Between 1900 and 1953 he wrote over 800 songs. Godfrey could write and arrange music as well as write lyrics. He also played the piano. He began selling songs around 1906, with his first success a year later, when he teamed up with lyricist
Harry Castling to produce two songs, which
Billy Williams later recorded successfully. From 1911 until 1915, nearly every one of Williams' songs was composed by Godfrey. He also wrote songs for
Florrie Forde,
Mark Sheridan,
Dorothy Ward,
Shaun Glenville,
Ella Retford and
Vesta Victoria. Godfrey was only paid a few
guineas for each song, a common amount at the time. Godfrey was not business-minded and generally sold his songs outright, as was usual at this time, rather than receiving
royalties. After World War I popular music styles changed, and he became less successful. In 1930 he played in a
variety act featuring his hit songs with Irish tenor
Tom Finglass. The act was a success, but Godfrey could not keep to the schedule, and the act soon folded. In the late 1930s, his old-fashioned comic song style appealed to movie actor
George Formby and radio's "
Gert and Daisy". Comedian
Max Miller's 1938 film
Everything Happens to Me featured two, including the title song. In October 1939, Godfrey's wife died from
cancer at the age of 59. In November 1940, Formby's recording of "
Bless 'Em All" was released. After World War I, it had become a kind of unofficial anthem of the RAF. The recording was an immediate success and Formby recorded a second version in early 1941, with new lyrics by Godfrey. Godfrey spent his last years living with his eldest daughter in the
North London suburb of
Pinner. He died in a London hospital in 1953, still writing new song ideas. He is buried in Pinner New Cemetery. His will left £202. ==References==