{"id":27276,"date":"2025-06-05T09:13:54","date_gmt":"2025-06-05T09:13:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=27276"},"modified":"2025-06-05T09:15:06","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T09:15:06","slug":"shes-good-enough-for-my-wife","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/shes-good-enough-for-my-wife\/","title":{"rendered":"She’s good enough for my wife"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>A lad and a lassie once stood
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First Published<\/td>1898<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>Charles Dean & Harry Castling<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN10695<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Milner Verren<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Quantrill, Ted ; England : Suffolk ; no date<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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From the original sheet music:

A lad and his sweetheart were standing
At eve by the silvery tide
Some chums of the lad who were passing, 
Hailed him and called him aside.
\u201cShe's no good to you\" whispered one there,
Whilst pointing to her who stood near
\"She'll drag your good name through the gutter,\"
But he answered them all without fear:

She's no lady brought up in high Society,
Though you tell me she will ruin my life, 
But I love my little May,<\/em>
So to all of you I say. 
If she's good enough to flirt with, 
She good enough for my Wife<\/em>.

The lad's eyes then kindled with anger, 
He said, as he faced them once more, 
\"A woman's a woman all over,
If she be ever so wealthy or poor: 
May is the woman I've chosen,
Whatever in life be my lot,
All women have some fault or other, 
O, show me the one who has not.

The lad then went back to his sweetheart, 
And, taking her hand in his own,
The old tale of love he repeated,
As lovers oft do when alone.
The rest went their way through the twilight,
Ashamed at the part they had played, 
And after long years they remembered
The answer the brave laddie made:
<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>
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A song associated with the singing of Milner Verren – whose brief biography appears below. It was written by Charles Deane<\/a> and Harry Castling<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was later collected from the singing of Ted Quantrill by John Howson in the 1970s or 80s, under the title A lad and a lassie they were standing.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Milner Verren<\/strong> (c1874-1908), was a successful “middle of the bill” singer in the 1890s and 1900s. Described as a man with a feminine voice<\/em>, he started performing in 1893 – initially promoted as a soprano vocalist and later as a “sweet-voiced” tenor. He died suddenly, aged 34, of ‘consumption of the bowels’ – a form of tuberculosis.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n