Phillip Bennett: I recently came across Farjeon's lyrics in a novel written at least a decade ago about the early 18th century. In the novel, the song was attributed to an even earlier time. The fact that the lyrics date to only 1931 (or thereabout) was irrelevant to me; the book was fiction. The important thing was the beauty of the moment that was captured and the feeling it conveyed to me, the reader.