Sung by MRS GRUNDY and the JOHN BEAUTY CHORUS
Music by H. FRASER-SIMSON
Words by HARRY GRAHAM
Some people will squander
Their savings away
On paintings by Rankin or Steer;
For Brangwyn or Conder
Huge sums they w ill pay,
And they buy all the Prydes that appear!
But if you’d be smart,
As patrons of Art,
It’s almost a sine qua non
To prove your discretion
By gaining possession
Of works by the wonderful John!
Augustus John!
Refrain John! John!
How he’s got on!
He owes it, he knows it, to me!
Brass earrings I wear,
And I don’t do my hair,
And my feet are as bare as can be;
When I walk down the street,
All the people I meet
They stare at the things I have on!
When Battersea-Parking
You’ll hear folks remarking:
‘There goes an Augustus John!’
Chorus John! John!
If you’d get on,
The quaintest of clothes you must don!
When out for an airing,
You’ll hear folks declaring:
‘There goes an Augustus John!’
Good people acquainted
With Singer or Strang
Will sit to them week after week!
It’s nice being painted
By Nicholson’s gang,
But if ‘in the know,’
You’ll hasten to go
Where all the best people have gone;
His portraits don’t flatter
But that doesn’t matter,
So long as you’re painted by John!
Augustus John!
Refrain John! John!
If you’d get on,
Just sit for a bit, and you’ll see!
Your curious shape
He will cunningly drape
With an Inverness cape to the knee!
What a wealth of design!
And what colour and line!
He turns ev’ry goose to a swan!
And though you’re not handsome,
You’re worth a king’s ransom,
If you’re an ‘Augustus John!’
Chorus John! John!
How he’s got on!
He turns ev’ry goose to a swan!
You needn’t be pretty,
Or wealthy or witty,
If you’re an ‘Augustus John!’
Our ancestors freely
Expressed their dislike
Of all unconventional styles;
They raved about Lely,
They worshipped Vandyke,
And Leighton they greeted with smiles!
To-day if one owns
A Watts or Burne-Jones,
Its subject seems bloodless and wan!
One misses the vigour,
The matronly figure,
That marks all the drawings of John!
Augustus John!
Refrain John! John!
How he’s got on!
He’s quite at the top of the tree!
From Cotman to Corot,
From Tonks to George Morrow,
There’s no-one as famous as he!
On the scrap-heap we’ll cast
All those works of the past
By stars that once splendidly shone!
Send Hoppners and Knellers
To attics and cellars,
And stick to Augustus John!
How he’s got on!
No light half so brightly has shone!
The verdict of Chelsea’s
That nobody else is
A patch on Augustus John!
Chorus
Miss SILVIA FAUSSETT BAKER.
Miss FAITH CELLI.
Miss VERA BERINGER.
Miss BERYL FREEMAN.
Miss WINIFRED BATEMAN.
Miss MANORA THEW.
Miss ELLEN O’MALLEY.
Miss ELSIE MCNAUGHT.
Mrs. CAMPBELL.
Miss ETHEL MACKAY.
Mdme VANDERVELDE.
Mrs, GORDON CRAIG.
Miss SYLVIA MEYER.
Miss MARGARET GUINNESS.
Miss MARJORIE ELVERY.
Miss EVE BALFOUR.
Miss STELLA STOREY.
Miss DOROTHY GOODDAY.
Miss JANET ROSS.
Miss OLGA WARD.
Miss BARBARA HILES.
Miss PHYLLIS DICKSEE.
The HON. SYLVIA BRETT.
Miss IRENE RUSSELL.
Miss NORTH.
Mrs. HENDERSON.
Mrs. FRENCH.
Miss EMILY LOWES.
Miss DOROTHY CHRISTINE.
Miss D’ERLANGER.
Miss HONOR WIGGLESWORTH.
Mrs. HANNEY.
Mrs. NIGEL PLAYFAIR.
Masters GILES and LYON PLAYFAIR.
Mrs. DODGSON.
Miss FAUSSETT.
and
CARRINGTON.