Dashing Away with the Smoothing Iron

"Dashing Away with the Smoothing Iron" is an English folk song about a man admiring the girl he loves as she goes through daily stages of washing and ironing clothes. It is classified as Round 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
  • "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
  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.


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