{"id":2612,"date":"2020-05-04T18:27:53","date_gmt":"2020-05-04T18:27:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=2612"},"modified":"2023-08-15T09:11:52","modified_gmt":"2023-08-15T09:11:52","slug":"isabella-with-the-gingham-umbrella","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/isabella-with-the-gingham-umbrella\/","title":{"rendered":"Isabella with the gingham umbrella"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>Her name was Isabella<\/td><\/tr>
First published<\/td>1863<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Lyrics<\/strong><\/td>Harry Clifton <\/td>Music<\/strong><\/td>Harry Clifton<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RNV3177<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n
Music Hall performers<\/strong><\/td>Harry Clifton<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>?<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
When you hear my ditty my woes you will pity,\nI'm engaged in the City from ten till three,\nBut I've been betray'd by a fascinating maid,\nWho was Bosen in a bonnet shop at Battersea....\nHer eyes were as black as the pips of a pear,\nNo rose in the garden with her cheeks could compare,\nShe'd a gingham umbrella,\nHer name was Isabella\nAnd her father kept a barber's shop at Islington.\n\nOn a Monday afternoon in the latter part of June,\nFrom Waterloo I started for a ride to Battersea,\nAnd as we drew near.....to Hungerford pier.....\nA lovely lady I chanced to see...\nIn her hands a nosegay, 'twas a bundle of stocks,\nA brown paper parcel and a blue bonnet-box,\nA gingham umbrella,\nHer name was Isabella\nAnd her father's little barber's shop at Islington.\n\nI rush'd to the gangway and proffer'd my assistance,\nOh the smile that she gave me as I handed her a seat,\nI sat down beside her she offer'd no resistance\nWe talk'd of the weather the rain and the heat..\nI asked her--her parents--I asked her their trade,\nI asked her, her name, with a look half afraid\nShe raised her umbrella\n\"My name is Isabella,\nAnd my father keeps a barber's shop at Islington.\"\n\nBefore we parted she'd all my affection\nI enquired, \"Should I see her at some future day!\"\nShe simpered and smiled, and said, \"she'd no objection\"\nAs light as a fairy she tripped it away.\nSo we were engaged in a regular way,\nMy time passed as happy as the flowers in May,\nWhen I thought of Isabella\nAnd her gingham umbrella,\nAnd her father's little barber's shop at Islington.\n\nI took her to the Palace with a ticket of admission,\nI took her to Richmond and the Gardens at Kew,\nI took her to Madame Tussaud's exhibition,\nEight hours by the sea at Brighton too.\nOh! the presents I made and the letters I wrote,\nFrom the first time I met her on a Citizen boat.\nMy darling Isabella,\nAnd her gingham umbrella,\nWhose father kept a barber's shop at Islington.\n\nWhen you hear the sequel, you'll say it has no equal\nIn all the annals of woman's deceit,\nI went one night to meet my Isabel,\nBut no Isabel was there to meet---\nI searched far and wide till I happened to drop\nIn near the Angel, at a \"sixpenny hop\"---\nOh! there was Isabella\nWith a ginger-whiskered fellow\nDoing \"double shuffles\" up at Islington!\n\nI staggered with surprise then exclaimed....\"Isabella!\n\"Do I look like a fool? Do you take me for a flat?\"\nShe coolly replied, \"Well I rather think I do,\nAnd if you don't like it, take it out of that.\nI rushed at my rival, satisfaction to get,\nBut found that my troubles had not ended yet---\nFor up jumped Isabella,\nWith her gingham umbrella,\nAnd smashed my new \"six and six\" at Islington.\n\nI rushed from the sight of the faithless spinster,\nIn the Thames dirty water repose for to find:\nBut before I reached the bridge of Westminster,\nMy opinions altered, and I changed my mind.\nFor folly must be paid for and wisdom bought:\nThere are fishes in the sea that have never been caught\nSo a fig for Isabella\nAnd her gingham umbrella,\nAnd her father's little barber's shop at Islington.\n<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Published in 1863,  and subsequently widely printed on both sides of the Atlantic in the late 19th century, both on broadsides and in song collections. The song does not appear to have been taken up as a traditional song on either side of the Atlantic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sung with some success in the Halls both by Harry Clifton and William Randall (1830-98). Harold Scott writes rather dismissively of Randall, one of the early stars of the Oxford Music Hall, which opened on Tottenham Court Road in 1861 :<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
William Randall was a singer of the 70s and 80s whose portrait figured extensively on the comic songs published with pictorial covers. He was a handsome man of short stature, whose work was of the buffo<\/em> variety and resembled that of Harry Sydney. His best-known song, The Charming Young Widow I met in the Train<\/em>, though facetious, cannot be described as funny.<\/p>\nScott Early Doors<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
“Buffo”  here I think, refers to a particularly vulgar type of comedy.. MacQueen Pope was more impressed:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
 William Randall … not only sang comic songs, but performed well on the violin…. He was also an excellent dancer. He was not only popular at Oxford but has a lot of small Halls which he had worked prior to stardom and did not forsake afterwards.\u2026 Randall was a man of great personality and versatility.<\/p>\nMacQueen Pope, The Melody Lingers<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Before his debut in 1861, Randall had been a part-time singer in small halls and singing rooms, supplementing his wages from the day job with whatever he could earn in the evenings. He was initially resistant to turning full-time professional, and was reputedly extremely nervous of singing in the bigger Halls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n