Req: Harry Lauder 'This is her. No it's a rabbit'

Subject: Lyr Req: Harry Lauder ?This is her, No it?s a rab
From: GUEST,Leslie Butler
Date: 09 Feb 18 - 03:04 PM

PG Wodehouse in ‘The Inimitable Jeves’ (1923) refers to ‘The song by Harry Lauder where he’s waiting for the girl and says, “This is her, No it’s a rabbit.”’ I can’t find that combination of words on line, not a Lauder title that might fit. Does anyone recognise the quote or the idea?

Subject: Lyr Req: Harry Lauder This is her, No its a rabbit
From: GUEST,keberoxu
Date: 09 Feb 18 - 05:39 PM

Okay. Pulled up P. G. Wodehouse at books dot google dot com.
quote: "All of the stories were originally published in The Strand Magazine between 1918 and 1922." endquote
This collection for some reason is called
Expecting Jeeves, and
the story itself is
"The Metropolitan Touch."


It was like that song of Harry Lauder's
where he's waiting for the girl and says
"This is her-r-r. No, it's a rabbut."
page 109, Dover Publications

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Harry Lauder ?This is her, No it?s a rab
From: BobKnight
Date: 09 Feb 18 - 06:53 PM

Harry Lauder, being a music hall singer and comedian, was inclined to make humorous asides in his recordings - sound like one of those.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Harry Lauder ?This is her, No it?s a rab
From: GUEST,Leslie Butler
Date: 10 Feb 18 - 05:31 AM

Bob, your suggestion is very sound. Some of those music hall asides had nothing to do with the actual song, right enough. And on further consideration, Bertie Wooster in the 1920s was more likely to be referring to a live performance than to a recording.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Harry Lauder "This is her. No it's a rabb
From: GUEST,keberoxu
Date: 13 Feb 18 - 01:55 PM

Could the song be "I Love A Lassie" ?

Harry Lauder made multiple recordings of that one song.
I listened to four or five of them in a row just now,
and they pretty near put me to sleep, the cumulative effect of them.
No rabbit, though.
Maybe I just didn't listen to the right recording.
And some of those recordings
DO, in fact, predate the 1920's and dear Wooster and Jeeves.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Harry Lauder "This is her. No it's a rabb
From: GUEST,keberoxu
Date: 13 Feb 18 - 02:04 PM

Who can locate the Harry Lauder recording of
"I Love A Lassie" on
Edison no. 19178?
One source says "it's a rabbut" is recorded in that performance.
(Haven't found this one.)

Subject: RE: Req: Harry Lauder 'This is her. No it's a rabbit'
From: Joe Offer
Date: 13 Feb 18 - 02:42 PM

Well, here's a recording of "I Love a Lassie," but it doesn't have the rabbit and it's not the Edison recording:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tzi3WcXSFVE

Here's the Edison recording. I didn't find the rabbit, but maybe I just missed it:

http://www.library.ucsb.edu/OBJID/Cylinder2541

Subject: RE: Req: Harry Lauder 'This is her. No it's a rabbit'
From: GUEST,keberoxu
Date: 13 Feb 18 - 03:10 PM

Maybe this is a job for a terrier . . .

Subject: RE: Req: Harry Lauder 'This is her. No it's a rabbit'
From: GUEST,keberoxu
Date: 14 Feb 18 - 10:27 AM

Well, I'm out of my depth with "mp3" digital stuff.
However:

scroll down to 46: Harry Lauder "I Love A Lassie"

... I can't prove or disprove this one.

Subject: RE: Req: Harry Lauder 'This is her. No it's a rabbit'
From: GUEST,keberoxu
Date: 14 Feb 18 - 01:00 PM

Here let me introduce a new Wodehouse investigation.

The author is Norman Thomas Philip Murphy 1933 -- 2016.

According to his obituary in The Telegraph,
Murphy, a Lieutenant-Colonel, was employed by the Ministry of Defence in Whitehall
when he began 40 minutes of his hourly break in his workday,
looking in the British Library for Wodehouse's origins.
Several published books would result.

There are two volumes in Murphy's "Wodehouse Handbook."
I have yet to pull these up online; they are quoted online though.
Murphy confirms that the Harry Lauder recording is dated 1907
with "the interpolation after the second verse,
when he tells the audience to keep quiet because his love is
'coming -- she's coming -- she's coming --' and then
THE LINE."

Subject: RE: Req: Harry Lauder 'This is her. No it's a rabbit'
From: Gallus Moll
Date: 14 Feb 18 - 06:38 PM

are we suppose to hear:

'this is no' hare (her), it's a rabbit'???

Subject: RE: Req: Harry Lauder 'This is her. No it's a rabbit'
From: GUEST,keberoxu
Date: 14 Feb 18 - 07:23 PM

I'm beginning to sympathize with
Elmer Fudd chasing after Bugs Bunny here.

Subject: RE: Req: Harry Lauder 'This is her. No it's a rabbit'
From: keberoxu
Date: 17 Feb 18 - 06:37 PM

....who caught the WA - BBIT? who caught the WA - BBIT?

Subject: RE: Req: Harry Lauder 'This is her. No it's a rabbit'
From: keberoxu
Date: 18 Mar 19 - 06:15 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: Req: Harry Lauder 'This is her. No it's a rabbit'
From: GUEST,teep
Date: 14 Jun 21 - 01:46 PM

Thank you for helping me find this.

Harry Lauder 'I Love A Lassie' Acoustic 1907 78 rpm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R78JzCfAMj4

After two verses and choruses, around 2:50-3:10, the legendary aside.

Subject: RE: Req: Harry Lauder 'This is her. No it's a rabbit'
From: GUEST,Gallus Moll
Date: 14 Jun 21 - 01:50 PM

Keberoxu (2018)
Wabbit may have been Elmer Fudd's pronunciation, but in Scotland wabbit means fatigued!!