“Dig within. Within is the wellspring of Good;
and it is always ready to bubble up, if you just dig.”
– Marcus Aurelius
Nathan Redwood, Carried Away, 2008
Forever Blowing Bubbles
This tune always reminds me of smoking your troubles away, so I wondered while smoking just why do the British West Ham United football fans sing this American song?…
Well turns out its pretty simple really. Before blaring P.A. Systems in stadiums a good way to keep everything fun during intermission is to all sing. What better songs to get everyone singing then the hits of the day.
I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles – Albert C. Campbell and Henry Burr (1919)
Sir John Everett Millais, Bubbles (A Child’s World), 1885-86
In the 1920’s there was a player for west ham’s kids team that was pretty good, Billy J. “Bubbles” Murray. The team would razz him for looking like the popular Pears Soap advertisement little boy of the time with the painting from Sir John Everett Millais called “bubbles”.
To get the soccer club going, the coach would start singing “I’m forever blowing bubbles” from the sidelines changing the words to pump his team up. The Fans loved it so much on the minor fields, that it made the jump to the big stadium as a new club classic…
West Ham Boys 1921 – Billy J. “Bubbles” Murray / bottom left
I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles
I’m dreaming dreams, I’m scheming schemes
I’m building castles high
They’re born anew, their days are few
Just like a sweet butterfly
And as the daylight is dawning
They come again in the morning
I’m forever blowing bubbles
Pretty bubbles in the air
They fly so high
Nearly reach the sky
Then like my dreams they fade and die
Fortune’s always hiding
I’ve looked ev’rywhere
I’m forever blowing bubbles
Pretty bubbles in the air
When shadows creep, when I’m asleep
To lands of hope I stray
Then at daybreak, when I awake
My bluebird flutters away
Happiness, you seem so near me
Happiness, come forth and cheer me
I’m forever blowing bubbles
Pretty bubbles in the air
They fly so high
Nearly reach the sky
Then like my dreams they fade and die
Fortune’s always hiding
I’ve looked ev’rywhere
I’m forever blowing bubbles
Pretty bubbles in the air
West Ham fans – Bubbles
Thomas Couture, Soap Bubbles, 1859