{"id":18791,"date":"2023-02-14T09:53:38","date_gmt":"2023-02-14T09:53:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=18791"},"modified":"2023-12-19T07:01:42","modified_gmt":"2023-12-19T07:01:42","slug":"if-ever-i-cease-to-love","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/if-ever-i-cease-to-love\/","title":{"rendered":"If ever I cease to love"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This page quotes lyrics which contain offensive language, reflecting attitudes common in the period when this song was first performed.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First Published<\/td>1871<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>George Leybourne<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN43174<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>George Leybourne<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong> innumerable New Orleans Mardi Gras entertainers..<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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In a house, in a square, in a quadrant\nIn a street, in a lane, in a road\nTurn to the left, on the right hand\nYou see there my true love's abode\nI go there a courting and cooing\nTo my love, like a dove\nAnd swearing on my bended knee\nIf I ever cease to love\nMay sheep heads grow on apple trees.\n\nIf I ever cease to love\nIf I ever cease to love\nMay the moon be turned into green cheese\nIf I ever cease to love.<\/em>\n\nShe can sing, she can play the piano\nShe can jump, she can dance, she can run\nIn fact she's a modern Taglioni\nAnd Sims Reeves rolled into one\nAnd who would not love such a beauty\nLike an angel dropped from above\nMay I be stung to death with flies\nIf I ever cease to love\nMay I be stung to death with flies\nIf I ever cease to love.\n\nIf I ever cease to love\nIf I ever cease to love\nMay little dogs wag their tails in front\nIf I ever cease to love<\/em>.\n\nFor all the money that's in the bank\nFor the title of a Lord or a Duke\nI wouldn't exchange the girl I love\nThere's bliss in every look\nTo see her dance the Polka\nI could faint with radiant love\nMay the Monument a hornpipe dance\nIf I ever cease to love\nMay we never have to pay the Income Tax\nIf I ever cease to love.\n\nIf I ever cease to love\nIf I ever cease to love\nMay we all turn into cats and dogs\nIf I ever cease to love.<\/em>\n\nMay all the seas turn into ink\nMay Negroes all turn white\nMay the Queen in Buckingham Palace live\nMay wrong be turned to right\nMay cows lay eggs, may fowl yield milk\nMay the hawk become a dove\nMay bobbies refuse to eat cold meat\nIf I ever cease to love\nMay I be frozen to death with heat\nIf I ever cease to love.\n\nIf I ever cease to love\nIf I ever cease to love\nMay a sane man adore his mother-in-law\nIf I ever cease to love.<\/em>\n \n\n\n<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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A song which was written, composed and sung by the great Music Hall comic George Leybourne<\/a> 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 – <\/em>a broadside printed by one of the Glasgow Poets Boxes is available from the VWML<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was sung  by the American actress Lydia Thompson who performed it as part of her operetta Bluebeard<\/em> 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…<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
As performed by New Orleans’ Little Queenie:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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