{"id":6561,"date":"2025-08-24T12:14:05","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T16:14:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/?page_id=6561"},"modified":"2025-08-24T12:14:05","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T16:14:05","slug":"the-knocker-upper-man","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/?page_id=6561","title":{"rendered":"The Knocker-Upper Man"},"content":{"rendered":"

Composed by the late Mike Canavan<\/a> in 1973, the year the custom reportedly died out in Lancashire.\u00a0 In the age before alarm clocks were mass produced and affordably available for the average working class, the local mills and factories would engage reliable persons who would go about in the morning to wake up the employees in the town for the morning shifts.\u00a0 Most commonly seen was someone with a long wooden pole and a knob at the end, used to knock on second story windows, but there are pictured of people tossing pebbles or shooting the same through straws at the windows to wake those slumbering within.\u00a0 This song has been a staple of Cliff\u2019s for some years.<\/p>\n

Jos. Morneault<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Through cobbled streets so cold and damp
\nThe Knocker-Upper man goes creeping
\nTap-tapping at the window pane
\nTo wake the town from sleeping.<\/p>\n

chorus :
\nHe said : “Hey thee up and stir theeself
\nThe factory hooter’s blowin’
\nSo get up from your nice warm bed
\nTo work you must be goin’.”<\/p>\n

Day in, day out, the year about
\nThough snow and rain are falling
\nYou’d hear his clogs along the street
\nYou’d hear his voice a-calling.<\/p>\n

All the early-rising working folk
\nThe Knocker-Upper’s call they heeded
\nBut times go by, old customs die
\nNow he’s no longer needed.<\/p>\n

Through streets of quiet suburbia
\nThe Knocker-Upper’s ghost goes creeping
\nNow listening to the ringing sound
\nThat wakes the town from sleeping.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n