallel min ...
, but can be varied.


History

The earliest known mention of the song is in the ''
Altoona Mirror The ''Altoona Mirror'' is a daily newspaper located in Altoona, Pennsylvania. It is the hometown newspaper for Altoona, all of Blair County, Pennsylvania, Blair County, and parts of surrounding counties. History The newspaper was founded on Jun ...
'' for 15 April 1901, describing the songs played by " street piano music venders" in
Altoona, Pennsylvania Altoona ( ) is a city in Blair County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 43,963 at the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Altoona Metropolitan statistical area, metropolitan area, w ...
, which included "They Be Moving Mother's Grave to Build a Sewer". Other early versions include "They Have Shifted Little Willie's Grave to Build a Sewer" sung in 1902 by
vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...
performer Arthur Deming in
Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...
, and "We Had to Move Paddy's Grave to Dig a Sewer" sung at a 1903 meeting of the Brotherhood of Boiler Makers and Iron Ship Builders in
Sacramento, California Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat, seat of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento Rive ...
. It was a favourite of
Frank Muir Frank Herbert Muir (5 February 1920 – 2 January 1998) was an English comedy writer, radio and television personality, and raconteur. His writing and performing partnership with Denis Norden endured for most of their careers. Together they wr ...
, who sang it many times on
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 ...
.
Denis Norden Denis Mostyn Norden (born Denis Moss Cohen; 6 February 1922 – 19 September 2018) was an English comedy writer and television presenter. After an early career working in cinemas, he began scriptwriting during the Second World War. From 1948 t ...
also sang the song in the final series of radio panel show '' My Music'' (1994). A version of the song was also recorded by
Oscar Brand Oscar Brand (February 7, 1920 – September 30, 2016) was a Canadian-born American folk singer-songwriter, radio host, and author. In his career, spanning 70 years, he composed at least 300 songs and released nearly 100 albums, among them Can ...
, on his album ''Bawdy Songs Goes to College'' recorded in 1955, under the title "Father's Grave". A variant of the song, called "Grandpa's Grave", was recorded by the comedian
Peter Sellers Peter Sellers (born Richard Henry Sellers; 8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980) was an English actor and comedian. He first came to prominence performing in the BBC Radio comedy series ''The Goon Show''. Sellers featured on a number of hit comi ...
and included on his 1960 LP with
Sophia Loren Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone (; born 20 September 1934), known professionally as Sophia Loren ( , ), is an Italian actress, active in her native country and the United States. With a career spanning over 70 years, she is one of the ...
, ''Peter & Sophia'', as well as on the B-side of the duo's hit single " Goodness Gracious Me". The song was repopularised by the
Clancy Brothers The Clancy Brothers were an influential Irish folk music group that developed initially as a part of the American folk music revival. Most popular during the 1960s, they were famed for their Aran jumpers and are widely credited with popularisi ...
, who included it on their 1965 album ''
Recorded Live in Ireland ''Recorded Live in Ireland'' is a 1965 album of Irish folk songs performed by The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. It was the first live album to be recorded in stereo in Ireland. It was their sixth LP for Columbia Records and, unusually for th ...
''.
Charles Keeping Charles William James Keeping (22 September 1924 – 16 May 1988) was an English people, English illustrator, children's book author and lithographer. He made the illustrations for Rosemary Sutcliff's historical novels for children, and he creat ...
sang this song for the record version of his 1975 book ''Cockney Ding Dong''.
The Men That Will Not Be Blamed for Nothing The Men That Will Not Be Blamed for Nothing are an English punk rock, punk band from London formed in 2008. Their name is a reference to Goulston Street graffito, the chalked graffiti discovered above a section of blood-stained apron thought to ...
recorded a version called "Sewer (Live)" for their 2010 album '' Now That's What I Call Steampunk! Volume 1''. A limited edition of this album included a
phonograph cylinder Phonograph cylinders (also referred to as Edison cylinders after its creator Thomas Edison) are the earliest commercial medium for Sound recording and reproduction, recording and reproducing sound. Commonly known simply as "records" in their heyda ...
of this track; the first music commercially available on wax cylinder for almost a century.


Lyrics

Lyrics vary, but Muir's version is thus:


References

{{reflist Year of song unknown Music hall songs Songs about fathers Songs about cemeteries Songs about death Songs with unknown songwriters