Hear All See All - Early Years

Old photo of man wearing robin hood style hat and round glasses

Sandy Powell "Can you hear me mother?"

Hear All, See All, Say Nowt

This song, sometimes known as ‘The Yorkshireman's Advice to his Son’, was sung and recorded by the Rotherham born comedian ‘Sandy
Powell’.

I first heard it sung by my father as a young lad in Mexborough, only six miles from Sandy Powell’s birthplace.

While serving an engineering apprenticeship from 1958-63, I daily drank my tea out of a pint mug with the motto "HEAR ALL, SEE ALL, SAY NOWT, EAT ALL, SUP ALL, PAY NOWT" emblazoned on it.

Hear All, See All, Say Nowt

First Verse and Chorus:
Hear all, see all, say nowt,
Eat all, drink all, pay nowt.
It's a long time remember
from January to December
So hear all, see all, say nowt,
Eat all, sup all, pay nowt
And if ever thy does owt fer nowt
Always do it fer th'sen.

2. When I was a right young lad
Me father said t'me
Seems to me thy's growin' up
Now what's thy goin' t'be?
It all depends upon th'self
It's only up to thee
I won't say much to you again
But take this tip from me.
Hear all, see all, say nowt . . . .

3. Save thy pennies while thy can
And just do what I say,
If thy doesn't keep thy 'ead
Tha'll 'ave some brass one day.
It all depends upon th'self
It's only up to thee
But there's one thing thy can reckon on
Thy won't get owt from me.
Hear all, see all, say nowt . . . .

SANDY POWELL was born Albert Arthur Powell on 30th January 1900 at Masbrough, Rotherham, in the South Riding of Yorkshire, and went onto become one of Britain’s wealthiest and most successful entertainers.

The young Sandy attended White’s School in Masbrough, Rotherham he made his stage debut at the age of five as part of his mother’s marionette show, and he made his first solo stage appearance as a singer at the age of nine. At the age of 15, while working as a double act with his mother, he got his ‘big break’, when they were spotted by a theatre agent who offered the a two-week trial with the ‘Stoll Theatre Tour’. The trial was a success and they never looked back, When his mother retired he went solo, and at 18 he topped the bill for the first time.

During the 1930's and 1940 he began his recording and film career, and started to work on radio. He created radios first catchphrase, “Can you hear me, mother?” which he always introduced his radio show with. The catchphrase grew so popular he used it in his theatre work.
It was also during this period he took his own revue ‘Sandy Powell’s Road Show’ on tour and made a recording of the show. The double-sided record on the Rex record label was titled ‘Sandy Powell's 1936 Road Show - Part 1 & Part 2’.

He had a highly successful recording career, between 1929 and 1942, making 85 records on the Rex and Broadcast record labels, and sold seven and a half million copies. He proved quite an astute businessman, negotiating royalties of a penny per record sale instead of the normal one-off fee.

He also had an active film career, between 1930 and 1948, starring in eleven assorted short films of sketches from his stage act. He also starred in eight Movies between 1932 and 1940, most of them either situation or sporting comedy dramas.

Throughout the 1940’s and early 1950’s he continued to work on
radio, and pantomime. In 1950 he decided present a show for the summer season at the Pier Theatre, Eastbourne on the Sussex Coast. He produced and starred in the show every summer for the next twenty years, until in January 1970 the theatre was totally gutted by fire.

That year also, along with his wife Kay White, Sandy was invited to appear on the Royal Variety Show 1970. It was his second Royal Command Performance at the Palladium, having first performed there in 1935.

Black and white photo of man with ventriloquist dummy

The Hopeless Ventriloquist

Also in 1970, Sandy returned to his hometown of Rotherham, to open and pull the first pint at a pub named in his honour, ‘The Comedian’. The pub also had a ‘Sandy Powell Lounge’.

In 1971 he was the subject of the extremely popular television show ‘This Is Your Life’ and in 1975 was awarded the MBE .

He was still performing occasionally in his later years, and could often be seen on ‘The Good Old Days’ performing his two most popular sketches, ‘The Bumbling Magician’, and ‘The Hopeless Ventriloquist’.

Sandy died of a heart attack in Eastbourne on 26th June 1982, at the age of 82.

About Mick

Mick Haywood is a traditional folk singer & folk song collector who has run and organised folk clubs and festivals for many years. He now lives in Whitby, North Yorkshire.

Mick Haywood's Song Wordbook

Early Years

Hear All, See All, Say Nowt

About Mick

Links