[7] The song also appeared in Formby's 1939 film Trouble Brewing,[8] in which it bore an additional verse.

[5] It tells the tale of a tawdry, West End-based woman of a certain age, full with alcohol and shoplifted goods, trying to earn a living in a Soho night spot, where she is "Fanlight Fanny the frowsey night-club queen".

[10] "Fanlight Fanny" was Ford's third UK chart hit and his most successful single, reaching No.

[11][13] Ford later recorded the Wally Lindsay-penned "Fanlight Fanny’s Daughter" (1963),[1] a track also released as a single, albeit with less success.

[5] In 1968, on Ford's album Clinton The Clown (re-released in 1970 on Marble Arch Records), the song's character reappeared as "Fan-Dance Fanny", a renaming and re-recording which had a small change in lyrical content.