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Dashing Away with the Smoothing Iron

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"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

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'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

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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

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  • "Monday's Child", a traditional English rhyme mentioning the days of the week
  • "Solomon Grundy", an English nursery rhyme mentioning the days of the week

References

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  1. ^ Vaughan Williams, Ralph. "Dashing Away With the Smoothing Iron". Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. Cecil Sharp House. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  2. ^ Waltz, Robert. "Driving Away at the Smoothing Iron". fresnostate University. The Ballad Index. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  3. ^ Text and music in Cecil J. Sharp, A Selection of Collected Folk Songs
  4. ^ "At The Drop of Another Hat". Flanders and Swann Online. Archived from the original on 2013-12-07. Retrieved 2013-04-13.
  5. ^ "Dashing Away With A Smoothing Iron by Traditional". songfacts. Retrieved 2013-04-13.
  6. ^ "John Rutter at Pytheas". Pytheasmusic.org. Retrieved 2010-09-05.
  7. ^ "Choral legend John Rutter to lead St. Charles Singers". otg.mysuburbanlife.com. Retrieved 2010-09-05.[permanent dead link]
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