Dashing Away with the Smoothing Iron explained

"Dashing Away with the Smoothing Iron" is an English folk song about a man admiring the woman he loves as she goes through daily stages of washing and ironing clothes. It is classified as Roud number 869.[1] The earliest date in the Vaughan Williams catalogue is 1904, as collected in Somerset and arranged by Cecil Sharp. A later entry for 1908 gives the source as Jane Gulliford from Somerset. The Fresno State University gives a slightly different title, "Driving Away at the Smoothing Iron", with a date of 1909.[2]

Lyrics

'Twas on a [Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday ] morning
When I beheld my darling:
She looked so neat and charming
In every high degree;
She looked so neat and nimble, O,
[A-washing | A-hanging | A-starching | A-ironing | A-folding | A-airing | A-wearing ] of her linen, O,

Refrain
Dashing away with the smoothing iron,
Dashing away with the smoothing iron,
She stole my heart away.[3]

Adaptations

The musical comedy duo Flanders and Swann quoted the first 7/8 syllables of each verse, verbatim and notewise, at the beginning of each verse of The Gas Man Cometh, the first track on At The Drop of Another Hat (1963).[4] [5]

The tune was used by the English composer John Rutter for the fourth movement of his Suite for Strings (1973) under the title Dashing Away.[6] [7]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Vaughan Williams . Ralph . Dashing Away With the Smoothing Iron . Vaughan Williams Memorial Library . Cecil Sharp House . 26 October 2022.
  2. Web site: Waltz . Robert . Driving Away at the Smoothing Iron . fresnostate University . The Ballad Index . 26 October 2022.
  3. Text and music in Cecil J. Sharp, A Selection of Collected Folk Songs
  4. Web site: At The Drop of Another Hat . Flanders and Swann Online . 2013-04-13 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20131207063807/http://www.nyanko.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/fas/anotherhat_gas.html . 2013-12-07.
  5. Web site: Dashing Away With A Smoothing Iron by Traditional . songfacts . 2013-04-13.
  6. Web site: John Rutter at Pytheas . Pytheasmusic.org . 2010-09-05.
  7. Web site: Choral legend John Rutter to lead St. Charles Singers . otg.mysuburbanlife.com . 2010-09-05 .