Ear worm through the sleeping (and waking) night hours.

I had an exceeding good night's sleep yesteryear (Wed 9th to Thurs 10th), but on the couple of occasions I stirred it was to encounter an ear worm.

I have no idea why but the song I "heard" was an the one-hundred year old  English Music Hall "My Dear Old Dutch".

I kept coming back to the line "I call her Sal, her proper name is Sarah".

It reminded me of my confusing as a young kid about my paternal grandmother's first name.

Sometimes she would tell me that it was Sarah, but on other times she said it was Sally.

So I thought that her name was Sally-Sarah, not knowing that Sal and Sally are diminutives for Sarah.

Which take me back to my ear worm.  The song was written by the Londoner (maybe Cockney) Albert Chevalier, with music by his brother under the pen name of Charles Ingle.





It's a tender, albeit sentimental song about  the 40 years of marriage of a working class couple.

Sentimental or not, I love the refrain:


We've been together now for forty years,

An' it don't seem a day too much,

As I'd "swop" for my dear old Dutch.

There ain't a lady livin' in the land

As I'd "swop" for my dear old Dutch.



*Dutch" Cockney slang for "Duchess".

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Here are two versions.
The first by Chevalier himself (from the very early days of recording)


And a touching rendition by Peter Sellars (of all people).
https://youtu.be/hrVh_w1Fru4


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