Lyr Req: The Green-Eyed Dragon (Newman & Charles)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Green-Eyed Dragon (Newman & Charles)
From: GUEST
Date: 03 May 18 - 02:24 PM

Fantastic recording by Gerald Finley and Julius Drake exists, extremely well done. I sang this song for the Voice division at my school just last week and I'm happy that it has history with families and holds a special place in peoples' hearts!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2ovu6jWF1E

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Green-Eyed Dragon (Newman & Charles)
From: GUEST,Bob Schwarer
Date: 04 Oct 14 - 02:15 PM

I first heard this back in the 40s. Norman Ross hosted "The 400 Hour" sponsored by the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad. It was mainly a classical music program at six or seven o'clock in the morning and I could catch it before walking to school.

He would interject tunes such as this quite often. Sadly the program has been long gone and the C&NW RR is but a memory.Maybe an engine or a few cars exist somewhere.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Green-Eyed Dragon (Newman & Charles)
From: GUEST,Jennifer
Date: 19 Jan 14 - 09:43 PM

My grandfather was an opera singer and loved singing this song to us as children. As he grew older and his memory lapsed he still remembered this song and sang it with a gleem in his blue eyes. Hi was so proud of his Cornish heritage I assumed it was a Cornish folk song! It was so fun to hear another tenor singing this treasured memory 9 years after his passing.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Green-Eyed Dragon (Newman & Charles)
From: GUEST,Carla
Date: 22 Sep 12 - 06:24 PM

I have just moved to a small township in Victoria where the little singing group showed me the music and words for The Green-eyed Dragon. One member's family used to sing it when she was young. I had never come across this song before and really like it. I am glad everyone on this site has found what s/he has been looking for. The internet is a wonderful place for sharing things.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Green-Eyed Dragon (Newman & Charles)
From: GUEST,Anne
Date: 02 May 11 - 12:48 PM

I Cant believe I looked and there it was, 65 years after I had it sung to me. One of these days I am going to look for something and it won't be there, but so far so good. Greeting fom Western Australia. I will be singing the damn thing all day tomorrow.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Green-Eyed Dragon (Newman & Charles)
From: GUEST,Abuela
Date: 05 Aug 10 - 10:14 PM

So glad to find these lyrics - I tried to sing it to my granddaughters because I remembered MY father singing it to us as kids!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Green-Eyed Dragon (Newman & Charles)
From: Tannywheeler
Date: 18 Jun 10 - 09:03 AM

Wonderful, wonderful librarians. If they don't already know the answer they know how to find it...They should be running the world. Tw

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Green-Eyed Dragon (Newman & Charles)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 17 Jun 10 - 11:26 PM

To the above Guest:

Wolseley Charles composed the music for several songs. (Usually someone else wrote the lyrics.) He also composed and performed the piano accompaniment for most (if not all) of Stanley Holloway's songs and monologues.

I wasn't able to find the dates of his birth and death (I assume that's what you're looking for) but I can provide the next best thing:

Here are the earliest and latest publication dates I have been able to find for works written by Wolseley Charles:

Earliest: CLOZE-PROPS by Wolseley Charles and G Hubi-Newcombe, ©1914.

Latest: BRITISH AND PROUD OF IT by Wolseley Charles, ©1951.

So, instead of giving dates of birth and death, you could write "flourished 1914-1951." This is frequently done in lists of prominent people whose exact birth and death dates are unknown. See, for example, here or here.

On the other hand, maybe there is a reference book somewhere that gives this information. You might ask a librarian.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Green-Eyed Dragon (Newman & Charles)
From: GUEST,GUEST
Date: 16 Jun 10 - 12:41 PM

Does anyone know the dates of Wolseley Charles? Cause they are no where to be found on the internet and I need it for the recital I'm singing at in a few days?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Green-Eyed Dragon (Newman & Charles)
From: Tannywheeler
Date: 18 May 10 - 03:23 PM

GASP!!! Magnifique!!! Our family (Faulks & Koocks) were friends of another family (Gregorys) all of us in Austin. The Gregorys were extremely musical, were their own quintet, several of them graduating with music degrees from UT. Their adult son, Russell, used to do this song at family gatherings several times a year. He'd make sure all the kids were sitting on the floor in front of the old fogeys (we early teens stayed close, too). When he got to "...big, fat snails" he'd lean close as he moved along the row of kids with a long, loud sluuuuuurp. The shrieking & giggles were huge. Simply heaven. Of course, we were too old to react...Tw

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Green-Eyed Dragon (Newman & Charl
From: GUEST
Date: 13 May 10 - 12:16 AM

Here I sit with one actual copy of the sheet music. =) Still annotated from when I sang it at my Minnesota State High School Contest in 10th or 11th grade, approximately 1977. I received 4 of 4 stars.

It was such a fun and unique song that it stuck in my head over the years and I too sang it from memory to both of my young sons in the last 5-10 years. My 10-yr old asked me if I'd write the lyrics down for him. I told him I'd do one better and locate the sheet music. He'd have not only the lyrics, but the music so that he could play it on the piano one day if he continues his lessons.

====================
Info from the front page:
====================
The Green-Eyed Dragon
Sung by: Reinald Werrenrath
The words by: Greatrex Newman
Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes
Copyright: MCMXXVI by Boosey & Co., Ltd.
====================

Regards,
Dave Sidler
dsidler_nospam_@yahoo_nospam_.com
(Remove the two _nospam_ to email me)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Green-Eyed Dragon (Newman & Charles)
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 04 Jan 10 - 05:16 PM

For the tune try "Green Eyed Dragon" on YouTube. There are several renditions there.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Green-Eyed Dragon (Newman & Charles)
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Jan 10 - 01:13 AM

My Pop also used to sing it to me in the late 40s, & I wanted to sing it to a small child I met on a flight trip, who had just gotten out of chemo, but couldn't remember it.
Thank you all so much! -- joel

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Green-Eyed Dragon (Newman & Charles)
From: GUEST,Jenny
Date: 12 Mar 09 - 08:56 PM

My mum used to sing..Long long ago lived a fair princess most beautiful and charming,
Her father the king was a wicked old thing, with manners most alarming.
And always on the front door mat, a most ferocious dragon sat,

but I guess as long as the words fit.. anyhow the song is great and I sing it to my grandkids who love it too.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Green-Eyed Dragon (Newman & Charles)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 02:52 PM

Youtube versions- all terrible. I wish that they would put the John Charles Thomas on there.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Green-Eyed Dragon (Newman & Charles)
From: GUEST,Sarah, Fairfax Station, VA
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 08:53 AM

My sister sang this song at her senior recital as a music major, Spring 1976(?). Gerald Finley performs it as an encore on his recording "Songs by Tchaikovsky, Mussgorsky, and Ned Rorem" Nov 2008 release. Available on CD and for purchase on I-Tunes http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=293262403&s=143441

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Green-Eyed Dragon (Newman & Charles)
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 12 Jan 09 - 11:59 AM

Don't know why I hadn't thought of it, but you can hear several different renditions on YouTube: try http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm9dYHJdgOw

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Green-Eyed Dragon (Newman & Charles)
From: GUEST,Jennifer W
Date: 12 Jan 09 - 01:09 AM

Aloha and Thank you Carolyn......My dad had the chords and lyrics for this song in 1937, but my mom threw everything away everything he owned after his passing in 2003...and I forgot all the words except for the last verse and the chorus. I sang this song in my choir exam class and got an A in 1972.....Thank you again,,,,,this song will be revived again with my grandchilden!

Mahalo,
Jennifer

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Green-Eyed Dragon
From: GUEST,wwGINCHww
Date: 10 Sep 08 - 09:17 PM

.... and now my friend is looking for the music! She will be singing this song and accompanying pianist has asked her for the sheet music. Holy smokes! Does anyone know where I can find it? On the net?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Green-Eyed Dragon
From: GUEST,little jimmy
Date: 22 Jul 08 - 04:45 PM

Good heavenly days! We sang that song in the late '30s when I was in grade school. I was humming miscellaneous songs today and for no good reason came up with "green eyed dragon with the 13 tails" and remembered
"father the king was a wicked old thing" which then led me to this delightful site. If you can't find it here, it doesn't exist.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Green-Eyed Dragon with the thirteen tails
From: GUEST,lardpants
Date: 09 Apr 08 - 09:45 PM

Terrific, my kids had heard the song and wanted the lyrics-anyone have guitar chords?

FYI MP is Member of Parliament, Ministers are members of the cabinet.

Subject: RE: Green-eyed Dragon with the thirteen tails..
From: GUEST,TheatreGirl
Date: 12 Jan 07 - 12:48 PM

Wow, i didn't know this song had such history, my aunt sang it to me when i was little, i knew the first two verses but could never remember the third, thanks to GUEST,Carolyn, Arlington, VA for the lyrics.

Subject: RE: lyr req: Green-eyed Dragon with the thirteen t
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 02 Oct 06 - 11:37 PM

I haven't heard this since the 1950s.

Subject: RE: lyr req: Green-eyed Dragon with the thirteen tails
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 02 Oct 06 - 09:41 PM

Already in the DT.

My children loved John Charles Thomas with this song. His diction is good, so the words are easily understood, and he gives them full dramatic play. Available as a track in "John Charles Thomas, An American Classic," Nimbus cd.
An excerpt at the amazon.com site.
Stanley Holloway, for whom the recitation was written, is a little strange to American-Canadian ears.

Dave, more of a dramatic recitation with music.

Subject: RE: lyr req: Green-eyed Dragon with the thirteen tails
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Oct 06 - 09:09 PM

You can hear a bit of it here.

It's #15. Click the symbol on the left. It starts near the bottom of the first stanza.

Subject: RE: Green-eyed Dragon with the thirteen tails..
From: GUEST,Dale
Date: 02 Oct 06 - 08:41 PM

Sigh, where DOES the time go? The young lady I mentioned on 23 Apr 97 - 01:47 AM has grown up, finished high school and has gone off to university and is probably about to finish there.

While she did go to one of our local schools, it was not one that I had any connections with, so I really never got to know her. I HAD a video tape which featured at least part of her performance.   I doubt that I could find it at this late date. I believe it was a VHS-C, which was a couple of formats ago.

Maybe Dick can come up with his Stanley Holloway recording. At the time I did what amounted to an extensive search for that period. No doubt there is a lot more available today.

Subject: RE: Green-eyed Dragon with the thirteen tails..
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 02 Oct 06 - 07:29 PM

And now the Sixty-Four Dollar Question: Where can I hear the tune?

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: Lyr Add: GREEN-EYED DRAGON (Newman & Charles)
From: GUEST,Carolyn, Arlington, VA
Date: 02 Oct 06 - 07:24 PM

Once upon a time lived a Fair Princess
Most beautiful and charming;
Her Father, the King, was a wicked old thing,
With manners most alarming.
And always on the front door mat,
A most ferocious Dragon sat,
He made such an awful shrieking noise
So all you little girls and boys...
Beware,
take care,
Of the Green-eyed dragon with the 13 tails,
He'll feed,
With greed
On little boys, puppy dogs and big fat snails.
Then off to his lair each child he'll drag,
And each of his 13 tails he'll wag
Beware,
Take care
And creep off on tiptoes.
And hurry upstairs,
And say your prayers,
And duck your heads, your pretty curly heads,
Beneath the clothes, the clothes, the clothes.

That Dragon he lived for years and years,
But never grew much thinner.
For lunch, he'd try a Policeman pie,
Or a roast *M.P. for dinner;
One brave man went 'round with an axe
And tried to collect his income tax
That Dragon he smiled with fiendish glee,
And sadly murmured ** "R.I.P."...
Beware,
take care,
Of the Green-eyed dragon with the 13 tails,
He'll feed,
With greed
On little boys, puppy dogs and big fat snails.
Then off to his lair each child he'll drag,
And each of his 13 tails he'll wag
Beware,
Take care
And creep off on tiptoes.
And hurry upstairs,
And say your prayers,
And duck your heads, your pretty curly heads,
Beneath the clothes, the clothes, the clothes.

That Dragon went down to the kitchen one day
Where the Fair Princess was baking;
He ate, by mistake, some rich plum cake
That the Fair Princess was making,
That homemade cake, he could not digest,
He moaned and he groaned, and at last went west -
And now his ghost, with bloodshot eyes
At midnight clanks his chains and cries...
Beware,
take care,
Of the Green-eyed dragon with the 13 tails,
He'll feed,
With greed
On little boys, puppy dogs and big fat snails.
Then off to his lair each child he'll drag,
And each of his 13 tails he'll wag
Beware,
Take care
And creep off on tip toes.
And hurry upstairs,
And say your prayers,
And duck your heads, your pretty curly heads,
Beneath the clothes, the clothes, the clothes.


And Wes Velkov adds the following information:
The Green-Eyed Dragon
Words by Greatrex Newman, Music by Wolseley Charles

Copyright 1926 by Boosey & Co., Ltd.; Renewed 1953
Copyright for all countries. All rights reserved.
SGB 2231. Printed in U.S.A. key of A minor.
* Minister of Parliament ** Rest in Peace

Subject: RE: Green-eyed Dragon with the thirteen tails..
From: Bob Schwarer
Date: 25 Apr 97 - 05:35 PM

I "kind of " recall this from the '50s. Sung by John Charles Thomas. Of course my memory remembers a lot that isn't quite right.

Bob S.

Subject: RE: Green-eyed Dragon with the thirteen tails..
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 23 Apr 97 - 04:18 PM

It was written for Stanley Holloway; it's on a record of his that I have-- somewhere. I'll try and dig it out.

Subject: RE: Green-eyed Dragon with the thirteen tails..
From: Peter Timmerman
Date: 23 Apr 97 - 03:08 PM

I don't know about the song, but there are some fragments of this song that appear in Bela Lugosi's weird monologue in Ed Wood's film "Glen or Glenda". How it got there....?

Subject: RE: Green-eyed Dragon with the thirteen tails..
From: Dale Rose
Date: 23 Apr 97 - 01:47 AM

If no one else comes up with this the easy way, I will see what I can do. About a year ago, I heard a young lady of about 12 do this at a local young people's concert. It stuck with me because I had never heard it before and it was a rather unique piece, not what you normally would hear at such an event. [at least my comment gets your request moved to the head of the list again!]

Subject: Green-eyed Dragon with the thirteen tails..
From: don't know
Date: 22 Apr 97 - 05:30 PM

Partial lyric: "Once there was a fair princess Most beautiful and charming and on her porch a dragon sat, with manners most alarming.......... ...(missing lines)... Beware, take care , of the green-eyed dragon with the 13 tails.. He'll feed, with greeed on little boys and puppy-dog tails, and big fat snails... So tuck your heads, your pretty curly heads beneath the clothes..."

There is more, about the dragon eating a "rich plum cake" and going to his demise...Anyone know the complete lyrics, composer, or source of this song? My father sang it to me at bedtime, 1948-49. Any info appreciated! [e-mail]. 4/22/97