Little grey home in the west

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: