110 jaar geleden: “It’s a long way to Tipperary”

On 30 January 1912, Jack Judge, a native of Oldbury, Birmingham, Worcestershire, England (1872-1938) was performing at “The Grand Theatre”, Stalybridge, Cheshire, England with his younger brother Ted (Edward) Withey in a Music Hall production. After the evenings performance, he went to a club near the theatre. At the club, he was teased by his companions about a song he had written called “How are yer?”. As Judge and his friends left the club not long before 1 A.M. on the 31st January, someone challenged him with a bet that he could not write a new song that day and then perform it on stage during that evening’s performance.

The bet was for five shillings, which in those days was the price of a bottle of whisky plus 6 dozen cigarettes. Jack Judge took up the challenge, but had no idea what he was going to write the song about, until on his way back to 20 Portland Place, Stalybridge, during the early hours of the morning after leaving the club, he heard a fragment of a conversation between two men, one of whom said to the other “It’s a long way to…” in the course of giving someone directions.

He seized upon that phrase as a song-title, and then added the word “Tipperary” to it, omdat zijn grootouders uit de county Tipperary in Ierland kwamen. Hijzelf was echter nog nooit in Ierland geweest. He thought about writing the song a little before going to bed, and then ‘slept on’ the idea. The next day, he arose, ate a fish breakfast; and then went to a public house (bar) called The New Market Inn, in Corporation Street, Stalybridge. This establishment was at that time kept and managed by a Mr.George Lloyd, and Jack Judge often went there. That morning, he wrote the song there in a very short time. His friend, Horace Vernon, wrote down the musical notation by listening to Jack Judge singing the song, and his participation in this historic event made him an hour and a half late for his lunch that day. Horace Vernon was theMusical Director of The Grand Theatre, Stalybridge (later called The Hippodrome). Another friend of Jacks was Harry Williams, who lived next door to his boyhood home. Harry and his brother kept a small country pub in Oldbury, called “The Malt Shovel”. Jack Judge had a daytime stall in the local fish market, and was an entertainer in the evenings. Harry often lent him money when trade was poor, and Jack promised in return that is he ever wrote a best-selling song, he would put Harry’s name on it also. From the copy of the original song-sheet, we can see that he kept his promise. Both men made a small fortune from the song’s royalties.

Jack Judge won his bet by singing “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary” for the first time, on the stage of The Grand Theatre during the evening’s performance on 31 January 1912. It quickly became a favourite of his repertoire, and its catchy tune soon caught the imagination of the public. Mr.Bert Maden of Stalybridge offered to buy the copyright of the song from Jack Judge, but it was actually purchased by Music Publisher Bert Feldman of London. He then popularised the song on the Music-Hall circuit in Britain by having it sung by singer Florrie Forde, who was a very popular music-hall artiste of the time.

Although the song had originally nothing to do with the military, it was adopted by the 7th Battalion of the Connaught Rangers Regiment of the British Army. The Rangers were mostly Irishmen, and the regiment had connections with Tipperary Town. No doubt the 7th Battalion taught the song to their comrades who were transported from Ireland to England in 1914 to muster before the Connaught Rangers went to France at the start of The Great War in August 1914. From the battlefields of France & Belgium, the fame of the song spread far and wide, and it is still known and sung today. It is the main thing for which the town of Tipperary is known worldwide. (“It’s a long way to Tipperary”, the story of the famous song)

Het lied symboliseerde voor iedere soldaat het verlangen naar huis. Het werd in de Eerste Wereldoorlog eerst vertolkt door Ierse soldaten, maar later werd het overgenomen door zowel de Russen als de Fransen. In het neutrale Nederland hadden de straatmuzikanten Willem Kila en Jopie Schouten in 1914 groot succes met hun plaatopname ervan. In Vlaanderen was de bekendste versie die van de Gentenaar Georges Simon.

Georges Simon was in het eerste kwartaal van de twintigste eeuw een Gents geëngageerd volkszanger, tekstschrijver en café chantant-artiest. Hij liep sporadisch school tot zijn elf jaar en op zijn veertiende ging hij in het vak als leerling van de bekende café chantant-zanger Prosper De Pot in het café “’t Klein Leeuwke”. Amper zestien jaar oud dichtte hij zijn eerste liedjes en kreeg hij een vast engagement in “De Leeuw van Vlaanderen”. Hij zong vaak in duo, o.a. met Rozeke, die later met Prosper Bauts zou trouwen. Hij kon amper schrijven en dicteerde daarom zijn liedjes aan zijn vrouw. Hij had een schitterende verzameling liedboekjes. Soms werkten andere café chantant-zangers met liederen van hem. Veelal plaatsten ze graag hun naam onder die wijsjes die hij aaneengeflanst had om zijn liedboekjes vol te krijgen en waarmee hij niet tevreden was. Hij is ook de auteur van de opstandige bewerking van “It’s a long way to Tipperary”, zelfs vandaag nog bekend. Dat nummer kostte hem in de Eerste Wereldoorlog enkele dagen gevangenis en een verscherpte censuur vanwege de bezetter. Daarom gaf hij zijn liedjes uit op naam van Jan Halleux of onder de schuilnaam Nomis. Omdat na de oorlog het café chantant-bedrijf in een impasse geraakte, ging hij als clown in het circusje van zijn broer Constant Simon werken. In de jaren dertig werd hij door de impresario Dickson (pseudoniem voor Dick H.Brinkerhof) geëngageerd en vormde hij een trio van clowns, de Nomis waarmee hij tot zijn vijfenzeventigste optrad.

Freek Neirynck