If ever I cease to love

This page quotes lyrics which contain offensive language, reflecting attitudes common in the period when this song was first performed.

First Published1871

Writer/composerGeorge LeybourneRoudRN43174

Music Hall PerformersGeorge Leybourne
Folk performancesCollected from the singing of: innumerable New Orleans Mardi Gras entertainers..
In a house, in a square, in a quadrant
In a street, in a lane, in a road
Turn to the left, on the right hand
You see there my true love's abode
I go there a courting and cooing
To my love, like a dove
And swearing on my bended knee
If I ever cease to love
May sheep heads grow on apple trees.

If I ever cease to love
If I ever cease to love
May the moon be turned into green cheese
If I ever cease to love.

She can sing, she can play the piano
She can jump, she can dance, she can run
In fact she's a modern Taglioni
And Sims Reeves rolled into one
And who would not love such a beauty
Like an angel dropped from above
May I be stung to death with flies
If I ever cease to love
May I be stung to death with flies
If I ever cease to love.

If I ever cease to love
If I ever cease to love
May little dogs wag their tails in front
If I ever cease to love.

For all the money that's in the bank
For the title of a Lord or a Duke
I wouldn't exchange the girl I love
There's bliss in every look
To see her dance the Polka
I could faint with radiant love
May the Monument a hornpipe dance
If I ever cease to love
May we never have to pay the Income Tax
If I ever cease to love.

If I ever cease to love
If I ever cease to love
May we all turn into cats and dogs
If I ever cease to love.

May all the seas turn into ink
May Negroes all turn white
May the Queen in Buckingham Palace live
May wrong be turned to right
May cows lay eggs, may fowl yield milk
May the hawk become a dove
May bobbies refuse to eat cold meat
If I ever cease to love
May I be frozen to death with heat
If I ever cease to love.

If I ever cease to love
If I ever cease to love
May a sane man adore his mother-in-law
If I ever cease to love.

A song which was written, composed and sung by the great Music Hall comic George Leybourne in 1871. It seems to have been a hugely popular song and was widely pirated in broadsides and songsters. At least one parody was produced – If ever I ceased to lush – a broadside printed by one of the Glasgow Poets Boxes is available from the VWML.

It was sung by the American actress Lydia Thompson who performed it as part of her operetta Bluebeard in her 1872 tour of the USA. Rumours abounded of an affair between Thompson and a Russian Grand Duke and these seem to add to the popularity of the song. It was adopted as a New Orleans Mardi Gras anthem that same year, and has been performed at the Mardi Gras every year since…

As performed by New Orleans’ Little Queenie:

Sources:

Last Updated on December 19, 2023 by John Baxter | Published: February 14, 2023

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