Hohn Roberts could tell you about this one: it was written by a guy who wrote songs for Dusty Springfield. That's my recollection anyway.
Marge
-----Original Message-----
From: study of popular / folk / traditional ballads [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Mary SEYMOUR
Sent: Thursday, September 17, 2009 6:18 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Ballad of Bethnal Green ?
I wonder if anyone can help with this rather frivolous question.
During the 1960s there was a popular "spoof" ballad which parodied Elizabethan songs.
To get the full fun of it you need to realise that the story is set in a rough part of the East End of London, but the song is sung elegantly and with a very upper-class accent. There are also verbal tensions between the location, the class and the language.
It concerns - naturally - a tragic love affair.
[I have forgotten the first verse which describes the honest working class hero. It then describes the heroine:]
"She worked all week
For a rich old Greek,
For her dad was on the dole;
And her one delight
On a Friday night
Was to do a little 'Rock and Roll'.
[Refrain] To me rit fal lal,
To me itty fal fal,
To me itty bitty fal lal lay.
........
For all her girlish charms,
.......
When he caught her out
In someone else's arms.
He said, "Look here,
You know, my dear,
This is going a bit too far."
And he went quite white,
And he sloshed her, right
In the middle of her Cha-cha-cha.
[Refrain] To me rit fal lal,
To me itty fal fal,
To me itty bitty fal lal lay.
He was ta'en before
A Man of the Law,
Who said, "This will not do.
I have had enough
Of the sort of stuff
I get from the likes of you."
And was she peeved
When he received
A stiffish term in clink.
In a fit of pique
She married the Greek,
And now she's dressed in mink.
[Refrain] To me rit fal lal,
To me itty fal fal,
To me itty bitty fal lal lay.
Can anyone source this, and / or give me the rest of the words ?
Mary Seymour.
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