Subject: Lyr Add: MARY-ANN OR THE ROVING GARDENER (Clifton)
From:
Artful Codger
Date: 26 May 10 - 12:38 AM
A song written by the famous music hall performer Harry Clifton. The tune sounds familiar, like some patriotic Irish song.
MARY-ANN
or, The Roving Gardener
Words and music by Harry Clifton [published 1864]
1
My name is William Simmonds, I'm a Gardener by trade,
Serv'd seven years in one situation,
I first lost my heart, then threw away my space,
Oh! listen to my long lamentation,
Oh! my the world is now to me
A garden of great desolation;
I'm a stem without a flow'r since I lost my Mary Ann,
And left in a state of Agitation.
CHORUS:
Oh! my, look upon me now,
Will you take a quiet observation,
I've been down to Camden Town to look for Mary Ann,
And returned in a state of agitation.
2
Her father was a baker, and her mother was a cook,
And they gave her a good education,
She could 'Parley voo Franshay' and talk it like a book
And sing with a deal of animation;
Oh! my then to hear her play
The piano, it was worth a fortune,
For hours I have stood at "In my cottage near a wood,"
And "Coming Sister Mary" was a caution.
CHORUS.
3
I courted her in silence, for I never told my love,
I thought she was so much above my station,
To gain her heart and hand, across the seas I'd rove,
And try my luck at foreign emigration;
Oh! why did I leave my love behind,
I must have been a piece of vegetation,
To leave off digging mould, to go dig for gold,
And return in a state of agitation.
CHORUS.
4
I crossed the briny Ocean, and in a foreign land,
I found for myself a habitation,
Alone and solitary I oft thought of Mary Ann,
She was my only consolation;
Oh! my digging every day,
My brow is a boiling perspiration,
But "credit to the bold," I found a lump of gold.
And returned in a state of agitation.
CHORUS.
5
I hurried to her Father's, and asked for Mary-Ann,
And told him I'm come across the Ocean,
With my pockets full of gold and my heart and my hand,
To offer to my "true love's devotion,"
Oh! my list to his reply
"You ought to have been here a little sooner,
But if you should go to Pimlico, ask for Mrs Jones,
She's married a Piany Fortey Tooner."
CHORUS.
MORAL
They say there's many a slip twixt the goblet and the lip,
So Bachelors a word or two I crave you,
Before you risk your life, for a fortune for a wife,
Be certain that the lady fair will have you;
Oh! my to them you must go,
And boldly declare your adoration,
For how are they to know if you never tell them so,
You'll be left in a state of agitation.
CHORUS.
Source: Period sheet music published by Hopwood & Crew in 1864.
Supplemental lyrics from a broadside in the Bodleian Library ballad collection:
Harding B 11(3781): Mary Ann, or the Roving Gardiner [sic]
Imprint: London:--Printed & Published, by H. Such, 177, (late 123), Union-street, Boro',--S. R.
Dated between 1863 and 1885
Transcriptions by Artful Codger
The chorus and the first part of verses 2 and 3 were missing from the sheet music scans provided. I supplied the missing lyrics from a broadside; the imports are italicized above. The music for the chorus section was entirely absent; however the metrical pattern matches that of the second half of the verses, and begins with the same words ("Oh! my"), suggesting that the tune echoes that portion, as in a number of other Clifton songs.
Steve Gardham's notes on the sheet music:
Cover
MARY ANN
OR THE ROVING GARDENER
Chorus
"Oh! my look upon me now,
Will you take a quiet observation.
I've been down to Camden Town to look for MARY ANN
And returned in a state of agitation.
NEW AND ORIGINAL COMIC SONG, WORDS & MUSIC BY
HARRY CLIFTON.
LONDON, HOPWOOD & CREW, 42 NEW BOND St. W
Coloured litho by Concanen, Lee and Siebe of full figure of HC looking rather colourful as a gardener with raised hands as if at gunpoint. Bright yellow leggings and shirt, with red undershirt, blue scarf with yellow dots, yellow straw hat with blue ribbon, grey hose. Some sort of apron round waist and pair of clippers/shears in a bag at his waist.
Inside
MARY-ANN
OR
THE ROVING GARDENER
WORDS AND MUSIC BY HARRY CLIFTON
This song is legally protected and cannot be sung in public without the author's written permission.
Serial Number H & C 563
Sminky's 'The Era' dating puts this as before or in 1864. the serial number places it firmly in 1864.
Another copy at OLIS Bodleian Mus. Vol III 12 (8)
Broadsides by Such of London, Glasgow Poet's Box (1865, title 'The Roving Gardener')
and Sanderson of Edinburgh.
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