#albert farrington

[museumstudies]

Albert Farrington sings “Rule Britannia” for Edison Records (1914). It’s the start of WW I.

[everygreatsongever-blog]

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Albert Farrington: "It's A Long, Long Way to Tipperary" (Edison Amberol 2487-a, 1915)

Slight change in plans, as I've just learned of the death of Claude Choules. Choules is not a household name, and came by his place in history accidentally, but his death is significant--he was the last surviving combat veteran of World War I. Choules was born in 1901 in England, and volunteered during World War I when he was only 14 years old. He was assigned to training ships for two years, and in 1917, when he was only 16, he joined the crew of HMS Revenge, the flagship of the Royal Navy's first battle squadron.

The fighting Choules was engaged in was quite different from that of the men suffering in the trenches stretched out across northern France and European Turkey, or slugging it out in the Tyrolian Alps, or freezing in the East, but as a seaman, he nevertheless saw some momentous events, including the surrender and later the scuttling of the German Imperial fleet. During an assignment in Australia in the mid-20s, he decided he liked it there and stayed, joining the Australian navy.

Choules actually served in the Australian navy during World War II, making him one of a significant number of men who served in both world wars. He was Chief Demolition Officer for Western Australia, which meant he was responsible for anti-ship mines that turned up along the coast and would have been in charge of sabotage operations had the Japanese invaded. Choules did not particularly seek the spotlight--indeed, in moving to Perth, he got as far from the rest of the urbanized world as he possibly could. He never returned to England.

So this one's for Claude.

"It's a Long, Long Way to Tipperary" wasn't originally written as a war song. It was composed in 1912 by Jack Judge to win a bet--Judge's grandparents were from Tipperary, a small town in south-central Ireland. The song was adopted during World War I, particularly by British soldiers, as a sort of war anthem, because of the way it so effectively captured longing for home and family.

The first recorded version was made by Jack McCormack in 1914, followed by a version by Billy Murray and the American Quartet. Albert Farrington recorded his version, probably the third, in 1915, after the song's widespread adoption in the British ranks. I know nothing about Farrington, though I gather he was was British. In 1914, he recorded a version of "Rule, Britannia" as the war was just beginning--telling that in just a year the propaganda angle of popular music shifted so dramatically from triumphalism to a longing for it all to just end.