With My Little Ukulele In My Hand

Album: Leaning on a Lamp Post (1933)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Thirty-nine years before Chuck Berry fell foul of Mrs. Mary Whitehouse with his Ding-a-Ling, George Formby caused a flim-flam playing with his little ukulele. In 1933 however, a song of this nature would not have got past the record company management; Decca pulled it and ordered the lyrics of the Jack Cottrell composition be rewritten, but as one Formby biography says, "There is no doubt that the original version is the better of the two, because of its larger orchestral accompaniment and a different uke solo."

    A few of the originals did fall through the net though, becoming collectors' items, and one made its way to The GRAMOPHONE, which in a review on page 106 of its August 1933 issue said: George Formby is naughty again in "With my little Ukulele in my hand" and mildly amusing in a song with the stupendous title "As the hours, and the days, and the weeks, and the months, and the years roll by."

    The reviewer recommended it to friends who drop in for a drink and to hear the latest on your gramophone.
  • Formby sung "With My Little Ukulele In My Hand" at the end of his 1935 film Off The Dole with no trace of double entendre because "He never did an audience's 'dirty work' for it."
  • According to the July 2014 BBC documentary Britain's Most Dangerous Songs: Listen To The Banned, this was the first song to be withdrawn from the BBC Playlist, until it was renamed "My Ukulele." >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Alexander Baron - London, England, for above 3

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Janet Jackson

Janet JacksonFact or Fiction

Was Janet secretly married at 18? Did she gain 60 pounds for a movie role that went to Mariah Carey? See what you know about Ms. Jackson.

Muhammad Ali: His Musical Legacy and the Songs he Inspired

Muhammad Ali: His Musical Legacy and the Songs he InspiredSong Writing

Before he was the champ, Ali released an album called I Am The Greatest!, but his musical influence is best heard in the songs he inspired.

Rush: Album by Album - A Conversation With Martin Popoff

Rush: Album by Album - A Conversation With Martin PopoffSong Writing

A talk with Martin Popoff about his latest book on Rush and how he assessed the thousands of albums he reviewed.

Al Jourgensen of Ministry

Al Jourgensen of MinistrySongwriter Interviews

In the name of song explanation, Al talks about scoring heroin for William Burroughs, and that's not even the most shocking story in this one.

N.W.A vs. the World

N.W.A vs. the WorldSong Writing

How the American gangsta rappers made history by getting banned in the UK.

Modern A Cappella with Peder Karlsson of The Real Group

Modern A Cappella with Peder Karlsson of The Real GroupSong Writing

The leader of the Modern A Cappella movement talks about the genre.