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Dashing Away with the Smoothing Iron

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"Dashing Away with the Smoothing Iron" is a traditional English folk song about a man admiring his girlfriend 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, noted by Cecil Sharp. A later entry, for 1908 gives the source as Jane Gulliford from Somerset. The fresnostate university gives a slightly different title "Driving Away at the Smoothing Iron" with a date of 1909. [2].

The pop group Manfred Mann made a short version (less than 2 minutes) on their 1965 album The Five Faces of Manfred Mann.

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.[3] [4]

In 1973 the tune was used by the English composer John Rutter for the fourth movement of his Suite for Strings under the title Dashing Away.[5] [6]

In Downton Abbey season 3, episode 3, Carson sings this song to himself after finding out that Mrs. Hughes does not have cancer.

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-shaking | A-drying | A-airing | A-ironing | A-folding | A-wearing ] of her linen, O

Refrain
Dashing away with the smoothing iron
Dashing away with the smoothing iron
Dashing away with the smoothing iron
She stole my heart away.

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. ^ "At The Drop of Another Hat". Flanders and Swann Online. Archived from the original on 2013-12-07. Retrieved 2013-04-13.
  4. ^ "Dashing Away With A Smoothing Iron by Traditional". songfacts. Retrieved 2013-04-13.
  5. ^ "John Rutter at Pytheas". Pytheasmusic.org. Retrieved 2010-09-05.
  6. ^ "Choral legend John Rutter to lead St. Charles Singers". otg.mysuburbanlife.com. Retrieved 2010-09-05.[permanent dead link]


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