{"id":12418,"date":"2021-08-26T07:12:55","date_gmt":"2021-08-26T07:12:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=12418"},"modified":"2025-12-19T07:57:49","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T07:57:49","slug":"only-a-bird-in-a-gilded-cage","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/only-a-bird-in-a-gilded-cage\/","title":{"rendered":"Only a bird in a gilded cage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>Bird in a gilded cage, A<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1900<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>Arthur J Lamb, Harry Von Tilzer<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN4863<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Florrie Forde, Marie Kendall<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Harvey, Roy \/ Hoke, Bob USA : W. Virginia; 1927
Rutherford, Leonard \/ Foster, John D.; USA : Indiana’ 1929
Mason, Mrs. F.N.; USA : Iowa : 1931
Purvis, Mrs.; USA : Iowa : 1931
Collins, J.O. USA : Iowa : Dakota City 1931
Mateer, Ethe;l USA : Arkansas ; 1951
Steggles, Stanley; England : Suffolk ; 1958
Fultz, Helen; USA : Arkansas : 1960
Downey, Jerome \/ Gale, Alf; Canada : Newfoundland : 1970
Marsden, Stanley; England : Yorkshire ; 1972
Droney, Katie; Ireland : Co Clare ; 1978
Hill, Marjorie; Canada : Ontario : 1981
Rowe, Cliff; England : Somerset : 1984 <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The ballroom was filled with fashion's throng\nIt shone with a thousand lights\nAnd there was a woman who passed along\nThe fairest of all the sights\nA girl to her lover then softly sighed\n\u201cThere's riches at her command\u201d\n\u201cBut she married for wealth not for love\u201d he cried\nTho' she lives in a mansion grand.\n\nShe's only a bird in a gilded cage\nA beautiful sight to see\nYou may think she's happy and free from care\nShe's not though she seems to be\n'Tis sad when you think of her wasted life\nFor youth cannot mate with age\nAnd her beauty was sold for an old man's gold\nShe's a bird in a silver cage.<\/em>\n\nThe beautiful woman surveyed the scene\nHer flatterers by the score\nHer gems were the purest, her gown divine\nSo what could a woman want more\nBut memory brings back the face of a lad\nWhose love she had turned aside\nBut happiness cannot be bought with gold\nAlthough she's a rich man's bride.\n\nI stood in a churchyard just at eve\nWhen sunset adorned the West\nAnd looked at the people who'd come to grieve\nFor loved ones now laid to rest\nA tall marble monument marked the grave\nOf one who'd been fashion's queen\nAnd I thought she is happier here at rest\nThan to have people say, when seen.\n<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
A huge global hit at the turn of the century, a Tin Pan Alley song written and composed by  Arthur J Lamb and Harry Von Tilzer in New York. In the early 20th century it seems to have featured in the repertoire of dozens of major artists, from Bing Crosby to Charlie Poole, and the song has been described as the most successful sentimental ballad ever written. It was sung in the British Music Halls by Florrie Forde<\/a>  and Marie Kendall<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A song that millions loved to sing, so it’s not surprising it turned up many times in the repertoire of traditional singers on both sides of the Atlantic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
 Arthur J Lamb (1870 \u2013 1928)  was born in England. He performed as a blackface minstrel in the United States before becoming a full-time songwriter on Tin Pan Alley, the home of commercial songwriting in the USA from the 1890s to the 1920s. He was a prolific lyricist his greatest hit was Only a bird in a gilded cage, <\/em>but his other successes included Asleep in the Deep<\/a><\/em>, The bird on Nellie’s hat<\/em>, and You’ll splash me and I’ll splash you<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
As sung by Florrie Forde:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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