Roses of Picardy
"Roses of Picardy" is a popular British song with lyrics by
Background
The lyricist
The exact story that lies behind the words of the song is unclear, but in his 1926 memoirs, Weatherly suggested that it concerned a love affair of one of his close friends.
During the stalemate of the Western Front during First World War, British and Empire troops manned the lines in central Picardy. In the summer of 1916, these troops fought the first Battle of the Somme in some of the deadliest and fiercest fighting of the war.[5][Note 2] "Roses of Picardy" was published in December and quickly became popular throughout Britain,[6][7] with British soldiers singing it when they were dispatched to the Front in France and Flanders.[8][9][10] During the First World War, the song sold at a rate of 50,000 copies of the sheet music per month, earning Haydn Wood approximately £10,000 in total (£518,252 in 2024 adjusted for inflation).[3][11] Following the war, the singing of the song helped soldiers who were suffering from shell shock to regain their powers of speech.[12]
Lyric
The following lyric is taken from the sheet music published in 1916:[13][Note 3]
Verse 1:
- She is watching by the poplars, Colinette with the sea-blue eyes,
- She is watching and longing and waiting Where the long white roadway lies.
- And a song stirs in the silence, As the wind in the boughs above,
- She listens and starts and trembles, 'Tis the first little song of love:
Refrain
- Roses are shining in Picardy, in the hush of the silver dew,
- Roses are flowering in Picardy, but there's never a rose like you!
- And the roses will die with the summertime, and our roads may be far apart,
- But there's one rose that dies not in Picardy!
- 'tis the rose that I keep in my heart!
Verse 2:
- And the years fly on for ever, Till the shadows veil their skies,
- But he loves to hold her little hands, And look in her sea-blue eyes.
- And she sees the road by the poplars, Where they met in the bygone years,
- For the first little song of the roses Is the last little song she hears:
There is also a French version of the song under the title of "Dansons la Rose". The following words for its refrain are taken from the recording by Yves Montand:[14][15]
- Dire que cet air nous semblait vieillot,
- Aujourd'hui il me semble nouveau,
- Et puis surtout c'était toi et moi,
- Ces deux mots ne vieillissent pas.
- Souviens-toi ça parlait de la Picardie,
- Et des roses qu'on trouve là-bas,
- Tous les deux amoureux nous avons dansé
- Sur les roses de ce temps-là.
Recordings
Among the earliest commercial recordings were those by the
After the
"Roses of Picardy" was included on the soundtrack album of the 2015 film The Danish Girl by Tom Hooper.[19]
Listen to the song
You can use the following links to listen to the song being performed:
- As sung by Lambert Murphy (tenor) in 1917: Play Video on YouTube
- As played by YouTube
- As sung by YouTube
- As played by YouTube
- As sung by YouTube
- As sung by YouTube
- As played by Sidney Bechet (swing) in the 1950s: Play Video on YouTube
- As sung by YouTube
- As sung by YouTube
- As played by a YouTube
Notes and references
- Notes
- ^ It seems unlikely that the love affair involved Weatherly himself, as he was a retired barrister, aged 66, when the First World War started.
- ^ By the end of November 1916, 650,000 Allies and 500,000 Germans had been killed or wounded in the Battle of the Somme.
- ^ Weatherly died in 1929, so the lyrics for this song have been out of copyright in the UK since 1 January 2000.
- References
- ^ Stone, David. "Elsie Griffin". Who Was Who in the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, 27 August 2001, accessed 3 July 2013
- ^ The Stage, 8 February 1990, p. 27. Elsie Griffin
- ^ a b The Stage, 19 March 1959, p. 6. "Haydn Wood Dies"
- ^ a b Fred E. Weatherly, Piano and Gown, G. P. Putnam & Sons, London, 1926
- ISBN 0-7513-0765-3
- ^ ”Roses of Picardy: Steyn's Song of the Week", SteynOnline [website], December 4, 2016.
- ^ The Evening Telegraph, 5 April 1928, p. 2. Song swept the country
- ISBN 9781440839979.
- ^ "Edward Street, Bath: The Fred Weatherly Story". BBC. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
- ^ "Roses of Picardy". First World War.com. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
- ^ UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
- ^ The Evening Telegraph, 2 February 1920, p. 10. Treatment for Shell shock
- ^ "Roses of Picardy", Sheet music, Chappell & Co., Ltd., London, 1916.
- ^ "Live Dansons La RoseYves Montand" (01/01/1989) Jukebox.fr
- ^ Olympia 81: Extraits (7 April 1998) Philips audio CD
- ^ a b Victor Online Discography. Accessed 12 June 2013
- ISBN 0-7134-6207-8
- ^ a b c d Haydn Wood Website – with full discography. Accessed 13 June 2013
- ^ The Danish Girl (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (booklet). Alexandre Desplat. Decca Records. 2015. Universal 4771247.
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