New Article – ‘Walter’s Theme Song?: ‘It’s the same the whole world over’ (1933, 1935, 1937)

The sub-title to Greenwood (and Arthur Wragg’s) important short story collection of 1937, The Cleft Stick, is a song-title – but I have only just realised this after working on Greenwood for fifteen years! Moreover, Greenwood refers to the same song three times in his work – in the novel of Love on the Dole (1933), in his one-act play The Practised Hand (1935) and as the sub-title of The Cleft Stick (1937). Clearly the song meant something to him and this article explores what. It starts by looking at Greenwood’s three references to it and then looks at the song itself, written for the music-hall star Billy Bennett and recorded by him in 1930 and again in 1932. The article then looks at Greenwood’s engagement with popular songs in several of his writings. It reproduces eight period gramophone recordings of songs Greenwood mentions or quotes, including Billy Bennett’s song.

See Walter’s Theme Song?: ‘It’s the Same the Whole World Over’ (1933;1935; 1937) *

Enjoy! Chris.