[Sheet music] I Can't Find a Place For That Accession Number: RC10870

Description

Sheet music for the song titled, 'I can’t find a place for that', composed by Harold Montague with lyrics written by Ralph Roberts. This copy was published by the London-based publishing company Ascherberg, Hopwood & Crew Limited in 1916. The copy held by the Memorial is missing the front cover and has been stitched together with cotton thread down the right-hand side. There is a blank page on the inside back cover with the back page featuring an advertisement for the revue titled 'Back to Blighty'. This was for a performance of the show at the Oxford Music Hall in London and included a review of the show together with a list of the sheet music for selected songs featured in the show that were available for purchase from Ascherberg, Hopwood & Crew Limited.

The lyrics of this song are written in the voice of a soldier contemplating sending an Active Service Postcard to a loved one at home. The song is a somewhat satirical take on the frustrations soldiers experienced with the limited range of messages and expression allowed by the postcard format.

This copy of the music originally belonged to Private Ernest Alfred Nicholls, and features his name at the top of the front cover. It is part of a collection of sheet music that was donated to the Memorial in 1971, and is symbolic of the concerts, theatre and other musical performances that Australian soldiers took in whilst on leave in London during the First World War.

Towards the bottom of this page is a sound recording of this sheet music, or a parody, that was created as part of the Music and the First World War project. More information about this recording, including names of the performers, can be found on the catalogue record for the sound recording. A link to the catalogue record for the sound recording can be found at the bottom of this page, under the heading ‘Related objects’ where it can be identified with the prefix [sound recording].