Charles Dickens and MusicLightwood, James T. (James Thomas)
General
Charles Dickens and Music
Lightwood, James T. (James Thomas)
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870 -- Knowledge -- Music; Music and literature
Hammer boys round--Old Clem,
With a thump and a sound--Old Clem,
Beat it out, beat it out--Old Clem,
With a cluck for the stout--Old Clem,
Blow the fire, blow the fire--Old Clem,
Roaring drier, soaring higher--Old Clem.
OLD KING COLE (_O.C.S._ 58, _P.P._ 36)
The personality of this gentleman has never been settled.
Chappell suggests he was 'Old Cole,' a cloth-maker of Reading
_temp._ Henry I. Wardle's carol 'I care not for spring' (_P.P._
36) was adapted to this air, and printed in How's _Illustrated
Book of British Song_.
OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY (_Dr. M._, _M.C._ 36)
An old saying, both in song and as a phrase. It occurs in two
songs in D'Urfey's _Pills to Purge Melancholy_, 1709, one of
which is,
Tom he was a piper's son,
He learned to play when he was young;
But all the tune that he could play
Was over the hills and far away.
(Vol. iv.)
Doctor Marigold's version is probably original:
North and South and West and East,
Winds liked best and winds liked least,
Here and there and gone astray,
Over the hills and far away.
OVER THE WATER TO CHARLIE (_O.C.S._ 27)
Tune in Johnson's _Musical Museum_, Vol. II, 1788.
Come boat me o'er, come row me o'er,
Come boat me o'er to Charlie,
I'll gie John Brown another half-crown,
To boat me o'er to Charlie;
We'll o'er the water, we'll o'er the sea,
We'll o'er the water to Charlie,
Come weal, come woe, we'll gather and go,
And live or die wi' Charlie.
Another Jacobite song was the cause of an amusing incident at
Edinburgh. On the occasion of one of his visits there Dickens
went to the theatre, and he and his friends were much amazed
and amused by the orchestra playing 'Charlie is my darling'
amid tumultuous shouts of delight.
PAUL AND VIRGINIA (_S.B.T._ 7, _L.D._ 13)
_J. Mazzinghi._
The popular duet from this opera 'See from ocean rising'
was sung by Mr. Johnstone and Mr. Incledon. See p. 91.
POLLY PUT THE KETTLE ON (_B.R._ 24)
An old country dance.
RED RUFFIAN, RETIRE! (_S.B.C._ 8)
Probably an imaginary title, invented by Dickens.
RULE BRITANNIA (_D. & S._ 4, 39, _U.T._ 2, _M.C._ 11, 17,
_A.N._, _D.C._ 8)
Words by _Thomson_ or _Mallet_. _Arne._
First appeared in print at the end of the masque _The Judgement
of Paris_, but it was composed for the masque of _Alfred_,
which was first performed on August 1, 1740. See _Musical
Times_, April, 1900.
SALLY IN OUR ALLEY
See 'Of all the girls.'
SATAN FINDS SOME MISCHIEF STILL (_D.C._ 16)
See p. 80.
_Dr. Watts._
SEE FROM OCEAN RISING (_S.B.T._ 7)
See _Paul and Virginia_.
SHE'S ALL MY FANCY PAINTED HER (_O.C.S._ 7)
('Alice Gray.')
See 'Yet lov'd I.'
SHE'S LIKE THE RED, RED ROSE (_O.C.S._ 8)
Burns revised the words from an old song.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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