Darling Mabel

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:

• VWML entry
• 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