The REAL History Of The British Song "Knees Up Mother Brown" (information, videos, & lyrics)

British Movietone,  Jul 21, 2015

(18 Dec 1939) The ballroom version of 'Knees up Mother Brown'.
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Here's a comment from this video's discussion thread:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNpP--jDbgI

@hori166, 2018
"Now I see where Richard and Robert Sherman got the tune for "Step in Time" for the movie "Mary Poppins"."

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post presents information about the history of the traditional British song "Knees up Mother Brown'".

This post also showcases two YouTube videos of "Knees up Mother Brown" and presents two lyrics versions of that song.

The content of this post is presented for historical, socio-cultural, and entertainment purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the unknown original composers of "Knees up Mother Brown" and thanks to the composers of the versions of this song that are included in this post. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the producers and publishers of the videos that are included in this post.
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This post is part of an ongoing pancocojams series about some songs and recreational rhymes that include the last name "Brown".
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"Knees up" has a different meaning that the current "elbows up" saying from Canada.
Read a brief comment about the "elbows up" saying in the comment section below of this pancocojams post.

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DISCLAIMER

This pancocojams post departs from the mission of this pancocojams blog to present information and showcase examples of Black cultures around the world. 

I'm publishing this post because I am also interested in children's songs and recreational rhymes, and, broadly speaking "Knees Up Mother Brown" fits those categories.
 
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SHOWCASE VIDEO #2 - Muppet Songs: Fozzie and Rowlf - Knees Up Mother Brown, Muppet Songs

Muppet Songs, Sep 9, 2018

"Knees Up Mother Brown" is a traditional British song, typically heard at parties and in bars, and also sung by some music hall performers. It is performed as the UK Spot on episode 410 of The Muppet Show. Fozzie and others sing in a bar, while Fozzie's mother dances the part of "Mother Brown". Fozzie is very perturbed by the lyrics, which threaten sawing off the legs of Mother Brown if she "bends".

Fozzie's Muppet Scrapbook (1985)

Muppet Show #410

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SONG AND DANCE "KNEES UP MOTHER BROWN"
Excerpt #1
https://www.songfacts.com/facts/gert-and-daisy/knees-up-mother-brown "Knees Up Mother Brown" 

Album: Just Gert and Daisy (1940) by Gert and Daisy

"Songfacts®:

"Knees Up Mother Brown" is a working-class drinking song that emerged from the East End of London in the 1800s. "Mother Brown" had become so popular by the time World War I rolled around that Londoners celebrated the end of the Great War by singing it on Armistice Night, November 11, 1918. One imagines it was belted out with no shortage of enthusiasm, though probably with more vigor than accuracy.

Curiously, despite its long history, the song didn't receive an official, standardized version until the late 1930s, when it was published by Harris Weston and Bert Lee, a British songwriting duo. Weston and Lee were also responsible for "Paddy McGinty's Goat," which enjoyed a revival in 1964 thanks to crooner Val Doonican. Weston also co-penned "I'm Henery The VIII, I Am," the signature tune of the great music hall star Harry Champion, later a chart-topper for Herman's Hermits in the 1960s.

Weston and Lee's version of "Knees Up Mother Brown" became the standard, and the song's cheerful nonsense lyrics were perfect fodder for singalongs, especially in the hands of East End sister comic duo Elsie and Doris Waters, who performed it as their cockney alter-egos, Gert and Daisy.

Of course, like any good drinking song, the actual meaning of the lyrics isn't terribly important. What matters is the repetitive, sing-song quality that practically demands participation. A "knees up" is East End slang for a lively party, where the goal is to keep drinking, dancing, and singing until you're quite unable to do any of those things anymore.

An interesting, albeit unproven, theory suggests the song might be a cheeky dig at Queen Victoria's famously close relationship with her Scottish ghillie, John Brown. In this context, "knees up" would take on a far more scandalous, not to mention saucy, meaning.

Beyond the pubs, "Knees Up Mother Brown" also has a strong association with West Ham United, where it's been sung by supporters since at least the 1950s, a fitting anthem for a football club rooted in Cockney culture and community spirit. So much so that the title has lent itself to an internet forum dedicated to the club.

"Knees Up Mother Brown" has made its way into several films and television shows:

1964: Richard Sherman of Disney fame was inspired to write "Step in Time" for Mary Poppins after watching Walt Disney attempt the "Knees Up Mother Brown" dance, egged on by the head of special effects, a Londoner named Peter Ellenshaw.

1980: In an episode of The Muppet Show, Fozzie Bear gives the song his best shot.

1986 "Knees Up Mother Brown" featured in a scene of the movie Sweet Liberty where Michael Caine recounts meeting Winston Churchill during the war."....

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Excerpt #2
From https://towerhamletsslice.co.uk/romanroad/knees-up-mother-brown-song-history/ The real history of ‘Knees up Mother Brown’ by Megan Agnew, 25 August 2020
"The East End anthem ‘Knees Up Mother Brown’ has been featured in the furthest reaches of pop culture, from West Ham matches, Mary Poppins and even the Muppets. But where does it really come from, what is its history and what does it mean?

 ...."The exact origin of ‘Knees up Mother Brown’ is unknown, but by the 1800s it had become a popular song in East End pubs and bars. There are no records about who wrote it, but it is thought that like many folk songs, it was passed down generations by word of mouth.

‘Knees up’ meant then what it does now: a party or a dance. In Victorian era London, the working class drunk ale down the pub while rich aristocrats were waltzing around ballrooms. Kicking your legs in the air and getting drunk stood in stark contrast to the prudishness of the Victorian upper-classes. ‘Mother Brown’ became a bawdy Cockney classic – a symbol and product of East End culture.

But around this time there was more than one reading of the song. Queen Victoria was often referred to as the ‘Mother’ of Great Britain, who famously spent years mourning the death of her husband, Albert. It is thought she might have needed a ‘knees up’ to cheer up.

‘Knees up’ also had a ruder meaning, referring to the position of a woman during sex. There was much speculation around whether Queen Victoria was in a romantic relationship with her servant, John Brown (hence Mother Brown). Some people think the song was egging the Queen on to get her ‘knees up’ for him.

Whatever the answer is, the song is bawdy and naughty and boisterous – it is either about sex or pulling someone’s bloomers down (‘I’ll saw your legs right off’) or rowdily dancing in the pub.

Mother Brown during the war

The song’s next appearance in the history books is during the first world war. Sung in the trenches, ‘Don’t get a breeze up’ meant don’t make a fuss, an upbeat way of telling the troops not to be afraid.

There is a record of ‘Mother Brown’ being belted out on Armistice Night, 11th November 1918, the day that the Allies and Germany signed the agreement that brought four years of fighting to an end.

Stories also circulated about American soldiers singing it in Portsmouth in 1918, as they made their way home after the war.

Until this point, there was no written-down version of ‘Mother Brown’. In 1938 it was finally published by Harris Weston and Bert Lee, an English songwriting and producing duo.

After it was officially released, the song became increasingly popular. ….

Knees Up Mother Brown in popular culture

You might know ‘Mother Brown’ most famously as a West Ham United anthem. It’s unclear how it became attached to the football supporters, but the first record of them singing it is in the 1950s.

A decade later in 1964, the song was rewritten for Disney’s Mary Poppins. Richard Sherman was inspired to write ‘Step in Time’ after he saw Walt Disney being taught the ‘Knees up Mother Brown’ dance by head of special effects and Londoner, Peter Ellenshaw."...

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LYRICS FOR "KNEES UP MOTHER BROWN"

(This version was written by Harris Weston & Bert Lee, 1938)

Knees up Mother Brown!
Knees up Mother Brown!
Under the table you must go
Ee-i-ee-i-ee-i-oh!

If I catch you bending,
I'll saw your legs right off,
Knees up! Knees Up!
Don't get the breeze up,
Knees up Mother Brown!

Oh My! What a rotten song!
What a rotten song!
Oh, What a rotten song!
Oh My! What a rotten song!
What a rotten singer too!

Knees up Mother Brown!
Knees up Mother Brown!
Under the table you must go
Ee-i-ee-i-ee-i-oh!

If I catch you bending,
I'll saw your legs right off,
Knees up! Knees Up!
Don't get the breeze up,
Knees - up - Mother - Brown!

Ow's yer farver? All right!

 https://www.musicanet.org/robokopp/english/kneesupm.htm

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LYRICS FOR "KNEES UP MOTHER BROWN" (a children's version of this song)

https://www.songsforteaching.com/folk/kneesupmotherbrown.htm
(composer/s?; date composed?) 

There came a girl from France
Who didn't know how to dance
The only thing that she could do
Was knees up Mother Brown

Oh, knees up Mother Brown
Knees up Mother Brown
Knees up, knees up, never let the breeze up,
Knees up Mother Brown

Oh, hopping on one foot
Hopping on one foot
Hopping, hopping, never stopping
Hopping on one foot

Oh, knees up Mother Brown
Knees up Mother Brown
Knees up, knees up, never let the breeze up,
Knees up Mother Brown

Oh, prancing up and down
Prancing up and down
Prancing, prancing, never dancing
Prancing up and down

Oh, knees up Mother Brown
Knees up Mother Brown
Knees up, knees up, never let the breeze up,
Knees up Mother Brown

And whirling round and round
Whirling round and round
Whirling, whirling, never twirling
Whirling round and round

Oh, knees up Mother Brown
Knees up Mother Brown
Knees up, knees up, never let the breeze up,
Knees up Mother Brown

Oh, knees up Mother Brown
Knees up Mother Brown
Knees up, knees up, never let the breeze up,
Knees up Mother Brown

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