The 1920s was the heyday of the silly comic song. Before the First
World War comic songs often had a basis in the observation of
everyday life (which was often hard); but in comedy in general there
was a move away from any sort of reality after 1918: audiences had
just had four years of a very unpleasant reality and the reaction
against it was natural enough.
The king of the silly comic song was Leslie Sarony, who seems to have written about half of them, with many of the remainder being written by the excellent team of Weston and Lee (who wrote a number of Gracie Fields's early songs). However, the song I have chosen here is perhaps the silliest of the whole period. It is sung by The Two Gilberts, who were Fred Douglas and (usually) Leslie Rome*.
So here is the burning question of the 1920s: Do Shrimps Make Good Mothers?
'Do Shrimps Make Good Mothers?' (Regal
G1866)
rec. March 1924
If you would like to download this recording you can do so from this page.
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*Thanks to Roy Openshaw for the identification.