THE OLD SONGS.

Northland Age, Volume IV, Issue 42, 22 June 1908, Page 7

THE OLD SONGS.

J That many of the old songs are : seldom sung now ofteii strikes ono as I being & great pity, though they are often much finer than those of the ! present day. | I suppose the main reason is that they have been sung too much, like the present ones, and of course some of them really are very much too lengthy. Now, wouldn't it be a good thing if these songs were revised a bithashed up with the superfluous fat taken off, so to speak ? I think there are many pretty thoughts in them which would easily bear repeating, but we get tired of the same I thing sung the same way every time, ! don’t we ? | A selection has been made in order to illustrate my meaning. The songs j are condensed a bit, and come quite | I consider, although hardly altered from the original—only to | the extent of a "poet's licence," we might say. NoW, take "Excelsior." We all know the old words ; let us have a little change like this i A young man came an Alpine village through ; 'Twas getting dark, with cold the chap was blue. He clutched a notice—something rather new—- " Excelsior f’\ "You’ti lose yourself up there/' the old man said ; The maiden cried, "Oh, stay ! and go to bed.” The youth replied, and sadly shook his head, i "Excelsior !"• He climbed and got snowed up, and

He climbed and got snowed up, and then was found, All frozen stiff, by a St Bernard hound. They buried him. A voice came from the ground—- " Excelsior !" That's short and sweet, and to the point. Now take "The Village Blacksmith," which lends itself to alteration even better : The village blacksmith’s got a shed Beneath a chestnut tree ; His hair's a mop upon his head— A mighty man is he.

He bangs away—week in, week out—

And sweats like any bull; The children catch ' the sparks and shout When they come out of school.

Ho goes to church on Sunday morn, And hears his daughter ‘ sing ; Her voice it makes him feel forlorn— It hurts him like a sting.

'Tis said he never borrows, And his face is brownish-red. He toils, rejoices, sorrows— And theh he goes to bed. Which is very subtle. And lastly "The Brook." It has too much "padding," I think, with all due deference to the late Lord Tennyson. How do you like this for something shorter and simpler ?

The Brook, it travels on and on, Ail oil* and on, and on, And then goes running on and on, And on, and on, and or*. And after that goes on and on, And on, and on, and on ; And when it's finished that it goes— Just on, and on, and on. Then qn and on it stiii goes on, And on into the river, Which in its turn runs pn and on, And on, and on, for ever ! , -*"Scraps, ! "