Mrs. Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter

Album

Herman's Hermits

Label

MGM Records

Genre

Music hall

Composer(s)

Trevor Peacock

Entered Chart

Apr 17, 1965

Peak Date

May 1, 1965

Released

April 1965

Recorded

De Lane Lea Studios, London, 1 December 1964

Catalog #

MGM 13341

B-Side

I Gotta Dream On

This song is about a guy who is heartbroken over losing his girl, so he decides to tell her mother all about it. It was originally sung by the actor Tom Courtenay in a 1963 British television play called The Lads, which Herman's Hermits lead singer Peter Noone recorded to tape. He and the band learned the song and started playing it in their live sets, especially at weddings where Noone would customize the lyrics ("Mrs. Smith, you've got a lovely daughter..."). Since the song had appeared in a TV play, the group could play it in England without paying royalties. When they recorded their first album in 1964, they needed one more song to complete it and were running out of studio time. Since they were familiar with this song, they recorded it with the little time they had left, completing the song in one take. The song was written by Trevor Peacock, who was also appearing in the play. Peacock is well known to British TV audiences for playing the part of Jim Trott in the BBC sitcom The Vicar of Dibley. "Mrs. Brown" wasn't pegged as a single, but after an American DJ started giving it airplay, their record label issued it as a 45 and it became their first US #1 (in their native Britain it was never released as a single). Later in the year they returned to the top of the American charts with their revival of the old British musical number "I'm Henry The VIII, I Am." Hermits guitarist Derek Leckenby got the distinctive sound by muting his guitar strings. When performing the song, he would put a rag under the strings to get the effect. The Beatles used a similar guitar sound on "I Will." When this was #1 in America, Time magazine published an article called "Rock 'n' Roll: The Sound of the Sixties" that validated rock music as much more than a passing fad. It stated: "Last week the man of the moment was Herman, 16, of Herman's Hermits. An engaging high school dropout who looks like a toy sheep dog, Herman (real name: Peter Noone) smiles a lot, claps his hands over his head, and sticks his finger in his mouth when he sings. His 'Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter,' rendered in a heavy English Midlands accent, was the #1 bestseller last week."

Mrs. Brown you've got a lovely daughter
Girls as sharp as her are somethin' rare
But it's sad, she doesn't love me now
She's made it clear enough it ain't no good to pine

She wants to return those things I bought her
Tell her she can keep them just the same
Things have changed, she doesn't love me now
She's made it clear enough it ain't no good to pine

Walkin' about, even in a crowd, well
You'll pick her out, makes a bloke feel so proud

If she finds that I've been round to see you (round to see you)
Tell her that I'm well and feelin' fine (feelin' fine)
Don't let on, don't say she's broke my heart
I'd go down on my knees but it's no good to pine

Walkin' about, even in a crowd, well
You'll pick her out, makes a bloke feel so proud

If she finds that I've been round to see you (round to see you)
Tell her that I'm well and feelin' fine (feelin' fine)
Don't let on, don't say she's broke my heart
I'd go down on my knees but it's no good to pine

Mrs. Brown you've got a lovely daughter (lovely daughter)
Mrs. Brown you've got a lovely daughter (lovely daughter)
Mrs. Brown you've got a lovely daughter (lovely daughter)
Mrs. Brown you've got a lovely daughter (lovely daughter)