Uncle Harry

Album: Masters (1955)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Although Noël Coward - the man, his plays and music - had been well known to American audiences since the 1920s, and television had been around nearly as long, he did not make his TV debut, as a performer, until October 1955, in a CBS special with Mary Martin.

    "Uncle Harry" was the first number he performed on that show; a novelty song about a relative who becomes a missionary, it went down a storm. Coward wrote it in Jamaica in 1944, and it went into his repertoire for entertaining the troops. Slightly risqué - nothing unusual for him - it may have been based extremely loosely on a relative; he really did have an Uncle Harry.
  • The sheet music was published by Chappell in 1955, but according to the Noël Coward Society, it is not to be relied on for performances. "Uncle Harry" is also said to be among the top thirty Coward songs royalty-wise. >>>
    Suggestion credit:
    Alexander Baron - London, England, for above 2

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Rick Astley

Rick AstleySongwriter Interviews

Rick Astley on "Never Gonna Give You Up," "Cry For Help," and his remarkable resurgence that gave him another #1 UK album.

Curt Kirkwood of Meat Puppets

Curt Kirkwood of Meat PuppetsSongwriter Interviews

The (Meat)puppetmaster takes us through songs like "Lake Of Fire" and "Backwater," and talks about performing with Kurt Cobain on MTV Unplugged.

Stan Ridgway

Stan RidgwaySongwriter Interviews

Go beyond the Wall of Voodoo with this cinematic songwriter.

Deconstructing Doors Songs With The Author Of The Doors Examined

Deconstructing Doors Songs With The Author Of The Doors ExaminedSong Writing

Doors expert Jim Cherry, author of The Doors Examined, talks about some of their defining songs and exposes some Jim Morrison myths.

Rock Revenge Songs

Rock Revenge SongsMusic Quiz

John Lennon, Paul Simon and Lynyrd Skynyrd are some of the artists who have written revenge songs. Do you know who they wrote them about?

Jesus Christ Superstar: Ted Neeley Tells the Inside Story

Jesus Christ Superstar: Ted Neeley Tells the Inside StorySong Writing

The in-depth discussion about the making of Jesus Christ Superstar with Ted Neeley, who played Jesus in the 1973 film.