With Her Head Tucked Underneath Her Arm (Ghost of Anne Boleyn) - Cyril Smith, 1934

Video of With Her Head Tucked Underneath Her Arm (Ghost of Anne Boleyn) by Cyril Smith (1934) using clips from The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933) Starring Merle Oberon and Charles Laughton. Also clips from Haunted History's London Episode.
Check out the other Halloween music videos on my channel.
I do not own rights to any of the music or videos. This is a fan tribute.

[@connormarsh6286]

My grandmother used to sing this song to me as a kid, it gave me nightmares

[@CaptainJackSparrowSavvy]

But you gotta admit, it’s a good song

[@w3nd0sy13]

My dad would play this in the car on the way home. It's a reason why I love history

[@cacambo589]

My dad would play this in the car. It's the reason I love buses.

[@w3nd0sy13]

@@cacambo589 fair

[@CajunRemnant]

My dad left for milk and never came back , it’s the reason I hate grocery stores

[@chivalrousjack]

Cool. See guys? You don't always have to waste some tired, unoriginal joke, trying (and failing) to sound clever. It's ok to not greet every sincere comment with satire.

[@margaretlovrich6837]

I’ve only ever heard my father sing this song. This is sooo much better.😂

[@noelle4159]

I can't possibly be the only one who got here accidentally from Six the musical 😂😂😂

[@Onyx421]

🙋🏼‍♀️

[@starz4220]

Me lol

[@lexinecassandrabeltran1607]

Me here

[@florence586]

Mee

[@nupurdasraha3825]

Here

[@horrorhabit8421]

Lindsay Holiday is the uncrowned queen of all things horror. It needed to be said.

[@PHI43009]

100000000000%

[@GhostFan4Life]

This song is bloody catchy. My grandfather and father played it all the time and we'd dance.

[@virginagobetz4756]

I heard this a long long time ago,so glad to hear it revived again!

[@Djeispark]

I first heard Daphne Moon singing this while she was drunk on *Fraiser* .

[@anthonywalden5814]

Bloody brilliant song

[@virginagobetz4756]

Hear!Hear!

[@mikeheap7978]

My dad had this on vinyl and as 5/6 year old we'd listen and have nightmares. I'm 55 now and still remember every word. I never had big Cyril Smith as a singer and politician 😛, some talent the big man.

[@Farrah300]

Whoever the makeup artist was did a fine job making Charles Laughton look like King Henry VIII. Merle Oberon was a fine actress, not to mention a beautiful lady.

[@chivalrousjack]

Am I the only one who discovered this song, listening to a vintage Halloween Playlist, then searched it up?

[@kaitlynamira3916]

Me too!

[@Jow64]

Same

[@patdaley7832]

Remember hearing this on Dr. Demento. Love these old " novelty" songs.

[@brettmiddleton7949]

Wind up your radios!

[@star.7.girl777]

Anne Boleyn will always be a queen!!!

[@whatever_he_wants]

Fr

[@madeleinebaier5347]

Exactly right!!

[@michaelahern6821]

She was despised...a scheming ruthless woman that played the game and lost..

[@Sundayletsplay]

My grandfather and me used to sing this because we could get away with swearing. Great emphasis was placed on the “bloody”

[@jeanglendinning1860]

this was played often i when i was a child, however we were taught that "bloody" was a swear word so we replaced bloody tower with Blackpool tower so my mother wouldnt punish us for swearing. For those who dont know Blackpool tower is rather like the eiffel tower on the north west coast of England

[@JewelRiders]

I just watched the haunted history episode and was thinking of this song and it’s so funny that I said find a music video from your channel because I love your channel… But also because now I wanna watch that 1930s film that I had no idea existed

[@that.one.artist7356]

What was she meant to do

[@noelle4159]

Like, what was she meant to do? 😂

[@LOL-lp7ix]

Don't lose your head!

[@mackncheese123]

@@noelle4159 sorry not sorry bout what I said

[@noelle4159]

@@mackncheese123 I'm just tryna have some fun!

[@Peanutzzz]

@Noelle Don't worry don't don't lose your head

[@robbiee3479]

9 people have no taste in music

[@CreightonChaney-io4xv]

Make that 10. 👿

[@moosca2144]

Creighton Chaney 1941 make that 11 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

[@1VirginiaL]

Well this is one year after your post MedievalGamer, and those ill-starred, sorrowful people are now up to 13...:)

[@kalobean25]

VirginiaL H make that 17. 👿

[@joanbaker4425]

My parents had the 78 record and dad loved to play this. Guess I'm showing my age. 😂

[@FuzzyElf]

I only knew it from the Kingston Trio's "Sold Out" album. Which my dad left behind in the divorce. So at least he did something for me?

[@harley1200davidson]

My favorite song when I was very little in the 50s. I've still got the original 7" 78 of it.

[@jasmineskrinjaric2896]

Cool video and song

[@gshomeweighttraining6284]

Divorce,the old fashioned way

[@msmltvcktl]

No, this is the Protestant way; Henry VIII decimated the English Catholic church to divorce his first, non decapitated wife (stolen from his late older brother, even) so he could marry Anne. Then she allegedly cheated on him and was put to death, if my half asleep brain remembers correctly..?

[@dummystephenhawking7124]

​@@msmltvcktli think it was because she was not able to give birth to boy or something like that

[@jorgelopez-pr6dr]

Who has the courage to sing this today in the Tower of London?

[@GhostFan4Life]

I wanna try it!

[@jorgelopez-pr6dr]

@@GhostFan4Life Don't ( at least not in May 19, anniversary of the execution) !

[@GhostFan4Life]

@@jorgelopez-pr6dr Yeah. I really don't wanna piss Anne Boleyn off. Then again, I'm curious to see what will happen if I do sing it on May 19.

[@Lukerdog]

Sheer genius in this pairing!

[@The_TacoCat]

We used to sing this at a camp I used to go to. It was so scary but so GOSHDARN CATCHY-

[@madeleinebaier5347]

She was innocent! Damn you, Henry!!!

[@stepno]

Wonderful video... At first didn't realize this was the Rudy Vallee orchestra version, since he isn't the singer. But Stanley Holloway or other U.K. versions would not have a U.S. "football" reference to "Army"! Was it the singer or the video-maker who left out the verse in which Henry says he can't tell which wife she is because "you've got your head tucked underneath your arm!"? Other "football" variations after Vallee (1930s) by Kingston Trio (1960s) and Caryl P. Weiss (1980s)

[@Squeaky1423]

This is awesome!

[@lamhaferdous2294]

POV: you came here from the ghastly story of Tudors ghost

[@Zivvia_Moonshine]

Yup

[@meaganburton588]

I heard about this song when it was mentioned in the children's book 'Otherwise Known As Shelia The Great' by Judy Blume

[@TomNall]

My Dad would sing this when I was a kid

[@robertmcintire9108]

I'm not sure of the date given here because of the reference to Doc Blanchard as a football player. Doc Blanchard would have been 10 years old in 1934. His fame as Army's "Mister Inside" came from his career playing for West Point in 1944-46. It's also odd that there's an American football reference when surely a British football looks more like someone's head and it's a British song. My guess is this recording was made at an event in the 40s when the audience was American troops with the American Expeditionary Force who would have appreciated "Is Army going to win" and the reference to Doc Blanchard.

[@mousetreehouse6833]

My mom used to sing the American version to me... instead of the Army, it was referenced with the US football player, Red Grange, a very fast runner whose nickname was "The Galloping Ghost."

[@emmapj4062]

Freaky but good song

[@Stephen6131]

I am playing this in protest of the Kansas city ROYALS beating the NY Mets in worlds series game 4 on Halloween

[@fairybits]

This is not the place for it.

[@649shellyy8]

I live in Turks and Caicos islands and were apart of the BWI (British West Indies) I’m obsessed with history (T.C.I’s, America’s and Britain’s) but I find British history more interesting I found this song reading up on Anne Boleyn and I love it 😂❤️

[@FuzzyElf]

There are other recordings, too. The Kingston Trio's is one of my old favorite songs, and is available here on KZbin if you'd like to give it a listen.

[@GTVAlfaMan]

The two old folks on Last Tango in Halifax were singing this song in an old haunted inn and I had to look this up.

[@FuzzyElf]

Check out the Kingston Trio's version. :-)

[@boundlessgaming3141]

When me and my brothers were in Elementary my brother woke up screaming his head off and we ran to the living room where he had been sleeping and he was crying pointing at an old chair my grandma used to love to sit in. The oldschool ones with floral patterns and he said he had seen a man sitting there with his head tucked underneath his arm like you would do a basketball. We didnt see anything but boy my brother couldn't go back to sleep for the life of him.

[@SofiTheHuman]

In the tower of London, large as life The ghost of Anne Bolyn walks, they declare Poor Anne Bolyn was once King Henry's wife Until he made the headsman bob her hair Ah, yes, he did her wrong long years ago And she comes up at night to tell him so With her head tucked underneath her arm She walks the bloody tower With her head tucked underneath her arm At the midnight hour She comes to haunt King Henry, she means giving him what for Gadzooks, she's going to tell him off for having spilled her gore And just in case the headsman wants to give her an encore She has her head tucked underneath her arm With her head tucked underneath her arm She walks the bloody tower With her head tucked underneath her arm At the midnight hour Along the draughty corridors, for miles and miles she goes She often catches cold, poor thing It's cold there when it blows And it's awfully awkward for the Queen to have to blow her nose With her head tucked underneath her arm Sometimes gay King Henry gives a spread For all his gals and pals and ghostly crew The headsman craves the joint and cuts the bread Then in comes Anne Bolyn to queer the do She holds her head up with a wild war whoop And Henry cries "don't drop it in the soup!" With her head tucked underneath her arm She walks the bloody tower, With her head tucked underneath her arm At the midnight hour The sentries think that it's a football that she carries in And when they've had a few they shout "is Ars'nal going to win?" They think it's Alec James instead of poor old Ann Boleyn With her head tucked underneath her arm With her head tucked underneath her arm She walks the bloody tower With her head tucked underneath her arm At the midnight hour One night she caught King Henry, he was in the canteen bar Said he, "are you Jane Seymour, Anne Bolyn, or Katherine Parr? For how the sweet san fairy ann do I know who you are With your head tucked underneath your arm?"

[@neoanderson8279]

Anne was excited by a swordsman

[@Carandini]

That's because the axe was seen as a mere tool while the sword was a noble instrument. If I recall, Henry had a special swordsman brought in from France to ensure the execution was quick and 'merciful'.

[@tilda0x]

*executed

[@brianallsopp69]

Yeah he was all heart 🙄

[@msmltvcktl]

I don't think that's who she was alleged to have cheated with, but she was definitely EXECUTED by a swordsman

[@toddbobbentley]

We would sing this in like 2nd or 3rd grade music class, I think my music teacher was a little unhinged

[@stevenpilling5318]

The British get jolly over the damnedest things!

[@lordeden2732]

Why not celebrate a King who liked to Chop and Change!

[@michelel.egerton6369]

The episode "Whine Club" of the TV series Frasier brought me here

[@callmethecommentcountess9329]

Great song

[@eigreyns]

what movie is this? please tell me , i can see

[@richardowen808]

The first time I heard this it was being sung by a group called the Baron Knights.

[@Pollicina_db]

At least her head was cut off very professionaly, she could’ve had an ax on her neck.

[@themage1114]

I discovered this music in The Tudors Wiki in 2014

[@miguel261998]

I came for Alec James

[@davidtownson1476]

I think you'd like the Barron Knights version

[@jonelcreo6989]

DIVORCE,BEHEADED,DIED,DDIVORCE,BEHADED,SURVIVE

[@michaelahern6821]

As usual Google you've adds all over the shop....you'll have during national anthems next..

[@Olivia___._]

Sorry not sorry bout what I said I'm tryna have some fun don't worry don't worry don't lose your head!

[@karen8624]

Good Christian people, I am come hither to die, for according to the law, and by the law I am judged to die, and therefore I will speak nothing against it. I am come hither to accuse no man, nor to speak anything of that, whereof I am accused and condemned to die, but I pray God save the king and send him long to reign over you, for a gentler nor a more merciful prince was there never: and to me he was ever a good, a gentle and sovereign lord. And if any person will meddle of my cause, I require them to judge the best. And thus I take my leave of the world and of you all, and I heartily desire you all to pray for me. O Lord have mercy on me, to God I commend my soul. To Jesus Christ I commend my soul; Lord Jesu receive my soul.