I Don’t Care

Billy Williams & Fred Godfrey, composed 1911 — London: Francis, Day & Hunter, 1912; manuscript of music and lyrics in Billy Williams Collection, National Film and Sound Archive, Canberra, Australia.

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The dirt on this 1913 Phoenix disc makes Billy Williams’s signature in the Columbia-Rena wax master show up clearly.

Recordings

Billy Williams recorded at least seven versions of this popular number: ca. August 1911 for Columbia-Rena, ca. August 1911 for Homophon, ca. August 1911 for Jumbo, 9 September 1911 for Zonophone, ca. September 1911 for Edison Amberol, ca. September-October 1911 for Pathé, ca. December 1911 for Beka Grand. Reissues appeared on several other labels.¹

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Note

1  For comprehensive discographies of recordings by Billy Williams, see Brian Rust,
     British Music Hall on Record (Harrow, UK: Gramophone, 1979); and Frank
     Andrews and Ernie Bayly, Billy Williams’ Records: A Study in Discography
     (Bournemouth, UK: Talking Machine Review, 1982). For a collection of recordings of
     all the Billy Williams songs, see J.P. Myerscough, Billy Williams: All the Songs
     [8-CD set and accompanying notes] (Lowestoft, UK: Music Hall Masters, 2001).