Lyr Req: you'll have to marry me now

Subject: Lyr Req: you'll have to marry me now
From: GUEST,Alex
Date: 01 May 20 - 03:37 AM

Hello! New here...

My mum remembers her grandfather singing an old song with the refrain:

"eye-tee-eye-tee-illyyy... oooh tilly, you'll have to marry me now!"(spelt phonetically here for ease)

Does anyone know what it is or (even better) if there is a recording anywhere?

For context: My great grandfather was an Edwardian from the East End of London. That's the only line my Mum remembers. It could have been corrupted over time, maybe Lilly or even Sir-ee rather than Tilly. It has a jaunty tune. The only searchable lyric is "Marry me now" and that hasn't been very fruitful.

I've found a reference to the following song "Oh!, Sir You'll have to marry me now! Charles Brighton/arr.A.Lee" in 'Sheard's Comic and Variety Annual for 1898' but other than a refence to it on a website I can't find any other music or lyrics to verify if it is the same song.

Any help much appreciated.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: you'll have to marry me now
From: cnd
Date: 01 May 20 - 09:25 AM

Could it be a derivation of this song?

SOLDIER, WON'T YOU MARRY ME?
(Humorous Song).
Sung with guitar by Russ Pike at Visalia, California, 1941. Recorded by Charles Todd and Robert Sonkin.

This satiric dialogue between a sophisticated soldier and a somewhat naive lady has been universally loved in this country, as in England, the country of its origin. Girl Scouts, isolated
mountaineers. New England lumberjacks, college glee clubs--all sing it with equal enthusiasm; the "Okies," the wandering migratory
workers of the Southwest. have carried it to the beet fields and groves of California. For another version and background material
on this song, see page 40. Sharp, English Folk Songs.


1. "O soldier, O soldier, won't you marry me now,
To the beat of the fife and the drum:
"O how can I marry such a pretty little miss
When I have no shoes to put on?"

2. Now she ran and she ran to the shoe store
As fast as she could run.
She brought back the very, very best,
And the soldier put it on.

3. "Soldier, O soldier, won't you marry me now,
To the beat of the fife and the drum?"
How can I marry such a pretty little miss
When I have no suit to put on?"

4. O she ran and she ran to the clothing store
As fast as she could run.
She brought back the very, very best,
And the soldier put it on.

5. "O soldier, O soldier. won't you marry me now,
To the beat of the fife and the drum?"
"How can marry such a pretty little miss
When I have no hat to put on?"

6. Well, she ran and she ran to the hat store
As fast as she could run.
She brought back the very, very best,
And the soldier put it on.

7. "Soldier, a soldier, won't you marry me now,
To the beat of the fife and the drum?"
"O how can I marry such a pretty little miss
When I have a wife at home?"

from https://www.loc.gov/folklife/LP/AFS_L2_opt.pdf

See more about it At Fresno State

Also see: https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=43706#3470615
The Waukrife Mammy, which has a nonsense chorus and verses with a woman asking to marry her
As I Roved Out - similar to above

Any of those ring any bells?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: you'll have to marry me now
From: GUEST,Starship
Date: 01 May 20 - 09:45 AM

There is reference to a song that may fit your parameters in

Anti-Social Behaviour in Britain: Victorian and Contemporary by Sarah Pickard. It was published in 2014. Perhaps you'd locate that through a library. I'm finding lots of little online.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: you'll have to marry me now
From: GUEST,Alex
Date: 04 May 20 - 06:56 AM

Great suggestions but nothing quite fits I'm afraid. Thank you.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: you'll have to marry me now
From: cnd
Date: 04 May 20 - 07:13 AM

Alex, sorry to say I can't help with the tune, but I'd recommend keeping things in 1 thread to minimize confusion. No sense in making 2 threads for the same request to me. Perhaps someone else will recognize it though?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: you'll have to marry me now
From: cnd
Date: 04 May 20 - 07:13 AM

For the other thread, see https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=167778&messages=1

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: you'll have to marry me now
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 04 May 20 - 07:31 AM

The link in the OP wants me to download a file. I'm not going to do that from an unknown source. Can we get it any other way, Alex.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: you'll have to marry me now
From: GUEST,Alex
Date: 04 May 20 - 07:50 AM

OP here. I've never posted on a forum before and wasn't sure about whether I should start a new thread or not. Sorry for the unintentional clutter!

You shouldn't have to download the link. It's just on my Googledrive - if you follow the link it should just play. I recorded it on my piano this morning.

(I appreciate following an unknown link on the internet could be a bit risky).

Here's the copypaste link which should prove it's an innocuous google drive file:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1t1ZxjbXSUhf86hdIamqukvWGb4zITd3G/view?usp=sharing

I don't have a Youtube account... any other suggestions if people are unsure of following the link?

Thanks for your help everyone.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: you'll have to marry me now
From: cnd
Date: 04 May 20 - 08:06 AM

Dave, I didn't have to download it, it should just let you play it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: you'll have to marry me now
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 04 May 20 - 08:09 AM

Must just be my Kindle Fire doesn't have an associated app. I'll try from the desktop later but I probably can't help anyway :-(

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: you'll have to marry me now
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 04 May 20 - 08:18 AM

Here is my interpretation in ABC:

X:1
T:Mystery Tune
M:6/8
L:1/8
Q:3/8=120
K:G
B2AB2A| Bd2-d3| e6| dB2-B2G| A2AABA| G6|]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: you'll have to marry me now
From: mayomick
Date: 04 May 20 - 09:12 AM

There’s a trad Irish / Scots tune “I wish you would marry me now.” I don’t know any lyrics to it or if it would fit the fragment .
http://www.stephanieclaussen.com/video/marry-me-now/

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: you'll have to marry me now
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 04 May 20 - 11:53 AM

Have I gone mad? I referred to a link in the OP which I now cannot see! Has it gone or was I looking at something else? Anyroads, I can play it from the later link and, sorry, still can't help :-(

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: you'll have to marry me now
From: Helen
Date: 04 May 20 - 12:00 PM

Dave-t-G, it was in the other thread started by the OP. LOL

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: you'll have to marry me now
From: mayomick
Date: 04 May 20 - 03:35 PM

from the other thread
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1t1ZxjbXSUhf86hdIamqukvWGb4zITd3G/view

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: you'll have to marry me now
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 05 May 20 - 02:19 PM

Elves, would you please merge the two threads about exactly the same question? Alex seems to be a newbie, so let's welcome him (her). Does anyone know the lyrics for that harp tune "I wish you would marry me now."? Since both tunes are in 6/8 time, I think they may well have a common ancestor.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: you'll have to marry me now
From: Helen
Date: 05 May 20 - 03:53 PM

I Wish You Wou'd Marry Me Now

[It looks to me like it is a tune with no lyrics. I might be wrong.]

I WISH YOU WOU'D MARRY ME NOW. AKA and see “George Carnegie's Strathspey,” “Inverara Rant,” “Marry Me Now,” “Proposal (2)(The).” Scottish, Reel. A Dorian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. John Glen (1891) finds the earliest printing of this tune in Robert Bremner's 1757 collection, although early printings also appears in the (James) Gillespie Manuscript of Perth (1768) and Preston’s Collection of Scots Reels and Country Dances (1768). O’Neill reprints Preston’s setting, identical to that in the Glen collection. See also the related “Lady Warkworth's Reel (1)” and “Morpeth Lasses.”

That page also has a list of printed sources.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: you'll have to marry me now
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 05 May 20 - 05:35 PM

Helen, I strongly suspect that the tune is based on a song; otherwise the title would more likely be something like "Wooing Jig". (Counterexamples do exist, though.) Who knows more?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: you'll have to marry me now
From: GUEST
Date: 06 May 20 - 07:48 AM

OP here. (She, btw!)

I've heard the Irish harp tune of the same name but I don't think it sounds like the piano snippet... I could be wrong though!

Thanks so much everyone for your suggestions. Keep those thinking caps on!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: you'll have to marry me now
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 06 May 20 - 12:10 PM

"Cock of the North" has been suggested on the other thread (- elves, please merge! -), but the similarity is not close enough to convince me. The phrase "marry me now" looks like a hotter clue to me.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: you'll have to marry me now
From: Mrrzy
Date: 08 May 20 - 06:50 PM

Ooh, welcome Alex, stump the forum!