"I Can Say 'Truly Rural'"

by Albert Whelan

Courtesy of Levy Sheet Music Collection Yet another song about the husband arriving home drunk, a very popular subject to lampoon in the Victorian and Edwardian eras, this is sung by a now-obscure Australian music hall performer who thrived on the British stage for nearly 60 years (a CD of some of his electric recordings can be found at "WindyRidge CDs", and a biographical note can be found at "Fred Godfrey Songs.com"). The song appeared in a musical called "The Dollar Princess" which played at the Knickerbocker Theater in New York from August of 1909 to May of 1910 (full details at IBDB.com). Much of the rest of the score was written by others, but this particular song was written by a pair of Australian composers: George Arthurs and Worton David (who also wrote "The Wriggley Rag," "Stewed Prunes and Prisms," and "I Want to Sing in Opera"). This recording was issued on a Columbia 12" disc in 1909, exact date not known (though probably after the musical opened), and has a better bass response than many other acoustic recordings of the period. The record had been played in its time, but not to death, so noise reduction was used sparingly.
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