Way Down Home

Words by Fred Godfrey, as “Eddie Stamper”, music by Lawrence Wright, as “Gene Williams” — London: Lawrence Wright Music, 1926.

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Listen to a 1926 Edison Bell Winner recording by Stanley Kirkby (under the pseudonym “Walter Miller”) MP3

Medium-tempo foxtrot that was a favourite of dance bands in 1926, often performed without Fred Godfrey’s lyrics, which were a kind of last gasp of the waning fad for “Southern” songs (to give them their polite name). The same year, Godfrey provided the lyrics for While The Sahara Sleeps, a song that cashed in on the latest big fad, for smouldering desert sheiks. This was one of a number of songs during the mid- to late 1920s where Godfrey (itself a pseudonym for Llewellyn Williams) used another alias, in this case “Eddie Stamper.” For some reason, Lawrie Wright also used a different pen name than his usual “Horatio Nicholls.”

Recordings

Henry Burr as “Harry McClaskey” (Pathé 10065)

Will Charles (Currys 254, 1926)

Hal Christie’s Dance Orch.; dir. by Bert Firman (Homochord D-1059, 1927)

The Duophone Dance Orch.; dir. by Stan Greening (Duophone UB-2074, 1927)

Greening’s Band; Cyril Newton, vocal (Columbia 4308, 1927)

Barrington Hooper (Zonophone 2860, 1926)

Stanley Kirkby as “Walter Miller” (Edison Bell Winner 4586)

The Regent Dance Orch.; Peter Bernard, vocal (Edison Bell Winner 4614, 1927)

Savoy Havana Band; dir. by Reginald Batten (HMV B-5152, 1926)

The Tuxedo Dance Band; dir. by Charles “Nat” Star (Pathé Actuelle 11294, 1927)

Stage Performances

Here is a sample of the many acts who sang Way Down Home on stage: Victoria Carmen in pantomime Cinderella, Empire, Sunderland (December 1926); Doris Caroll in revue Thrills And Frills, Hippodrome, Nottingham (1927); Clarice Chesney in pantomime Robinson Crusoe, Hippodrome, Liverpool (December 1926); The Compton Juveniles in pantomime Cinderella, King’s, Hammersmith, London (December 1926); Lillian Edwards in pantomime Goody Two Shoes, His Majesty’s, Aberdeen (December 1926); Olivette Hayden in pantomime Babes In The Wood, Royal Hyde (December 1926); Vera Kitchen in pantomime Red Riding Hood, Gaiety, Dublin (December 1926); Layton & Johnstone, Alhambra, London (December 1926); Nell Leslie in pantomime The Old Woman Who Lived In A Shoe, Pavilion, Liverpool (January 1927); Sheila May in Marks & Montague’s revue The Mustard Club, Empire, Glasgow (December 1926); and The Three Australian Boys, Empire, Wood Green, London (November 1926), and Alhambra, London (December 1926). Also interpolated in Fred Warden’s pantomime Humpty Dumpty, Grand, Croydon (December 1926). As well, The Four Harmony Kings sang Way Down Home in their Paris engagements (December 1926).