Darling Mabel
AKA | The Love Letter |
First Published | 1896 |
Writer/composer | Bennett Scott and A J Mills | Roud | RN23601 |
Music Hall Performers | Leonard Barry |
Folk performances | Collected from the singing of: Scott, Harry; England ; Bedfordshire, 1946-68 Alice Kane recalled singing this song as a child in Ulster in the early 20th century |
Joe was in love with sweet Mabel And Dame Rumour said he was anxious to wed But somehow he never felt able To speak when his loved one was nigh He'd blush like a rose when he met her And over each word he would stammer absurd But once in the form of a letter He thought for her heart he'd apply So straight way he wrote this business like note 'Darling Mabel, now I'm able To buy the happy home Since they've raised my screw, love I've enough for two, love Will you marry, do not tarry Answer yes or no I conclude with love and kisses Yours for ever, Joe' Joe, for his sweet Mabel's answer Would wait on the mat for the postman's rat-tat And wonder if she'd say 'I can't, sir' Or promise to be his own wife He waited six months, and got thinner He'd sob and he'd sigh and would pipe his blue eye Would go without breakfast or dinner In fact, he felt tired of his life In dreams he would quote that letter he wrote .. The sequel I haste to be stating For truth now to tell, Mabel loved him quite well Then why did she keep the chap waiting The answers as plain as can be, His life he'd determined to end it When in his old coat he discovered the note Somehow he'd forgotten to send it He rushed off to Mabel with glee Their Wedding's today, for he found pluck to say ..
A sentimental mildly comic song by AJ Mills and Bennett Scott, performed by Leonard Barry (see short biography below). It was remembered by a handful of traditional performers in the second half of the 20th century.
The song seems to have been a big hit in the 1890s. According to Lewis Winstock it was widely sung by soldiers of the British Yeomanry in the South African wars of 1899 to 1902. Angela Thirkell was taught the song has a child by her nurse in the 1890s.
Not to be confused with an earlier song of the same title by WP Chase, which can be found in the Levy collection.
I have not been able to find out much about the performer, Leonard Barry. According to IMBD he was born in 1869. His appearances in The Era suggest that was a very popular performer in pantomimes and Music Hall between the mid-1890s and the late 1920s – by which time he had appeared as an actor in several British films . The most complete description I have found comes from an article published in 1956 by Monty Carew, describing Barry as:
a great singer of chorus songs.. given to singing his songs more quietly than most of his colleagues. The original singer of many favourite ditties, his best remembered are: The Fatal Wedding and Darling Mabel. He died on January 14, 1940 after a long retirement from the Halls
Westminster & Pimlico News – Friday 13 July 1956
Sources:
- Entries in the Roud Indexes at the Vaughn Williams Memorial Library: https://archives.vwml.org/search/all:single[folksong-broadside-books]/0_50/all/score_desc/extended-roudNo_tr%3A23601
- Kilgarrif Sing Us
- Lyrics and Sheet Music: monologues.co.uk
- A pirated copy of the words Univ of Mississipi
- Angela Thirkell, Songs my nurses taught me, The Cornhill Magazine 1923-09: Vol 55 Iss 327, p330
- Lewis Winstock, Songs and music of the Redcoats, 1970, p246
- Ballad Index