Burr & Campbell - I'm forever blowing bubbles (1919)

[Ramiiam]

It is a nice song. Don't worry, you Hammers are coming back up.

[Wahlberger]

hurr hurr i'm a burr

[daphnebcn]

We use to play this song in the piano on Christma's Eve, and we sang it, all the family in English, we're Catalan, so funny. Thanks for posting.

[jeffray1944]

When my Grandad passed away in 1960 this was the exact recording among others in his collection. So nice to hear again after all those years. Thanks for posting.

[evianfan]

Come on you Irons!!!!

[lipsticklibrarian84]

My parents have a Victrola in their home. It still works, and they have played this exact record for me....

[Docmananoff]

This was the song in James Cagney's 'Public Enemy.'

[greasergirl22hannah]

the start of something great-

UNITED! UNITED!

[spiderfinger]

West Ham! (Clap clap) West Ham! (Clap clap)

[TheBeatlesRoooock]

Next time I see my grandma I'm gonna sing this to her -- her mother used to sing it to her.

[ge4ety]

Thumbs up if you watched this clip because of West Ham.

[MissGoldenDreams13]

@kdervin: I remembering hearing that in Ken Burns' "Baseball" documentary. Didn't he sing it as "I'm Forever Blowing Ballgames"?

[desirewhitefire]

My godfather, born in 1908, would sing this song when I was a little girl...we would sit on the back porch in the summer time while the sun was setting, and I can still remember the sound of the metal swing creaking as he would sing this to me. :)

[JuleWhitehouses]

This song reminds me of James Cagney's film "The Public Enemy" (1931), in the final scene where Tom Powers (James Cagney) body is delivered to his mother's doorstep and wrapped up like a mummy. A super excellent production directed by William A. Wellman.

[Fishheadmama]

@JuleWhitehouses wow. I've seen this movie and the end is just chilling/heartbreaking!!!here'­s his mother, making up his bed and humming happily to herself because her boy's coming home while his brother is downstairs going through the agonies of hell because of what she's about to see. as a mother of 3 daughters I can't imagine a worse nightmare.

[cogsincogs]

@JuleWhitehouses that's because the song was used multiple times in that movie :)

[railbuggy]

My mother used to sing this song when I was a young boy. She would have been 1 year old when it was first released. She used to talk about what it was like growing up during the depression. I miss her so much! 

[ladygdiver2007]

My Mom, 101 years old, woke up this morning and said she had this dream of when she would listen to this song on her old Silvertone, they had to wind it up to play. When I found it and played it, she had such a wonderful glow of memories on her face. How wonderful we have these machines that can go back in history like this. Now I will be humming the song all day long. They don't do songs like that anymore.

[Valgailly]

West Ham United, GO !

[Ramiiam]

Brilliant recording.

[tizzard1970]

is this Gold and Sullivan singing? bellends

[stonily]

peter doherty brought me here :)

[Pacmanknapp24]

Which is so true if West Ham United wouldn't of kept using this song as their banner it would of been forgotten

So many bands done a cover of this song and was used in movies like Public Enemy old gangster movie, also Green Street hooligans

Best cover of this song is by the Cockney Rejects

[AirdrieUnitedDaft]

lmfao!!!

[greengringo2003]

I was arrested for blowing bubbles. But Bubbles got off with a severe talking-to.

[thewelly1973]

lovely song, shame it was highjacked by danny dyer and his mob.

[hazier]

@thewelly1973 - Highjacked in 1920 by then manager Charlie Paynter and has been sung ever since. Beautiful song and every West Ham supporter feels a connection with it as it describes West Ham United perfectly I feel.

[mariiwhat]

@thewelly1973 you should be thankful that him and the rest of us West Ham fans still sing this song or it would've been forgotten a long time ago. Hammers keep it alive.

[zeggman]

@mariiwhat

Bull. I never heard of West Ham or its sandwiches. This song owes nothing to them; it hasn't been forgotten because it's worthy of being remembered. If West Ham uses it, that's why.

[PixieDust19962]

Probably the oldest piece of music on YouTube.

[greengringo2003]

@PixieDust19962 Yes, especially if history began when you were born.

[PixieDust19962]

@greengringo2003 Ok, apparently it's not. I made the wrong assumption.

[DoctorScuba]

I thought that michael Jackson sang this song about how He spent time with his pet Chimp!

[Devinw9]

@DoctorScuba This made my day lolololol

[katherine3486]

I sang this at a Butlins Talent competition in 1968, and won, but because I was a couple of days short if my 5th birthday, the rules wouldn't allow it. I'm grateful for the life I've been given.

With and in Loving memory of my Darling Dad, Sidney Earnest Cross, who sang me through my childhood and is missed so deeply, especially at Christmas, his favourite time of year.

[sorakGrobari]

This shit is ooooooooold

[Geronimo1913]

I haven't listened to this in years. My Mum has a copy of this very same performance on cylinder that belonged to my Grand Mum. I'm so glad this is on youtube so I can listen to it over and over again.

[xiCRANEYJxi]

played at my sisters funeral

[RestlessRedhead]

My grandmother's favorite song. Makes me think of how she must have been as a young woman in the 1920s.

[Hi1mOnUtube]

found a book in my great grams basement, had this songs notes in it

[BeccaEatsCelery]

My grandad always used to sing this song to me when I was a baby :)

Love you Grandad, you are my inspiration and you've always helped me out through the rough patches in my life. And I intend to beat you at Scrabble next weekend ;D

<3

[Baskermoth]

Always one of my favorite songs to hum around the house. :)

[TessaPadova]

UNITED!

[MrHaveGun]

I like the bit when the Arab gets its skull caved in!

[pierrewoodhurst]

Westham forever.

[cundy2008]

reminds me of my grandad he used to sing this to me when i was little love it xx

[DrewOsborn]

Brillient am doing a dissertation of music and sport and one chapter is looking at origins. Great video :)

[MrGrevy]

@DrewOsborn lol nice topic for a dissertation hahahahahah

[vigilante11485]

Jimmy Cagney in The Public Enemy!

[drcoxcentral]

@vigilante11485 The ending scene is more memorable because of the song playing the background from the record player.

[TessaPadova]

lovely

[nancyfloressantos]

Goodie good oldie.......will forever live.......

[tufufcboy]

righ this will be my funeral song !!!!!

[TheBeatlesRoooock]

My mom downloaded this (piano only version) on my computer and had my grandma listen to it. Being born in 1915, I bet she remembers this song from sometime in the 1920s.

[ArtnMyst]

My Grandmother used to sing this to me as a lullaby when I was a child...I will never forget her image by my bedside singing so peacefully to her little grandchild. Moments of love and faces of people who once were there, exactly like we are here now ,that never fade through time...

[sarah4mike]

My Grandma used to tickel my back and sing this song as I went to sleep.. brings a tear to my eye.. I must have been 3 or 4 and I will remember the words and the way she would play with my curls until I fell asleep. RIP Grandma love you & think of you daily xx

[TaxiSlim]

This is the theme song of "The Public Enemy," and any song of Jimmy Cagney's is all right with me.

[mrsmymomhatesme]

also i had just posted on another song -Bobby Breen's -1936-it's a sin to tell a lie-just 10 hrs before he died as well-saying the same thing. My dad was only dying for about 40 hrs. this goes to prove there is mental telepathy between parent and child cos I was thinking of him enough to post about his two favorite songs 10 hrs before he died. that is weird. I have had these telepathic experiences with both of my daughters as well. Even though I don't get along with my mom; she said she had them

[maybrook1]

i like your name.

[mrsmymomhatesme]

In that last post (marked melseco as I called myself back then); I wrote "my dad died 10 hrs after I posted the last post."yeah, I was referring to the post where I was talking about how he would be 90 yrs old in about 200 days and how his parents had taught HIM this song. Well, my dad DID die 10 hrs after I posted that post. I found out he died about 45 mins after he died. They called me from Florida. I was saying to myself, 'gosh, I just got done posting that about my dad."

[zefou92]

This song is just wonderful... It's a pity that I never really got to talk to my mother's grandma before she passed away some years ago... She propably knew about this kind of songs...

[MegaWiiwii]

football hooligans have taken this song to mock footballers getting upset on the pitch at matches.

pretty funny wen u think about it

[SteeleCurtain411]

@MegaWiiwii

no they haven't

It's the anthem of West Ham United,just the same way Liverpool sing You'll Never Walk Alone....

[kdervin]

It's claimed that Ring Lardner reworked sone of the lyrics to mock the 1919 Black Sox.

[andavenport]

What's this song about?

[khrystal1968]

My gramma is 98 and remembers this song.

[krist324]

my grandma is 94 and she remembers it too... she sang along to the whole song... maybe the cutest thing ever... she probably has not heard the song in 40 years and still knew all the words...

[peabo12]

Makes me wonder how the other songs will hold up 90 years after their release

[CarGuyZM10]

I bet they won't. But to be fair, how many from this era have?

[PixieDust19962]

@peabo12 You mean RAP music? Not fucking likely. At least, I hope rap doesn't live on, I really hope so.

[jasonjohn82]

@peabo12 Brittney's Womanizer will out shine them all in 2103.

[casestudyification]

@peabo12 You said it!!!!!!!!

[nyn8tv]

My husband is from London, and every now and then I hear him singing this around the house. I guess his grandparents must have sung this. I love this song.

[noradarno]

it is more likely your husband is a West Ham fan.

[LarkLogan]

Oh nooo... my husband is a devout Tottenham Hotspurs fan -ever since he was a child. He loves this song, and sings it with the original lyrics :-)

[Mage020692]

this song is so amazing !!!!!!BUBBLES!!!!!

[e3hammer]

COME ON YOU IRONS!!!

[lauraalice1234]

This was the last song my 96 year old Mother-in-Law sang before she passed away, and that was the first time I heard this song. I am so glad to find it. It brought tears to my eyes. Thank you for...Well just THANK YOU (tears in my eyes)

[JLeeGraham]

@lauraalice1234 My dear, what a sweet thing to read! Thanks sincerely for sharing that. This was a favourite of my grandmother's, and my mother's as well, who always enjoyed songs from earlier times. I don't know why, but the music of the first four decades of the 20th Century always gets me where I live...I cry and smile and don't know why. Maybe in a previous life...but who knows? :)

[melseco]

my dad always sang this song and it's a sin to tell a lie and liked cole porter's night and day and played the moonlight sonata. My dad seemed immortal. When he turned 89; even he began to believe he was immortal. We all began to joke about how he would make it to 100. We began to plan for his 90th birthday. My father knew he was dying 48 hrs before he died. He was never senile and cracked jokes til the end. He was very lucid minded. He was very loved. My died 10 hrs after I posted last post.

[bearcub410]

THANK YOU SO MUCH , BORN TOO LATE

[GurtisGardener]

Wow, this one is really different from the West Ham version. I like this one as well.

[melseco]

p.s. from last comment: you can find it's a sin to tell a lie on you tube-u need not search elsewhere!!!!

[melseco]

my father was taught this song by his parents. My father will be 90 in about 200 days. Another favorite of his was "it's a sin to tell a lie", Both Fats Waller (who wrote it) and Bobby Breen made the song "it's a sin to tell a sin" a hit in 1936. I'm forever blowing bubbles became a hit just a few months before my father was born.Ofcourse, now MY kids can sing I'm forever blowing bubbles and It's a sin to tell a lie. You should check out it's a sin to tell a lie-it is beautiful.

[b3thanny]

IM FOREVER BLOWING BUBBLES

[ikea246]

.....

[innocenti67]

class, love it, cant wait for us fans (West Ham) to sing it like the original version , how quaint esp the way he sings ddrrreems, pprrretty

[Gallers317]

Does anyone know how it became the West Ham club song?

[feckyoo2]

It was played at half time by a local music teacher and his choir and caught on....

[uptonpark32]

irons

[ska3345]

HAAMMMEERRSS!!!!!skinhead sankt pauli

[pgh45rpms]

Without realizing at the time, Henry Burr and Enrico Caruso were responsible for establishing a struggling industry in the heyday of accoustic recording. And their music is still appealing.

[clee4487]

come on west ham

[bubba9166]

I guess our elders have created the oldest sports anthem. I'm not sure and I don't think it's confirmed but I think I've read that "Bubbles" had been sung at the 1923 FA Cup Final. Sounds logical and works for me.

[bearcub410]

thanks so much . great

[mikeferr107]

This is my favorite Campbell & Burr song. There are (of course) other good ones. These guys were an unbelievable vocal team.

[joekinty1]

im a decendant of burr aka mcclaskey

[MM55M5M]

I like it!