Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'be

Digitally remastered edition of this 1960 cast recording. After notable success with writing Pop songs, Lionel Bart tried his hand at musicals as the 1950s drew to a close, first with Lock Up Your Daughters (for which he wrote the lyrics) and then Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'be, for which he wrote the music and lyrics. Based on the play by Frank Norman, Fings was unique in that it was written almost entirely in the Cockney dialect, prompting a dozen or so phrases to be explained in the theatre program. Originally staged at the Theatre Royal Stratford East by Joan Littlewood and her Theatre Workshop, it eventually transferred to the Garrick Theatre in the West End. The cast recording album was a Top 5 chart success.