That Old-Fashioned Mother of Mine

DESCRIPTION: "There are colleens with eyes, just as fair as the skies... But deep in my heart, there's a sweet memory Of someone who still holds attractions for me." "Just an old-fashioned lady with old-fashioned ways... that old-fashioned mother of mine."
AUTHOR: Words: Worton David / Music: Horation Nicholls (Lawrence Wright) (source: Folk Song and Music Hall)
EARLIEST DATE: 1919 (sheet music publication)
KEYWORDS: mother nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(England)
Roud #23549
RECORDINGS:
Talbot O'Farrell (William Parrott), "That Old-Fashioned Mother of Mine" (CYL: Edison Blue Amberol 4104, 1920; Eclipse 147, 1932; Imperial 1759)
SAME TUNE:
That Old-Fashioned Avro of Mine (File: WJL130)
Old Fashioned Wimpey (File: WJL152)
NOTES [124 words]: This would seem like a lock to have been recorded endlessly by early country artists, but I can't find any such recordings. Maybe they actually respected the copyright. In any case, most of the recordings of it are popular. It doesn't have a strong hold in tradition, but several songs borrowed the melody, so it certainly belongs in the Index.
John Mullen, The Show Must Go On! Popular Song in Britain during the First World War, French edition 2012; English edition, Ashgate, 2015, p. 18, has a peculiar measure of how popular this was: "In 1919, the number of people who bought the sheet music of the hit 'That Old-fashioned Mother of Mine' was greater than the combined membership of the Church of England and the Church of Scotland." - RBW
Last updated in version 6.8
File: RcTOFMoM

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