NEWCASTLE'S MUSICAL HERITAGE AN INTRODUCTION By ...

herded together on hard wooden benches under the roof of the theatre in what is
(or was) called ‘The Gods’. My granny, a typical Victorian, used to sit and sing to
herself after a sip or two of beer. Unwittingly she introduced me, as a child to a
number of Music Hall songs; ‘Come, come, come and make eyes at me down by
the Old Bull and Bush, tara-la la la’ and ‘My old man said follow the van and don’t
dilly dally on the way’ and a song called, ‘A Bicycle Made for Two’, which went,
‘Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do, I’m half crazy just for the love of you. – It
won’t be a stylish marriage, I can’t afford a carriage, but you’ll look sweet upon
the seat of a bicycle made for two’. I was too young to understand the
significance of the words, but I liked the tunes – they had immediate appeal; like
most working class children of the 1920s it was my introduction to the world of
music.
Prior to 1850, in the back rooms of public houses customers provided their
own amusement and some, encouraged by their fellow drinkers, proved more
entertaining than others. Enterprising publicans realising the potential for
increased business in this sort of entertainment, paid professional entertainers
and so Music Hall was born and flourished in the second half of the 19 th century.
An alternative scenario is put forward in ‘Allens Tyneside Songs’, originally
published in 1862, which might well be more relevant to the origins of the
Geordie Music Hall. He states that working men were well organised and that in
1827 there were 121 clubs for men and 44 for women in Newcastle and
Gateshead, which acted as mutual insurance societies. There were another 50
with a Christmas Club sort of function and in all over fifteen thousand people
belonged to one or other of these clubs. Apart from the financial benefits each
club had its head-meeting day at which a local musician or singer entertained in
between the payout and the serious drinking. He goes on to say that in the
previous century musicians had gone out to entertain their public and now the
public began coming to them. It was the beginning of what was to become the
Music Hall, and it also saw the birth of many Tyneside songs that would become
known as Folksongs of The Tyne.
Music Hall represented the very opposite of what those dedicated to the
spread of musical culture (and not forgetting those dedicated to saving souls)
were trying to achieve. As we have seen there had been a certain entertainment
element in early concerts but taste and standards were being raised all the time.
Music Hall, however, was a working class culture and as such it was jealously
guarded. Those who embraced it were not looking to raise their cultural
standards and improve their minds; they sought escapism and enjoyment. It was
a safety valve for the lower classes, they could, and did, openly mimic the upper
classes, as well as laugh at their own misfortunes and hardships and escape
from the realities of life for a few hours. It was entertainment that asked no
thought on the part of the spectator and he received his amusement without any
effort to himself. It furnished variety with nothing lasting very long, therefore, it
made no demands on the spectator’s ability to concentrate. It provided a
comfortable seat in a classless environment at a low price and it was possible to
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