The Clog Song

Rob Clarke

The Trust recently published Images of Dales Life in the 1930’s by Joseph Norman Frankland and one of the essays described a dance held at Eldroth Village Hall in the 1920’s. Every year ‘Songs for a Summer Evening’ take place and last year Rob Clarke performed another of his talented original compositions and explained that it was inspired by reading Frankland’s essay. Rob has kindly agreed to its first publication in the Journal. To appreciate it fully the live performance of this jaunty and catching song can have no equal, but at least the following is a start. Rob has explained that in performance, it is sung ‘rubato’, in that he puts in and takes out dotted notes at random.
M.Ellis

It was Saturday night, as I well recall,
All eyes were alight in the old wooden hall,
I was swept off my feet as we took to the floor,
And we left our clogs by the door.

I was born here in Eldroth, on a farm on the hill.
The land has changed hands, but the sheep graze there still.
As I grew up, Ma laid down the law,
“Always leave your clogs by the door”.
It was Saturday night, as .....

As I grew up, my thoughts turned to romance,
Then your eyes met mine at that village hall dance.
I knew you were right, when the first thing I saw,
Was that you’d left your clogs by the door.

So when you popped the question I didn’t think twice.
Soon we left Eldroth Church in a flurry of rice.
And when we went upstairs I could not ask for more,
We left our clogs by the door.
It was Saturday night, as ...

You gave me a daughter, you gave me a son.
They both did us proud as they grew then moved on.
And wherever life takes them there’s one thing that’s sure,
They’ll leave their clogs by the door.

Then came 1940, they gave you a gun.
You proudly wore khaki till the fighting was done.
I wept tears of joy, you’d returned from the war,
To find your clogs by the door.
It was Saturday night, as ...

Then came the day you were laid in the soil,
That had broken your heart with a lifetime of toil.
But I knew I could face what my life had in store
If I kept your clogs by the door.

Now I’m getting old, from the hills I’ve come down,
To live out my days in a cottage in town.
For as long as I live, there’s one thing that’s sure,
There’ll be your clogs by the door.
It was Saturday night, as...