Harry Carlton (d. 1961)

Prairie RomeoProlific lyricist Harry Carlton, who occasionally wrote under the pseudonym “Jean Frederick,” is generally credited with writing the great World War One hit Madamoiselle From Armentières (with Joseph A. Tunbridge, 1915); he also wrote the 1928 hit C.O.N.S.T.A.N.T.I.N.O.P.L.E.

Carlton collaborated with Fred Godfrey on a fistful of songs in 1910–11, including several for Billy Williams, “The Man in the Velvet Suit.” He usually gets credit only for Billy’s If The World Belonged To Me (1911), but a 31 January 1911 letter in which Carlton and Godfrey assign their rights to a number of songs over to Billy suggests that Carlton also had a hand in writing Let’s Go Where All The Crowd Goes; Let’s Have A Song Upon The Gramophone; My Sweet Rosetta; Sing Me An Irish Song; and Wake Up, John Bull!.

Godfrey and Carlton also wrote All Together (1910), introduced by famed male impersonator Hetty King; Angeline, Put On Your Crinoline (with Terry Sullivan, date unknown); Oh, Girls! Nobody Loves You Like A Nice Policeman (with Terry Sullivan, 1910); When A Fellow Begins To Fall In Love (1910); The Coster’s Concertina Band (1911); Let’s Have It Over Again (1911); You Can Never Tell (1911), which Florrie Forde recorded; and We Can’t All Have The Same Girl (1911).

           

In 1937, the two writers got together again for Prairie Romeo and Where The Mountain Meets The Sky.