Lyr Req: Lass with the Delicate Air (Arne)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lass with the delicate air
From: GUEST,edthefolkie
Date: 24 Jul 07 - 08:48 PM

"Did you not hear my Lady"! Oh blimey, I used to sing that at school.

Yet another song with a confused past - original music by Handel from "Tolomeo", new lyrics written about 1900 - anybody know the chap's name? Anyway, whole thing re-titled "Silent Worship". Excellent version by Barry Dransfield on his "Unruly" CD.

Oh - The L with the D A - well the music anyway - was written my MICHAEL Arne, son of Thomas.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lass with the delicate air
From: Fliss
Date: 24 Jul 07 - 04:09 PM

We sang it at senior school and I managed to find the words a couple of years ago.

Its one of the songs I sing as I go along in my car -- by myself.
Along with 'Did you not hear my lady'

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lass with the delicate air
From: Mr Happy
Date: 24 Jul 07 - 10:35 AM

Got an EP somewhere in me loft of 'Count' John McCormack singing it.

There's quite a few of his renditions on Youtube, but unfortunately not this one.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE LASS WITH A DELICATE AIR (Arne)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 24 Jul 07 - 08:18 AM

Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads, Harding B 25(1084):

THE LASS WITH THE DELICATE AIR

1. Young Molly who liv'd at the foot of the hill,
And whose fame ev'ry virgin with envy does fill,
Of Beauty is blest with so ample a share,
That men call her the lass with the delicate air.

2. One ev'ning last May, when I travers'd the grove,
In thoughtless retirement, not dreaming of love,
I chanc'd to [e]spy the gay nymph, I declare,
And really she'd got a most delicate air.

3. By a murmuring brook, by a green mossy bed,
A chaplet composing, the fair one was laid;
Surpriz'd and transported, I could not forbear,
With rapture to gaze on her delicate air.

4. That moment young Cupid selected a dart
And pierc'd, without pity, my innocent heart,
And from thence how to win the dear maid was my care,
For a captive I fell to her delicate air.

5. When she saw me, she blush'd, and complain'd I was rude,
And beg'd of all things that I would not intrude.
I answer'd, I could not tell how I came there,
But laid all the blame on her delicate air;

6. Said her heart was the prize which I fought to obtain,
And hop'd she would grant it to ease my fond pain.
She neither rejected, nor granted my pray'r,
But fir'd all my soul with her delicate air.

7. A thousand times since I've repeated my suit,
But still the tormentor affects to be mute;
Then tell me, ye swains, who have conquer'd the fair,
How to win the dear lass with the delicate air.


Another version, with sheet music, is given in The School Song Book .... By Osbourne McConathy, 1909. Although the only attribution given is to Dr. Thomas Arne, it contains 2 verses that are not in the version above:

2. Like sunshine, her glances so tenderly fall,
She smiles not for one but she smiles on us all,
And many a heart she has eased of its care,
Will bless the dear lass with the delicate air,
With the delicate air,
Will bless the dear lass with the delicate air.

3. So snowy her kerchief, so dainty is she,
No garland of posies could prettier be,
And, toiling or resting, she ever doth wear
Sweetest charm of all maidens, a delicate air,
A delicate air,
Sweetest charm of all maidens, a delicate air.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lass with the delicate air
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Jul 07 - 09:00 PM

It's on Document's Josh White vol.5
Available from CAMSCO, of course

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lass with the delicate air
From: Stewart
Date: 21 Jul 07 - 03:00 PM

I just posted the abc of the tune in the other thread

Cheers, S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lass with the delicate air
From: Alice
Date: 21 Jul 07 - 01:23 PM

I was sure we had a thread and lyrics on this years ago. Did it get lost in a crash?
It's commonly given to sopranos to learn when studying voice... and art song.
Alice

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lass with the delicate air
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 21 Jul 07 - 09:02 AM

Presenting....Josh White
Signature label.
SIGNCD 2175
I bought it at a garden centre in Cheshire. I was on my way to see Jet Harris at Alvaston Hall. My mother in law had forgotten her walking stick - so we dropped in to buy one of those that fold up.

Two or three quid for the cd.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lass with the delicate air
From: Charley Noble
Date: 21 Jul 07 - 08:53 AM

Weelittledrummer-

Thanks so much for posting the lyrics; you've done a great job of transcribing.

What was the title of the Josh White recording?

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lass with the delicate air
From: Flash Company
Date: 21 Jul 07 - 07:39 AM

I can't remember much about it, but Arthur Askey sang a parody of this called 'The Lass with the delicate chest', I know it ended up.....

................They laid her to rest,
With a dirty great stone on her delicate chest.

FC

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lass with the delicate air
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 21 Jul 07 - 07:25 AM

Oh...thanks!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lass with the delicate air
From: Snuffy
Date: 21 Jul 07 - 07:06 AM

Arne wrote the music to Rule Britannia (and Marr-i-ed to a Mer-may-ed).

Garrick wrote the words to Heart of Oak

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lass with the delicate air
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 21 Jul 07 - 04:50 AM

Arne - did he write Rule Britannia, or one of those other things that everybody knows? I thought that was Garrick, but Arne rings bells somewhere.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE LASS WITH THE DELICATE AIR
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 08:29 PM

Now, the tavern was crowded, and two couples were there.
They were served by a lass with a rose in her hair.
Now, her manner was charming and her beauty was rare,
And truly she had a most delicate air,
The most de-e-e-e-e-e-e-elicate air,
And they called her the lass with that delicate air.

Now some soldiers were passing and they looked through the glass.
They were struck by the charm of that (pow!) delicate lass;
And they waited in longing her kisses to share,
'Cause truly she had a most delicate air,
The most de-e-e-e-e-e-e-elicate air,
And they toasted that lass with that delicate air.

Now a sailor arose who had been everywhere.
He said he had never seen a lass quite so fair,
And he vowed he would marry that little lass then and there,
'Cause truly she had a most (pow!) delicate air;
The most de-e-e-e-e-e-e-elicate air,
And he wanted that lass with that delicate air.

Well, he offered his heart and he offered his hand
And he painted a future so rosy and grand.
"Dear sir," she replied, "ask the bartender there.
That man is wed to the lass with the delicate air,
The most de-e-e-e-e-e-e-elicate air;
So goodbye to the lass with the delicate air."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lass with the delicate air
From: Charley Noble
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 07:43 PM

Welittledrummer-

Why not post the Josh White lyrics here as well. Those are the ones I'm most interested in.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lass with the delicate air
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 05:32 PM

GREAT website, Don, thanks for posting. I've gone to their home page & bookmarked it -

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lass with the delicate air
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 05:27 PM

The umpteen syllables (or lack thereof) are actually written into the original, though I too think it strains the melody line.

"Posh" ?? You never heard my seventeen-year-old self sing it, hee hee hee...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lass with the delicate air
From: Don Firth
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 01:19 PM

HEY! Look what I just found!

Clickaroony!!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lass with the delicate air
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 01:17 PM

I enjoyed it but didn't like the way he broke the word delicate into umpteen syllables to fit the music, didn't sound quite right.
Giok

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lass with the delicate air
From: Don Firth
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 01:13 PM

Way back, I remember Walt Robertson singing it. But he learned it from Josh White. I think I've heard the "posh" version once.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lass with the delicate air
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 12:55 PM

the only version I know is the Josh White one, although I can remember my sister singing the posh version when she was in a choir.

e-mail me at d.whittle@ntlworld and I'll send you a version of the Josh White one - if that's the one you want.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lass with the delicate air
From: Celtaddict
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 12:35 PM

I always wondered a bit about Meredith Wilson's line in 'The Sadder But Wiser Girl for Me' in The Music Man about "I flinch, I sigh, when the lass with the delicate air goes by; I hope, and I pray, for Hester to win just one more 'A'" and I always thought the 'delicate air' meant too refined to be interested in a flirtation. It sounded as if it could be another allusion like the 'A' but I was not familiar with this older song or the expression. Is it also possible the 'delicate air' requiring a bit of a cough, laugh, nudge, wink meant it was only an air, a misleading appearance, of being beyond approach?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lass with the delicate air
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 12:17 PM

Frequently attributed, incorrectly, to Thomas. See thread The Lass With The Delicate Aire for further information and the text as posted here seven years back.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lass with the delicate air
From: Stewart
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 12:04 PM

I have one more verse (from John Runge's Collection of Early English Lute Songs Vol. IV. The song here is credited to Michael Arne (1740-1786).)

4. A thousand times o'er I've repeated my suit
But still the tormentor affects to be mute.
Then tell me ye swains who have conquered the fair
How to win the dear lass with the delicate air.


Cheers, S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lass with the delicate air
From: GUEST,edthefolkie
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 11:30 AM

Just look at the variety of euphemisms Samuel Pepys employed when referring to his errr...sallyings forth.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lass with the delicate air
From: GUEST,JTT
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 10:59 AM

Thanks so much! Really 18th-century slang for an exceptionally friendly person? I didn't know that!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lass with the delicate air
From: GUEST,edthefolkie
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 10:51 AM

Brilliant! Thanks for that Dick, Mudcat is wonderful.

I reckon "delicate air" is late C18 slang for "a bit prone to being persuaded to do things her mother told her not to do by plausible and well dressed young men". Josh White seems to have read it right.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lass with the delicate air
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 10:28 AM

WLD is right. Josh White has recorded it and it was, in fact, the one played as one of Oliver Postgate's DID choices. I have Storch but it's on the blink (suffering like a large section of the internet with googleitis) and no, I can't find the lyrics anywhere else.

Subject: ADD: Lass with the delicate air
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 10:27 AM

The Lass With The Delicate Air
(Thomas Arne 1719-1778)

Young Molly who liv'd at the foot of the hill
Whose fame ev'ry virgin with envy doth fill
Of beauty is bless'd with so ample a share
Men call her the lass with the delicate air.
   With the delicate air
   Men call her the lass with the delicate air.

One morning last May as I travers;d the grove
In thoughtless retirement, not dreaming of love,
I chanc'd to espy the gay nymph, I declare
And really she had the most delicate air.
   The most delicate air
   And really she had the most delicate air.

By a murmuring brook on a green mossy bed
A chaplet composing, the fair one was laid
Surprised and transported, I could not forbear
With rapture to gaze on her delicate air.
   On her delicate air
   With rapture to gaze on her delicate air.




Josh White's version began:

The tavern was crowded, two couples were there
They were served by a lass with a rose in her hair..

I disremember the rest.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lass with the delicate air
From: Charley Noble
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 10:22 AM

Josh White did a little raucus laugh before saying "delicate" with regard to the lady in question. I find it hard to believe that the lyrics aren't readily available.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lass with the delicate air
From: GUEST,edthefolkie
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 10:18 AM

Sorry, cross posted - as PMB says it's on Sibelius. Only trouble is I can't read it without their Storch software which I ain't gonna download to my work PC (Friday afternoon in the UK, zzzzz)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lass with the delicate air
From: GUEST,edthefolkie
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 10:09 AM

Can't find the blooming lyrics anywhere on the web (without paying). And I can't remember them!!!!

If it's the 18th century art song, they are available in various "100 best loved songs" types of books, one might be on Amazon.

The tune, at least, was written in the late eighteenth century by Michael Arne, son of Thomas Arne who wrote "Rule Britannia". I have a feeling the poet John Clare may have been involved in the lyrics but I may be wrong there. It would have been originally sung in the theatre and migrated to places like Vauxhall and Ranelagh Gardens, eventually being taken up by the so called "folk" - like, I suspect, a good many tunes we now think are traditional.

It's been recorded by umpteen people - my Mum had a 78 of it sung by one Mavis Bennett around 1929. There was a version by Elsie Suddaby, and even one by a young Julie Andrews - and you can buy a CD of that one!

There's another (1930s?) song which uses the phrase in the lyrics, I believe.

Not much help am I? But i'd be really interested to see the lyrics as Mum's 78 was jolly crackly.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lass with the delicate air
From: GUEST,PMB
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 09:58 AM

A quick google (Lass delicate air arne) found this and a brass band arrangement of the tune: http://www.sibeliusmusic.com/cgi-bin/show_score.pl?scoreid=80435

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lass with the delicate air
From: GUEST,JTT
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 09:45 AM

Thanks, weelittle - it's the words I'm after, though.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lass with the delicate air
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 09:45 AM

Gosh, are we thinking of the same song, WLD? I remember being given this years ago by my voice teacher, and it was one of those 18th-century English "art" songs - Haydn set some of them (e.g. "My Mother Bids Me Bind My Hair") and I think various other classical composers did too. I was just tearing my bookshelves apart looking for it, but can I find it??!! I can hear the air to the refrain in my head, and there's a melisma on the word "delicate" which repeats. If it ever turns up and nobody beats me to it, I'll post.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lass with the delicate air
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 09:36 AM

Josh White did several recordings of it.

Subject: Lyr Req: Lass with the delicate air
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 08:59 AM

The writer of Bagpuss, The Pogles, Pogle Wood, Ivor the Engine, etc, was on Desert Island Discs this morning, and one of his requests was The Lass with the Delicate Air.

I'm nostalgically watching old Ivor the Engine episodes on YouTube and thinking of buying the box set of all the Smallfilms kids' films.

In Episode 8 the choir are singing what I think is the same song, but I'm not familiar enough with it to be sure.

The song doesn't seem to be on the Digitrad...