{{short description|20th century British song}} {{About||the British film|Roses of Picardy (film)|the British musical|Roses of Picardy (musical)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}} {{Use British English|date=June 2013}} {{Infobox song | image = Roses of picardy sheet music 01.jpg | caption = Sheet music from c. 1920 | name = Roses of Picardy <!-- | publisher = [[Chappell & Co.]] --> | published = 1916, (London, England) | composer = [[Haydn Wood]] | lyricist = [[Frederic Weatherly]] | genre = Popular standard }} "'''Roses of Picardy'''" is a popular British song with lyrics by [[Frederic Weatherly]] and music by [[Haydn Wood]]. Published in London in 1916 by [[Chappell & Co]], it is one of the most famous songs of the [[World War I|First World War]] and has been recorded frequently up to the present day.
==Background== The lyricist [[Fred Weatherly]] had become impressed with beauty of the voice of the [[soprano]] [[Elsie Griffin]], who later became a leading artiste with the [[D'Oyly Carte Opera Company]].<ref>Stone, David. [https://www.gsarchive.net/whowaswho/G/GriffinElsie.htm "Elsie Griffin"]. ''Who Was Who in the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company'', 27 August 2001, accessed 3 July 2013</ref> Her singing of his compositions resulted in his writing two of the most popular hits of the 20th-century "[[Danny Boy]]" (1910) and "Roses of Picardy".<ref name=STAGE1990 /> The composer [[Haydn Wood]] wrote the music for over 200 ballads, of which "Roses of Picardy" became his most popular. Wood related that the melody came to him as he was going home one night on the top of a London bus. He jumped off the bus and wrote down the refrain on an old envelope while standing under a street lamp.<ref name=STAGE1959 />
The exact story that lies behind the words of the song is unclear, but in his 1926 memoirs, Weatherly suggested that it concerned a love affair of one of his close friends.<ref name=WEATHERLYMEM /><ref group=Note name=AFFAIRNOTE /> Weatherly himself travelled in [[France]], but visited the [[Rhone valley]] and [[Chamonix]].<ref name=WEATHERLYMEM /> [[Picardy]] was a pre-Revolutionary province in the north of France near the Channel, the site of battles during the [[Hundred Years’ War]] and mentioned in Shakepeare’s history plays. In the 20th century, it was regarded as stretching from north of [[Noyon]] to [[Calais]] via the whole of the [[Somme (department)|Somme department]] and the north of the [[Aisne (department)|Aisne department]].
During the stalemate of the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] during [[First World War]], British and Empire troops manned the lines in central Picardy. In the summer of 1916, these troops fought the first [[Battle of the Somme]] in some of the deadliest and fiercest fighting of the war.<ref name="DKMILL" /><ref group="Note" name="SOMMENOTE" /> "Roses of Picardy" was published in December and quickly became popular throughout Britain,<ref>”[https://www.steynonline.com/4631/roses-of-picardy Roses of Picardy: Steyn's Song of the Week"], ''SteynOnline'' [website], December 4, 2016.</ref><ref name=EVETEL1928 /> with British soldiers singing it when they were dispatched to the [[Western Front (World War I)|Front]] in France and [[Flanders]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Tyler|first1=Don|title=Music of the First World War|date=2016|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9781440839979|page=23|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LCqyCwAAQBAJ&q=Roses+of+Picardy+song+world+war+one+popular&pg=PA23}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Edward Street, Bath: The Fred Weatherly Story|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p022nn4b|publisher=BBC|access-date=3 October 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Roses of Picardy|url=http://www.firstworldwar.com/audio/rosesofpicardy.htm|publisher=First World War.com|accessdate=3 October 2017}}</ref> During the First World War, the song sold at a rate of 50,000 copies of the sheet music per month, earning Haydn Wood approximately £10,000 in total (£{{formatnum:{{Inflation|UK|10000|1918}}}} in {{inflation/year|UK}} adjusted for inflation).<ref name=STAGE1959 />{{inflation-fn|UK}} Following the war, the singing of the song helped soldiers who were suffering from [[shell shock]] to regain their powers of speech.<ref name=EVETEL1920 />
==Lyrics== [[File:Roses of picardy song card no 1.jpg|thumb|right|180px|Postcard with the words from verse 1. c. 1916]] The following lyrics are taken from the sheet music published in 1916:<ref name=SHEET /><ref group=Note name=WEATHERLYCWNOTE />
Verse 1: :She is watching by the poplars, Colinette with the sea-blue eyes, :She is watching and longing and waiting Where the long white roadway lies. :And a song stirs in the silence, As the wind in the boughs above, :She listens and starts and trembles, 'Tis the first little song of love:
Refrain :Roses are shining in Picardy, in the hush of the silver dew, :Roses are flowering in Picardy, but there's never a rose like you! :And the roses will die with the summertime, and our roads may be far apart, :But there's one rose that dies not in Picardy! :'tis the rose that I keep in my heart!
Verse 2: :And the years fly on for ever, Till the shadows veil their skies, :But he loves to hold her little hands, And look in her sea-blue eyes. :And she sees the road by the poplars, Where they met in the bygone years, :For the first little song of the roses Is the last little song she hears:
There is also a French version of the song under the title of "Dansons la Rose". The following words for its refrain are taken from the recording by [[Yves Montand]]:<ref>[http://www.jukebox.fr/yves-montand/clip,dansons-la-rose,q5llmr.html "Live Dansons La RoseYves Montand"] (01/01/1989) Jukebox.fr</ref><ref>''Olympia 81: Extraits'' (7 April 1998) Philips audio CD</ref>
:Dire que cet air nous semblait vieillot, :Aujourd'hui il me semble nouveau, :Et puis surtout c'était toi et moi, :Ces deux mots ne vieillissent pas. :Souviens-toi ça parlait de la Picardie, :Et des roses qu'on trouve là-bas, :Tous les deux amoureux nous avons dansé :Sur les roses de ce temps-là.
==Recordings== Among the earliest commercial recordings were those by the [[tenors]] [[Lambert Murphy]] in 1917,<ref name=VICTOR /> [[Ernest Pike]] in 1918<ref name=EMI100 /> and [[John McCormack (tenor)|John McCormack]] in 1919.<ref name=VICTOR /> There are more than 150 recordings of the song sung in English and versions in Finnish, French, Spanish and German. There are also many instrumental versions, for example for piano, violin, string ensemble, jazz band and numerous different types of orchestra.<ref name=HAYDNWOOD />
After the [[Second World War]], the American jazz artist [[Sidney Bechet]], a long-time resident in France, popularised a [[Swing music|Swing]] version, and it was also recorded by the French popular singer [[Yves Montand]].<ref name=HAYDNWOOD /> Singer [[Dorothy Squires]] recorded various versions of the song. In 1967 [[Vince Hill]] had a [[Top 20]] hit with the song. In 2001, the folk stylist [[June Tabor]] recorded a version for her album ''[[Rosa Mundi (album)|Rosa Mundi]]''. In 2011 the Canadian tenor [[Ben Heppner]] recorded the song for BMG<ref name=HAYDNWOOD /> and the tenor [[Alfie Boe]] recorded it for the soundtrack of the British period drama television series ''[[Downton Abbey]]''.<ref name=HAYDNWOOD />
"Roses of Picardy" was included on the [[The Danish Girl (soundtrack)|soundtrack album]] of the 2015 film ''[[The Danish Girl (film)|The Danish Girl]]'' by [[Tom Hooper]].<ref name="Booklet">{{Cite AV media notes |title=The Danish Girl (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) |others=[[Alexandre Desplat]] |date=2015 |type=booklet |publisher=[[Decca Records]] |id=Universal 4771247}}</ref>
==Notes and references== ;Notes {{Reflist|group=Note|refs= <ref name=WEATHERLYCWNOTE>Weatherly died in 1929, so the lyrics for this song have been out of copyright in the UK since 1 January 2000.</ref> <ref name=AFFAIRNOTE>It seems unlikely that the love affair involved Weatherly himself, as he was a retired barrister, aged 66, when the First World War started.</ref> <ref name=SOMMENOTE>By the end of November 1916, 650,000 Allies and 500,000 Germans had been killed or wounded in the Battle of the Somme.</ref> }} ;References {{Reflist|2|refs= <ref name=SHEET>"Roses of Picardy", Sheet music, Chappell & Co., Ltd., London, 1916.</ref> <ref name="EMI100">Peter Martland, ''Since Records Began EMI The First 100 Years'', Batsford Ltd., EMI Group Plc, 1997, p. 76. {{ISBN|0-7134-6207-8}}</ref> <ref name=STAGE1990>''The Stage'', 8 February 1990, p. 27. Elsie Griffin</ref> <ref name=STAGE1959>''The Stage'', 19 March 1959, p. 6. "Haydn Wood Dies"</ref> <ref name=EVETEL1920>''The Evening Telegraph'', 2 February 1920, p. 10. Treatment for Shell shock</ref> <ref name=EVETEL1928>''The Evening Telegraph'', 5 April 1928, p. 2. Song swept the country</ref> <ref name=WEATHERLYMEM>Fred E. Weatherly, ''Piano and Gown'', G. P. Putnam & Sons, London, 1926</ref> <ref name=VICTOR>[http://victor.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix Victor Online Discography]. Accessed 12 June 2013</ref> <ref name=HAYDNWOOD>[http://www.haydnwoodmusic.com/discographyropE.htm Haydn Wood Website – with full discography]. Accessed 13 June 2013</ref> <ref name=DKMILL>''20th Century Day by Day'', Dorling Kindersley, London, New York, Sydney, 1999, p. 222, {{ISBN|0-7513-0765-3}}</ref> }}
==External links== *[http://www.haydnwoodmusic.com/ Website about Haydn Wood with full discography]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Roses of Picardy}} [[Category:1916 songs]] [[Category:British songs]] [[Category:Songs of World War I]] [[Category:Songs written by Frederic Weatherly]] [[Category:Songs about France]] [[Category:Songs about flowers]] [[Category:Vince Hill songs]]