AKA | My little grey home .. |
First Published | 1911 |
Writer/composer | Dorothy Eardley-Wilmot / Hermann Lohr | Roud | RN12911 |
Music Hall Performers | Peter Dawson, Maggie Teyte, John McCormack |
Folk performances | Collected from the singing of: Unknown; Ireland : Co. Kerry; 1937/38 Bond, Frank ;England : Hampshire; 1965 Hart, Bob; England : Suffolk; 1969 Blackburn, Adge; England : Lincolnshire;1970 Creed, Timmy; Ireland : Co. Kerry; 1980 Ling, Ruby; England : Suffolk; 1975-80 Leahy, Sean; Ireland : Co. Kerry; 1987 Wirdnam, Harold; England 1998 |
When the golden sun sinks in the hills And the toil of a long day is o'er Though the road may be long, in the lilt of a song I forget I was weary before Far ahead, where the blue shadows fall I shall come to contentment and rest And the toils of the day will be all charmed away In my little grey home of the west There are hands that will welcome me in There are lips I am burning to kiss There are two eyes that shine just because they are mine And a thousand things other men miss It's a corner of heaven itself Though it's only a tumble-down nest But with love brooding there, why no place can compare With my little grey home in the west
A very popular sentimental song from the period immediately before World War I and sung by a many of artists then and since. It might be best described as a “parlour ballad” though it was widely sung in the Halls and elsewhere. The lyrics were by Dorothy Eardley-Wilmot with music by English light classical composer Hermann Lohr. I can find out little about the lyricist except that she was a poet, painter and daughter of a Rear Admiral.
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%3A12911
- Kilgarrif Sing Us
- Lyrics and Sheet Music: personal collection
- US Sheet Music University of Maine
Last Updated on May 8, 2023 by John Baxter | Published: May 8, 2023