Lyr Add: Charming Kate (Gal with the Balmoral)

Subject: Lyr Add: Charming Kate (Gal with the Balmoral)
From: Jack Horntip
Date: 09 Jun 23 - 09:17 PM

Charming Kate

As I walked out the other day,
I met my charming Kate.
I asked her where she was going,
And she said she was going to sake.
I jogged along close by her side
Until we came to the gate.
They charged us fifty cents apiece
To let us in to sate.

Chorus
Lots of fun on the ice, boys;
Plenty of nice young girls.
Goodness, how they glide along,
Dressed in their bal-morals.

She started out and said she'd kiss
The first one that could catch her.
Of all the boys upon the ice,
I knew not one could match her.
I started out: my foot did slip,
And on the ice I fell;
And ever since that I faint away
At the sight of a bal-moral.

When I got up, my nose did bleed;
I was in such a plight!
I turned around to look for Kate,
But Kate was out of sight.
The boys did laugh, and all did say
She'd caught some other swell;
And ever since that I faint away
At the sight of a bal-moral!

Pg 22, Songs and Ballads: Folk Material and Old Favorites, undated [c1933].
 

See online here:

https://archive.org/details/1933-1972jameskennethlarson/page/n21/mode/1up

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Charming Kate (Gal with the Balmoral)
From: Jack Horntip
Date: 09 Jun 23 - 09:39 PM

The Gal with the Balmoral
AIR-"Jockey Hat and Feather."

As I was walking down the street,
I met my charming Kate;
I ax'd where she was
goin' to,
She says I'm goin to skate;
I walked along close by her side, and
Didn't we cut a swell.. with high heel'd boots upon her feet,
She wore a Balmoral.


CHORUS.
Oh, there's fun upon the ice,
And lots of nice young gals,
My goodness how they glide along,
Dress in their Balmorals

We took a car, and reached the Park
A man stood at the gate,
He charged us fifteen cents a piece
To let us in to skate.
I paid the dimes and in we went
With such a rush pell mell,
It beat my time to keep in track
Of that same Balmoral.

(Chorus)

She started off and said "she'd kiss
The man that first would catch her,"
Of all the folks upon the ice
There's only one could match her.
I made a grab and down I went,
Upon my nose I fell.
Some other fellow caught and kissed
Her in the Balmoral

(Chorus)

My face was cut, my nose did bleed,
I was in such a plight,
I turned around to look for her,
But she was out of sight.
The young folks laughed and told me how
She took that other swell,
And ever since I faint away
To see a Balmoral.

(Chorus).

An undated Broadside.

See online here:

https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/digitool%3A45645

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Charming Kate (Gal with the Balmoral)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 09 Jun 23 - 10:24 PM

I thought this had something to do with the castle in Scotland, but no.

balmoral:
1. a type of brimless round cocked hat with a cockade or ribbons attached, worn by certain Scottish regiments.
2. a heavy laced leather walking boot.


So it's a hat or a boot, one of the two. Or a castle.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Charming Kate (Gal with the Balmoral)
From: Lighter
Date: 10 Jun 23 - 10:00 AM

The broadside credits Bryant's Minstrels, one of the most popular American blackface troupes and the first performers (1859) of Daniel D. Emmett's "I Wish I Was in Dixie's Land.".

The troupe was in business between 1857 and 1882.

There were also Balmoral capes. The styles were first mentioned under the name "Balmoral" in the U.K. and New York in the middle and late 1850s.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Charming Kate (Gal with the Balmoral)
From: Lighter
Date: 10 Jun 23 - 10:13 AM

"Advertised as a civilian fashion" might be a better description than "mentioned."