{"id":16970,"date":"2022-09-19T15:32:17","date_gmt":"2022-09-19T15:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=16970"},"modified":"2022-09-19T15:32:19","modified_gmt":"2022-09-19T15:32:19","slug":"white-silk-dress-the","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/white-silk-dress-the\/","title":{"rendered":"White Silk Dress, The"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>She wore a white silk dress<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1897<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>AJ Mills and Bennett Scott<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN24189<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Decima Moore, Lily Lena<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Costello, Cecilia; England: Warwickshire; 1967
Webber, Samuel; England: West Midlands; 1971<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\nAs recalled in The Scottish Referee, 27 March 1903<\/strong>\nShe wore a white silk dress \nAnd a dainty shoe, \nA saucy little hat, \nNeatly trimmed with blue, \nAnd poor old Jones had to confess \nHe was gone upon the lady \nIn the white silk dress.\n<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
I have only been able to find the chorus of this song (thus far), though from library catalogues the first line is: Jones, a bachelor stiff and staid.<\/em> Its another song from the 1890s by the prolific songwriter\u00a0AJ Mills<\/a>\u00a0with\u00a0music by\u00a0Bennett Scott<\/a>. It was sung in the Halls by light opera singer Decima Moore and comedian Lily Lena. Several contemporary recordings were made, but at the time of writing they don’t appear to be available online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lily Lena (born 1877-1958), known as Lal, was a relative of Marie Lloyd and in the early 90s performed with her cousin Rosie Lloyd as “The Sisters Lena”. She went solo in 1896 and within a year had a hit with The White Silk Dress<\/em>. She performed in Britain and America until the 1920s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The chorus of the song was collected from the singing of Samuel Webber in 1971    (listen to it in the British library Sound archive<\/a>) and Cecilia Costello in 1967 – a recording is available at the Vaughan Williams Memorial library site<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n