He was born William Murphy in Manchester, England.[2] He started writing songs in the 1890s, including "Dancing to the Organ in the Mile End Road" (1893).[3] Another song, "Little Yellow-bird" (1903) (aka "Goodbye, Little Yellow Bird") written with lyricist William Hargreave, was first performed by Ellaline Terriss.[3] It can be seen performed by Scottish comedian Charlie Naughton in the 1938 film Alf's Button Afloat and by Angela Lansbury in the 1945 film The Picture of Dorian Gray and again by Lansbury in the 1985 episode "Sing a Song of Murder" from her TV series Murder, She Wrote. With frequent collaborator Dan Lipton (1873–1935) Murphy also wrote both "She's a Lassie from Lancashire" (1907) and "My Girl's a Yorkshire Girl" (1908),[3] the latter mentioned by James Joyce in his novel Ulysses and also turned into a 1909 short sound film of the same name.
Murphy is perhaps best known for the song "Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly?" with lyric by Will Letters, published in 1909. The song was written for Florrie Forde, and was a follow-up to another Murphy song written for Forde, "Oh, Oh, Antonio", a success the previous year. Forde regularly performed in the Isle of Man each summer, and "Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly?" made reference to "Kelly from the Isle of Man" as being "as bad as old Antonio". The song was immediately successful, becoming "the rage all over England". In discussing the song, Murphy said: "To find a refrain which will go with a swing is the secret of success in popular song-writing for the general public... It must have a melody in which 'something sticks out', so to speak."[4] The song reached the United States, where the lyrics were partly rewritten by William McKenna to set it in New York; it became a hit for Nora Bayes.[4] In 1926, "Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly?" was made into an animated short of the same title directed by Dave Fleischer, and in 1928 into a feature film directed by William Wyler. The song was also performed in the 1943 film Hello Frisco, Hello. Murphy and Letters wrote further songs for Forde including "Flanagan" (1910) with the refrain "Flanagan, Flanagan, take me to the Isle of Man again", alluding to Forde's real surname of Flanagan.[4]
Murphy also wrote several songs for Billy Williams, including "Put Me Amongst the Girls" (with Dan Lipton, 1908), as well as continuing to write for Florrie Forde songs including "Hold Your Hand Out, Naughty Boy" (with Worton David, 1913).[5]
Murphy died in the night of 18/19 June 1913 in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, at the age of 43.[1] His name is sometimes given as Clarence Wainwright Murphy, apparently in error.[1]Peter Gammond wrote that "the life of Murphy is shrouded in silence, but the catchy songs he wrote have not perished".[5]
^ abc"Murphy, C. W. (Charles William), 1870-1913". Id.loc.gov. Retrieved 3 September 2020. The Call Boy [official journal of the British Music Hall Society], summer 2019:article "C.W. Murphy, Edwardian song composer" by Andrew Lamb (Murphy is widely recorded under completely wrong Christian names as Clarence Wainwright Murphy; his death registration and probate records reveal quite clearly that he was Charles William Murphy; in "The Story of Francis, Day and Hunter" (1952), John Abbott confirms that he was known as 'Billy'; he was born as plain William Murphy in Manchester on 14 February 1870; quite how 'Charles' came to be added is unclear but by the time of his marriage in 1893 he was already appearing as C.W. Murphy in the pages of "The Era"; in the 1901 census, Billy appears for the first time as Charles W. Murphy, now described as pianist and songwriter; he died during the night of 18/19 June 1913 in Blackpool at the age of 43). The notice of his probate gives his date of death as 19 June.
^Lamb, Andrew. "C. W. Murphy, Edwardian Song Composer", The Call Boy, Summer 2019, pp. 26-27
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