All off to Brighton in a charabanc, (1)
Albert played his banjo and how we sang!
The beer was expensive but the laughter was free.
Oh, how we do love to all be beside the sea!
Albert had a cousin named Marjorie,
And I had been noticin' that she had noticed me.
I quickly decided, if she didn't mind it,
I would spend the day in her gay company.
We shared a plate o' whelks, strollin' side-by-side.
I said she weren't too old to take a donkey ride,
But I didn't mind when she laughed and said no,
So we paused for a while and listened to the minstrel show.
There was a notice at the Palace Pier. (2)
It said there was to be a dance that night and it wasn't dear.
I explained, of course, that I could only waltz,
And so we waltzed to every tune and air.
Nine o'clock come round; we had to take the charabanc,
And Albert was too drunk to play the banjo, but still we sang,
All except Marjorie; I could tell at a glance,
Because me and Albert was leavin' for France.
I said, "We'll both be home in a week or two.
Me and Albert and Lord Kitchener will teach the Hun a thing or two. (3)
I'm sure to return; after me do not yearn,
And we will waltz together all our lives through".
Albert played his banjo and how we sang!
The beer was expensive but the laughter was free.
Oh, how we do love to all be beside the sea!
Albert had a cousin named Marjorie,
And I had been noticin' that she had noticed me.
I quickly decided, if she didn't mind it,
I would spend the day in her gay company.
We shared a plate o' whelks, strollin' side-by-side.
I said she weren't too old to take a donkey ride,
But I didn't mind when she laughed and said no,
So we paused for a while and listened to the minstrel show.
There was a notice at the Palace Pier. (2)
It said there was to be a dance that night and it wasn't dear.
I explained, of course, that I could only waltz,
And so we waltzed to every tune and air.
Nine o'clock come round; we had to take the charabanc,
And Albert was too drunk to play the banjo, but still we sang,
All except Marjorie; I could tell at a glance,
Because me and Albert was leavin' for France.
I said, "We'll both be home in a week or two.
Me and Albert and Lord Kitchener will teach the Hun a thing or two. (3)
I'm sure to return; after me do not yearn,
And we will waltz together all our lives through".
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(2) Il Brighton Marine Palace and Pier è il più famoso molo balneare d’Inghilterra, inaugurato nel 1899. Classificato come patrimonio storico architettonico britannico, credo che ospito ancora oggi un luna park. Presente nnelo scenario di molti film, uno per tutti “Quadrophenia” del 1979, scritto e diretto da Franc Roddam insieme a Pete Townshend, che ne firmò anche la mitica colonna sonora insieme agli Who
(3) Lord Kitchener: Lord Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1º Conte Kitchener (1850-1916), è stato un generale britannico, un grande criminale di guerra, quello che in Sudafrica contro i boeri applicò la guerra totale contro i civili, uccidendoli, affamandoli, bruciando le loro fattorie e chiudendoli in campi di sterminio. Allo scoppio della Grande Guerra fu nominato Segretario di Stato e il suo faccione baffuto – invero un po’ “prussiano”, ma si sa che tutti i militi sono uguali, un po’ come anche i mitili – campeggiò ovunque sui manifesti della campagna di coscrizione. Lord Kitchener morì nel 1916, in un naufragio causato da una mina tedesca: una fine da sorcio ampiamente meritata.