Sally O’Malley

Fred Godfrey & Billy Williams, 1910.

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Manuscript of lyrics, in Fred Godfrey’s hand. Note the claim of sole authorship by Godfrey and the corrections in another hand, probably that of Billy Williams’s son, Billy Jr., to whom this manuscript once belonged. Billy Jr. most likely made the corrections to conform with the lyrics as sung on recordings by his father. Also note the original subtitle, “The Queen Of Naukipoo Isle,” which quickly got changed to “The Queen Of The Cannibal Isle,” as reflected in the corrected lyrics. In recordings, “King Naukipoo” also became “King Kangaroo,” likely at the instigation of Australian Billy Williams. (Author’s collection)

	Listen to a 1911 Zonophone recording by Billy Williams, reissued in 1913 on the Cinch label. MP3
Letter dated 15 December 1910 from Fred Godfrey assigning the performing rights and a share of the publishing royalties of Sally O’Malley to Billy Williams.

Recordings

Billy Williams recorded three versions of this song: 3 February 1911 for Zonophone, ca. March 1911 for Homophon, and ca. December 1911 for Beka Grand. Reissues appeared on several other labels.¹

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Note

1  For comprehensive discographies of recordings by Billy Williams, see Brian Rust, British Music Hall on Record (Harrow, UK:
    Gramophone, 1979); and Frank Andrews and Ernie Bayly, Billy Williams’ Records: A Study in Discography (Bournemouth, UK:
    Talking Machine Review, 1982).