My Pretty Jane

My Pretty Jane, my pretty Jane
Ah, never look so shy
But meet me, meet me in the ev'ning
While the bloom is on the Rye
The spring is waning fast, my love
The corn is in the ear
The summer nights are coming, Love
The Moon shines bright and clear
Then pretty Jane, my dearest Jane
Ah, never look so shy
But meet me, meet me in the ev'ning
While the bloom is on the Rye.

But name the day, the wedding day
And I will buy the ring
The Lads and Maids in favour white
And village bells shall ring
Or the bells shall peal love's rondelay
And village maids shall sing)
The spring is waning fast, my love
The corn is in the ear
The summer nights are coming, Love
The Moon shines bright and clear
Then pretty Jane, my dearest Jane
Ah, never look so shy
But meet me, meet me in the ev'ning
While the bloom is on the Rye.

This song is a classic example of a Victorian parlour ballad. It was written for performance in the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, but the sheet music sold well throughout the century, and it featured in the parlour performances of many an upper middle-class soirée. This may have been a result of its association with the famous Victorian classical tenor J. Sims Reeves (1818-1900), for whom it was something of a signature tune.

As such, I’m not sure that this could be classed as a folksong, despite being collected from one source singer in the 1960s. It also perhaps shouldn’t be classed as a “Music Hall song”, though it was often sung on the Music Hall stage, initially by the blackface comedian EW Mackney, and later on British and American stages by the Anglo-American film and vaudeville star Lydia Yeamans Titus. If a song was popular, someone would sing it in the Halls.

The words were written by Edward Ball, who as a young man had written it in tribute to a young farmer’s daughter who later died of consumption. He assumed the name Fitzball presumably in an attempt to sound more upper-class, as befits the writer of light opera and melodramatic theatre pieces. The music was written by Sir Henry Bishop, described by Michael Turner the historian of the parlour ballad, as: a noted reprobate, homewrecker and spendthrift – he died in poverty. Bishop wrote a number of songs still remembered today including at Home! Sweet Home, though there is some indication that that song was partially plagiarised from others’ work.

EW Mackney (1825-1909) was English, the son of acting parents and first appeared in pantomime at the age of nine. He was inspired to begin a career in blackface by the visit of American blackface minstrel TD Rice in 1836. He was one of the most successful early music Hall performers, equally famous for singing and dancing. He performed in the early music Halls and song-and-supper rooms like Evans’. For decades he toured the country singing songs like this one, In the Strand and The Old Grey Goose.

Albert Gartside can be heard singing it here, collected by Ken Stubs in 1964.

Sources:

• VWML entry
• Kilgarrif Sing Us
• Lyrics: monologues.co.uk=
• Sheet music: Levy Collection
• Turner: The Parlour Ballad
• Image (c) Victoria and Albert Museum

Last Updated on December 21, 2020 by John Baxter | Published: August 8, 2020