The importance of a telling setting of a ballad’s title is clearly demonstrated by this lovely example, which was sent on the road to popularity by being interpolated into Sidney Jones’s highly successful musical play The Geisha. The composer, John Mais Capel, had a varied theatrical career as singer, musical director and composer. The lyricist, Graham Clifton Bingham, was the son of a Bristol bookseller. He wrote stories, children’s books and a large number of song lyrics, of which the most famous is ‘Love’s Old Sweet Song’.
from notes by Andrew Lamb © 2002
