> Henry VIII is said to have composed
>the very lovely 'Oh dear what can the matter be, O dear what can the matter
>be, My bonny has gone to the fair. He promised to buy me a bunch of blue
>ribbons, he promised to buy me a bunch of blue ribbons, For my bonny brown
>hair'.
I hesitate to spoil the effect, but in the early 1960s in England my mother
would sing a parody of this (indeed very lovely) song that began "Oh dear,
what can the matter be? Three old ladies locked in the lavatory!" (The
local pronunciation "lavatree" helps to squeeze all the syllables in :-)
)
Steven Botterill
Associate Professor of Italian Literature & Romance Philology
Chair, Department of Italian Studies
6303 Dwinelle Hall #2620
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720-2620
(510) 642-6246/642-9884 (FAX)
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