Let's put the "hum" in "humbug"

And while putting lights onto our own Christmas tree I found this song (written by Cyril Tawney) had drifted up into consciousness from, ooh, about 37 years back when I last heard it.



It bears up well - and nice to find that the Seekers of all people covered one of Cyril's songs. Cyril Tawney is probably best remembered for Sally Free and Easy, or perhaps Chicken on a Raft: in any case, generally songs with a nautical connection. It's good to remember that he could write not just broad humour but subtle too.

And for a Proustian moment of recollection, who remembers the days when the devices that made Christmas tree lights flash caused massive interference on old VHF televisions? We had lights, but never flashing ones, for precisely that reason (though my parents were not at all like the Dad in the song.)