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162 A CENTURY OF BALLADS |
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while others, alas ! have long since joined the great majority. But their songs still live, and though for the most part they mark a fashion that to-day has somewhat gone out of date, they are by no means forgotten by those of the present generation.
In dealing with composers and popular songs of this period it is difficult to know where to begin. As I have said, the list is a long one, and it is impossible to include everyone, and equally impossible to adhere to any strict chronological arrangement.
One of the first songs that springs to the mind is Frederic Clay's " I'll sing thee songs of Araby." The popularity of this imperishable song is something amazing; three successive generations have acclaimed it with delight as sung by Sims Reeves, Edward Lloyd, and Ben Davies, and it shows no signs of waning yet. Ben Davies tells me that when he was singing recently at the Palace Theatre, the audience frequently used to call out a demand for "Araby," not only from the stalls, but from the upper regions of the house.
Almost as popular, though in a somewhat different way, is Clay's setting of Charles Kingsley's "The Sands of Dee." As before mentioned, both Hullah and Hatton had set these words, and, I believe, a number of other |
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