The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #163430   Message #3899440
Posted By: Sandra in Sydney
13-Jan-18 - 07:43 PM
Thread Name: Folklore: meaning of 'gal with the blue dress on',
Subject: Lyr Add: ALICE BLUE GOWN (Tierney & McCarthy)
then there is Alice blue gown - a dress in the shade of blue that Alice Roosevelt Longworth wore.

My mother's cousin received a print of Alice blue gown by Arthur Garrett on her 21st birthday, c.1940 but the painting appears to be very early 1920s from the hairstyle. English born Arthur Garrett worked in America in the 20s.

ALICE BLUE GOWN by Harry Tierney & Joseph McCarthy (1919)

I once had a gown, it was almost new,
Oh, the daintiest thing, it was sweet Alice blue,
With little forget-me-nots placed here and there,
When I had it on, oh, I walked on the air!
And it wore, and it wore, and it wore,
'Til it went, and it wasn't no more.


In my sweet little Alice blue gown,
When I first wandered down into town,
I was so proud inside,
As I felt every eye,
And in every shop window I primped, passing by.


A new manner of fashion I'd found,
And the world seemed to smile all around.
'Til it wilted, I wore it,
I'll always adore it,
My sweet little Alice blue gown!


The little silkworms that made silk for that gown,
Just made that much silk and then crawled in the ground,
'Cause there never was anything like it before,
And I don't care to hope there will be anymore!
And it's gone, 'cause it just had to be,
Still it wears in my memory.


In my sweet little Alice blue gown,
When I first wandered down into town,
I was so proud inside,
As I felt every eye,
And in every shop window I primped, passing by.


A new manner of fashion I'd found,
And the world seemed to smile all around.
So it wouldn't be proper
If made of silk were another,
My sweet little Alice blue gown!