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The hidden messages in lyrics to help us through lockdown

A new animation from 91热爆 Ideas explores the colourful world of the Music Hall – raucous musical theatre, which began in pub saloons in the 1830s.

Life wasn’t easy for Victorian working-class people but Music Hall stars and the crowds they entertained sung about their hardships: from high rents, overcrowding, poverty, violence, hunger and drinking to marital strife. The songs – rude, funny, joyful and sentimental – were something to share, and brought people together when times were tough.

Since the outbreak of the coronavirus, life has changed significantly, and many people are facing unprecedented difficulties in their personal and professional lives. Are there messages in the old music hall hits that can help us all through life in lockdown?

The hidden messages of the music hall

91热爆 Ideas explores London's Victorian music hall culture

鈥淏oiled Beef and Carrots鈥�

When I was a nipper only six months old
My Mother and my Father, too
They didn't know what to wean me on
They were in a dreadful stew

They thought of tripe, they thought of steak
Or a little bit of old cod row
I said, "Pop round to the old cook-shop
And I tell ya what'll make me grow"

Boiled beef and carrots
Boiled beef and carrots
That's the stuff for your 'darby-kell'
Makes you fat and it keeps you well

Don't live like vegetarians
On food they give to parrots
Blow out your kite from morn' till night
On boiled beef and carrots

How to read the Cockney alphabet

Michael Rosen reads through the Cockney alphabet, from A for 'orses to Z for his hat.

This song, composed by Charles Collins and Fred Murray and published in 1909, was made famous by music hall personality Harry Champion. It extols the virtues of a typical English, and particularly Cockney, dish. (“Derby Kell”, short for “Derby Kelly”, is old Cockney rhyming slang for belly!)

Beef stew

During lockdown, we may not be able to eat out at our favourite restaurants, cafes and pubs, but we can attempt to recreate the meals we love at home.

Boiled beef and carrots probably isn’t top of the menu, but many people are cooking similar healthy, hearty meals to keep themselves and their families well during the pandemic. We’re also learning to make the best of the ingredients available to us, when supermarket shelves are sparse.

Here’s to all the home chefs cooking up a storm in the kitchen!

鈥淢aybe it鈥檚 Because I鈥檓 a Londoner鈥�

Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner
That I love London so
Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner
That I think of her wherever I go

I get a funny feeling inside of me
Just walking up and down
Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner
That I love London town

London has been one of the worst hit areas during the Covid-19 crisis, but residents across the city have risen to the challenge.

London

Grass-roots community organisations have sprung up to offer help to the needy, neighbours are looking after each other and the capital’s NHS frontline staff have given everything to saving lives, often putting their own at risk in the process. One thing this pandemic has proved is that being a Londoner is something to be proud of.

But although this musical classic, written by Hubert Gregg, celebrates a love of the Big Smoke, people across the nation are feeling love, affection and pride for the community spirit in evidence in every city, town and village in the country as we navigate this crisis – and rightly so.

Community spirit is in evidence in every city, town and village in the country as we navigate this crisis.

鈥淒aisy Bell (Bicycle Built for Two)鈥�

Daisy Daisy,
Give me your answer do!
I'm half crazy,
All for the love of you!
It won't be a stylish marriage,
I can't afford a carriage,
But you'll look sweet on the seat
Of a bicycle built for two!

We will go "tandem" as man and wife,
Daisy, Daisy!
Ped'ling away down the road of life,
I and my Daisy Bell!

The strange venues that people are getting married in

The choice of where to get married is much more complicated these days.

With social distancing restrictions in place, it has been a devastating time for people with weddings planned for the spring and summer.

It has been a devastating time for people with weddings planned for the spring and summer.

Brides and grooms-to-be are having to cancel, reschedule and rethink plans for their big day.

And with many people struggling financially as businesses are closed and jobs are lost, knowing how to budget for upcoming weddings, on top of the uncertainty around when they can finally go ahead, has become a real challenge.

This old favourite, written in 1892 by British songwriter Harry Dacre, reminds us that weddings don’t need to be lavish affairs.

鈥淚 do like to be beside the seaside鈥�

Oh, I do like to be
beside the seaside,
Oh, I do like to be
beside the sea
Oh, I do like to stroll along
the prom, prom, prom
where the brass bands play
tiddley-om-pom-pom

OK, so many of us are having to cancel holiday plans, and a beach break may feel like a long way in the future. But what lockdown has reminded many of us is the simple joy to be found in taking a stroll, alone or with loved ones, breathing in fresh air and observing the world around us.

A beach break may feel like a long way in the future.

It may be a while before the brass band is back, but just as music hall singer Mark Sheridan celebrated the joys of a seaside stroll in this song from 1907, maybe promenading is something we can relish in these difficult times, wherever we find ourselves.

Lockdown has reminded many of us is the simple joy to be found in taking a stroll.

鈥淎 Little Bit of What You Fancy Does You Good鈥�

I never was a one to go and stint myself,
If I likes a thing I likes it and that's enough!
But there's lots of people say that if you likes a thing a lot,
It'll grow on ya and all that sort of stuff!

So I likes me drop o' stout as well as anyone,
But stout you know's supposed to make you fat!
Ah, and there's many a lah-de-dah-de madam wouldn't dare to touch it,
'Cause it might spoil her figure, the silly cat!

Now I always hold with having it if you fancy it,
If you fancy it, that's understood!
And suppose it makes you fat,
I don't worry over that,

'Cause a little o' what you fancy does you good!

When is a cake not a cake?

When is a cake a biscuit, or even a pudding, and what is Britain's favourite cake?

This song by Fred W. Leigh and George Arthurs from 1915 was made famous by Marie Lloyd, “Queen of the Music Hall”. And with it, the concept that a little bit of what you like does you good.

If you fancy a second slice of banana bread, go for it.

At the moment, we’re being denied so many of the things that make us happy: time with friends and family, job security, trips to the gym, a drink down the pub…

So, perhaps we need to find joy in the small things, and treat ourselves where we can. If you fancy a second slice of banana bread, go for it. Follow Marie Lloyd’s sage advice: “don't worry” and indulge yourself! At the moment, life's difficult enough.

Satisfy your curious mind with this selection of thought-provoking short films and videos from 91热爆 Ideas.

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