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SONGS OF TO-DAY AND YESTERDAY 267
"As," says Weatherly, "I was then beginning to get bald, and had no inclination for suicide, I returned her verses speedily."
Like other composers, Kellie has written many songs which he himself prefers to some of those which have been popular successes. Amongst these may be mentioned "My Fairest Child," "The Boy and the Brook," and "Apple Blossoms." This last once received a very favourable and sympathetic notice from a critic in a well-known paper, and Kellie was delighted at receiving a few days later through his publishers a lyric by this selfsame critic to set to music. He wrote to the publishers to secure the words, and shortly afterwards sent them the song completed. It was called "Over the Desert," beginning "On, on, in the morning," and had a galloping motif in the accompaniment, descriptive of a horseman's wild career over the sandy plains on his Arab steed. Unfortunately, though the publishers had bought the words, the author discovered that he had unwittingly sold them twice over, and that the other composer's setting had already been published. He offered, however, to write new words to Kellie's music, and in due course they arrived, with a letter from the publishers expressing a hope that they would be found suitable. They began "Watch, watch in the sunlight," a peaceful invitation that seemed |
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