Lyr Req: I'm a Naughty Girl

Subject: 'I'm a Naughty Girl' -- Anyone have this
From:
Date: 17 Dec 01 - 09:43 PM

Hey there.

Just discovered an MP3 of a partially intellible (but evidently fun) music hall song from 1899, "I'm a Naughty Girl," sung by Beatrice Hart and the Daly (music hall) chorus).

The mp3 is here:

http://www.rfwilmut.clara.net/19thcent/19th.html

Very hard to hear all of it though.

Anyone have a lyric sheet for this? Or able to make it out?

Kevin

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'I'm a Naughty Girl' -- Anyone have
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 23 Dec 01 - 06:32 PM

I found some interesting things on the Internet.

Here's an excerpt from James Joyce's short story, "The Boarding House" from "Dubliners":

On Sunday nights there would often be a reunion in Mrs. Mooney's front drawing-room. The music-hall artistes would oblige; and Sheridan played waltzes and polkas and vamped accompaniments. Polly Mooney, the Madam's daughter, would also sing. She sang::
I'm a ... naughty girl.
You needn't sham:
You know I am.

The James Joyce Sheet Music Collection at the University of Miami has a copy of the sheet music for a song called "I'm a Naughty Girl," but alas, only the catalog, not the music itself, in on the web site.

And here's an excerpt from THE DEAD a play by Richard Nelson from 1999, based on James Joyce's short story, which is also from "Dubliners."

(Julia nods and Mary Jane plays. Julia and Kate look very somber--all expect a serious tune. After a short introduction, Julia begins "Naughty Girls.")

JULIA (Sings):
I'm an imp on mischief bent
Only feeling quite content
When doing wrong.

(The table slowly begins to realize what she is singing. It is the last sort of song they expected to hear from Julia and she knows it. She winks at Kate and smiles. )

JULIA:
At the Roman clubs, no doubt
Funny tales you hear about
My goings on.
Sometimes when I've had the fun
I repent on what I've done
But not for long
No, I break back into song:

GRETTA (Laughing): O, Aunt Julia!

JULIA:
I'm a naughty girl
Naughty girl
And Rome is in a whirl
Because I'm a naughty girl.

FREDDY (Wagging his finger at her and laughing):
Julia Morkan!
(Everyone is laughing, enjoying this.)

JULIA:
I'm a naughty girl
Naughty girl
And Rome is in a whirl
'Cause I'm a naughty girl.

If I like to sit and chat
What can be the harm in that
Though the daylight's gone.
If I laugh a bit too loud
And that laughter draws a crowd,
Is it so very wrong.

If some youth with manners free
Dares to snatch a kiss from me,
Do we ask him to explain?
No!

JULIA, KATE AND MARY JANE:
We kiss him back again!
We are naughty girls
Naughty girls
And Rome is in a whirl
Because we're naughty girls.

We are naughty girls
Naughty girls.

KATE:
Because they're all afraid
Of this naughty little maid!

(Mary Jane, Kate and Julia do a soft-shoe for the incredulous guests.)

JULIA:
If some youth with manners free
Dares to snatch a kiss from me,
Do we ask him to explain?

EVERYONE: No!

JULIA, KATE AND MARY JANE:
We kiss him back again!
We are naughty girls
Naughty girls
And Rome is in a whirl
Because we're naughty girls.

(The three ladies start a snakelike chain around the table.)

JULIA, KATE AND MARY JANE:
We are naughty girls
Naughty girls
Because they're all afraid
Of this naughty little maid.

(Freddy joins the ladies, then one by one the table gets up and joins the singing and dancing, soon holding hands and making a long chain. The entire party (except for Lily, Michael and Rita, who come in and clean up the tables and chairs) begins to move around the room, then out the door and back, etc., singing:)

ALL:
They are naughty girls
Naughty girls
And Rome is in a whirl
Because they're naughty girls.

They are naughty girls
Naughty girls
Because they're all afraid
Of this naughty little maid.

They are naughty girls
Naughty girls
And Rome is in a whirl
Because they're naughty girls.

They are naughty girls
Naughty girls
Because they're all afraid
Of this naughty little maid.

They are naughty girls
Naughty girls
And Rome is in a whirl
Because they're naughty girls.

They are naughty girls
Naughty girls
Because they're all afraid
Of this naughty little maid.

(Julia suddenly breaks with the chain, holds her chest--Gretta immediately sees this, grabs Gabriel and goes to her and helps her sit. The others, though, don't notice this as yet and continue to sing louder and louder.)

ALL:
They are naughty girls
Naughty girls
And Rome is in a whirl
Because they're naughty girls.

They are naughty girls
Naughty girls
Because they're all afraid
Of this naughty little maid.

They are naughty girls
Naughty girls
And Rome is in a whirl
Because they're naughty girls.

They are naughty girls...

(Kate now sees Julia and leaves the line and goes to her. The dancing continues louder still until there is a hard banging--from Mr. Fulham below. Freddy is the last to hear. And the song ends--interrupted--with others telling Freddy, "SSShh!" "the neighbors," "Mr. Fulham," etc. Freddy is furious and stomps on and yells at the floor where the banging is coming from. )

FREDDY (Yelling at the floor): Don't you shush us, Mr. Fulham!

(Others try to shush Freddy. Gretta hurries to get water for Julia, others ask Julia how she is. A frustrated Freddy speaks to his mother, to drumbeat underscore:)

FREDDY: It's him. It's damn people like him who should leave us alone. It's him--him we should be shushing. What are we doing? What did we do wrong? Where's the harm in singing? Where's the harm in singing? You don't shush the singer; you listen to his song.

Unfortunately, it isn't clear to me whether Richard Nelson wrote this song, or whether he used an old song. I don't think the song appears in Joyce's story.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm a Naughty Girl
From: Long Firm Freddie
Date: 11 Oct 20 - 09:31 AM

It appears the song comes from the following source:

A Greek Slave
A Musical Comedy in Two Acts
Libretto by Owen Hall
Lyrics by Harry Greenbank and Adrian Ross
Music by Sidney Jones
Additional numbers by Lionel Monckton
Produced by George Edwardes at Daly's Theatre, London
June 8th, 1898
For a run of 349 performances
Closing June 2nd, 1899.

A Greek Slave

A link to the lyrics and midi files:

I'm a Naughty Girl

LFF

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm a Naughty Girl
From: Joe Offer
Date: 11 Oct 20 - 06:37 PM

And a 19-yr-old thread comes back to life. I love it!
Thanks, LFF.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm a Naughty Girl
From: Long Firm Freddie
Date: 11 Oct 20 - 07:09 PM

19 year old thread - well that's weird! I certainly didn't gp searching deeply for this thread - I noticed a few old threads had been spammed which brought them up in the main three day list so I might have seen it then; presumably it has been cleaned up since if that's what happened! Anyway, it was fun looking up the info!

LFF

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm a Naughty Girl
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 12 Oct 20 - 06:53 AM

This is even odder - I posted a link to the sheet music on Friday. It must have got deleted along with the dating spam post. Here it is again I'm A Naughty Girl - sheet music at NYPL.


Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm a Naughty Girl
From: Long Firm Freddie
Date: 12 Oct 20 - 07:32 AM

So you did, Mick, I remember your post now!

LFF

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm a Naughty Girl
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 13 Oct 20 - 10:56 AM



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENhDn6Be-iY
Here it is performed on YouTube by Beatrice Hart (1899)