THE SONGS OF THE 'NINETIES

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 57, 1 December 1923, Page 15

THE SONGS OF THE 'NINETIES

STORIES SET TO MUSIC

The current number of the '‘Cornhill Magazine” contains a delightful article by Angela Thirkell on “Songs My Nurses Taught Me: A Footnote to English Songs of the ’Nineties.” The songs sung to the children thirty years ago depended on “Nanny’s” 'musical taste. One .nurse of the author’s liked doleful songs, such as: “Where is now the happy party I remember long ago, Seated round the Christmas fi-er, Brightened by its ruddy glow; Or in summer’s balmy evenings In the fields among the hay? They are all dispersed and wandered, Far away, far away.” It used to make Nanny cry, and we choked sympathetically ; and we choked over a song of which I remember nothing but this chorus: “You take to the boats, lads, Y r ou save your lives, I’ve no one to love me, You’ve children and wives. You take to the boats, lads, Pray to Heaven above; But I’ll go down in the angry deep With the ship 1 love.” Another favourite song was the result of the first bicycle craze: “Daisy, Daisy, Give me an answer, do. I’m half crazy All for the love of you. It won’t be a stylish marriage. Eqs I can’t afford a carriage, But you’ll look sweet Upon tbo seat Of a bicycle made for two.” Miss Thirkell had many nurses. Ono who stands out in her memory is “Darkie.” who revelled' in comic SOnrrc The song of hers that most delighted a nnrserv audience was called simply “Ha-ha. he-hel” It related the adventures of a “blade” or “snark,” who deceived, and left in the lurch at vana times five-and-twenty girls. a mr. and a cabman. Presumably ho offered, marriage to the five-and-twentv girls, and didn’t settle the butcher’s account, and I know that the cabman’s fare was left unpaid, for tbo “cabbv” will “have to wait till his horse drops dpafl And white hairs crow on the black man’s head ” I imagine this song to have been introduced to an admiring world bv a lion continue. if thev still existed m the ’ninot’oManv of these nurserv songs were really stories set to music:— The stow of “After the Ball opens bv one of the most unpleasant, artloss enfants terriblos that can ever have existed inuuiring as follows: — “Our little maiden climbed on th’ old man’s knees. Begged for a storv. ‘Do Uncle, please. Whv are von single? Whv live alone? Have von no babies? Have you no Homo?’ ”

A more tactless set of questions can seldom have been put to an uncle, but th’ old man was evidently used to that sort of thing—the equivalent at that time of “What did you do in the Great War, Daddy?” one supposes — for instead of saying “Get on with that something bun,” he settled himself comfortably and let loose in the following words: —

“ 'I had a sweetheart, long years ago, Where she is now, pet, you soon will

know; _ If you’ll listen to my story, I’ll tell you all. ’Twas I broke her heart, pet, after

the ball.” (Chorus, in a rollicking waltz time) “After the ball is over, after the break

of dawn, After the dancers are leaving, after the stars have shawn (poetical

license for shone), Many a heart is breaking, if we could

see them all, And many a hope is shattered, after the ball.”

What events those balls of the ’nineties must have been, where so much could happen in one evening. No wonder he went to the* ball with misgivings, which were, alas: too fully justified. During an interval, when he and the sweetheart were sitting out, she said, “I want some water: leave V'je alone.” This made him deeply suspicious, especially as he had seen her talking to a man earlie,- in the evening. However, he went to get the water —but this should be told in his own poignant words: — “ ‘When I returned, pet, I saw That Man Kissing my sweetheart as lovers can, Then down fell the glass, pet, broken —that’s all, Just as my heart was, after the ball.’ ” The jealous lover dashed away, and never heard of his love for years, but at last word came: — “ ‘a letter camo from That Man, He was her brother; thus the letter ran: Now my story’s ended, I ve told you all, ’Twas I broke her heart, pet, after the ball.”