imported>Sweetpool50: Undid revision 1292031249 by Finfin98 (talk) rv, primary source unacceptable and its isn't an adaptation anyway

2025-05-24T20:34:22Z

Undid revision 1292031249 by Finfin98 (talk) rv, primary source unacceptable and its isn't an adaptation anyway

New page

{{short description|English folk song}}
'''"Dashing Away with the Smoothing Iron"''' is an [[English folk music|English folk song]] about a man admiring the woman he loves as she goes through daily stages of washing and ironing clothes. It is classified as [[Roud Folk Song Index|Roud]] number 869.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Vaughan Williams |first1=Ralph |title=Dashing Away With the Smoothing Iron |url=https://www.vwml.org/search?q=dashing%20away%20with%20the%20smoothing%20iron&collectionfilter=RoudFS;RoudBS;VWMLSongIndex;MasterIndex&is=1 |website=Vaughan Williams Memorial Library |publisher=Cecil Sharp House |access-date=26 October 2022}}</ref> The earliest date in the [[Vaughan Williams and English folk music|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.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Waltz |first1=Robert |title=Driving Away at the Smoothing Iron |url=https://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/ShH82.html |website=fresnostate University |publisher=The Ballad Index |access-date=26 October 2022}}</ref>

==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.<ref>Text and music in Cecil J. Sharp, [https://books.google.com/books?id=xeB8CgAAQBAJ&dq=%22dashing+away+with+the+smoothing+iron%22&pg=PT14 ''A Selection of Collected Folk Songs'']</ref>

== 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).<ref name="Flanders and Swann Online">{{cite web
|url=http://www.nyanko.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/fas/anotherhatintro.html
|title=At The Drop of Another Hat
|work=Flanders and Swann Online
|accessdate=2013-04-13
|url-status=dead
|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131207063807/http://www.nyanko.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/fas/anotherhat_gas.html
|archivedate=2013-12-07
}}</ref>
<ref name="songfacts">{{cite web
| url = http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=11509
| title = Dashing Away With A Smoothing Iron by Traditional
| work = songfacts
| accessdate = 2013-04-13
}}</ref>

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''.<ref name="Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music">{{cite web
| url = http://www.pytheasmusic.org/rutter.html#rutter_works_by_genre
| title = John Rutter at Pytheas
| work = Pytheasmusic.org
| accessdate = 2010-09-05
}}</ref>
<ref name="OntheGoonline">{{cite web
|url=http://otg.mysuburbanlife.com/2010/04/29/choral-legend-john-rutter-lead-st-charles-singers
|title=Choral legend John Rutter to lead St. Charles Singers
|work=otg.mysuburbanlife.com
|accessdate=2010-09-05
}}{{dead link|date=December 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

[[June Tabor]] and [[Maddy Prior]] sang "Dashing Away With the Smoothing Iron" live at [[Burnley Mechanics]] in October 1988. A recording was included on Tabor's 2005 anthology ''Always''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://mainlynorfolk.info/june.tabor/songs/dashingawaywiththesmoothingiron.html|title=Dashing Away With the Smoothing Iron (Roud 869)|website=mainlynorfolk.info}}</ref>

==See also==
* "[[Monday's Child]]", a traditional English rhyme mentioning the days of the week
* "[[Solomon Grundy (nursery rhyme)|Solomon Grundy]]", an English nursery rhyme mentioning the days of the week

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiSMTHIRON;ttSMTHIRON.html The lyrics with the musical notes to Dashing Away with the Smoothing Iron]
* [https://www.eclassical.com/no-5-dashing-away-with-the-smoothing-iron.html John Rutter's choral arrangement]

[[Category:English folk songs]]
[[Category:19th-century songs]]
[[Category:Songs with unknown songwriters]]
[[Category:Year of song unknown]]

{{folk-song-stub}}

Dashing Away with the Smoothing Iron - Revision history

imported>Sweetpool50: Undid revision 1292031249 by Finfin98 (talk) rv, primary source unacceptable and its isn't an adaptation anyway