"The Floral Dance" is a Cornish song describing the annual Furry Dance in

Helston Helston () is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at the northern end of the The Lizard, Lizard Peninsula approximately east of Penzance and south-west of Falmouth, Cornwall, Falmouth.Ordnance Survey: ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

, UK. The music and lyrics were written in 1911 by Kate Emily Barkley ("Katie") Moss (1881–1947) who was a professional violinist, pianist and concert singer. She was brought up in London and studied at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...

. The song tells the story of an incident that apparently actually happened to Moss herself on a visit to Helston during the springtime 'Furry Dance' celebrations and the song was reportedly written directly afterwards as she was going home on the train. The songbook cover states that the music was "founded on an old Cornish air". Moss introduces the original Furry Dance tune in the piano part just as the singer is describing the sound of the band, with its "cornet, clarinet and big trombone; fiddle, cello, big bass drum; bassoon, flute and euphonium". "The Floral Dance" was first recorded in 1912 by the

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bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

baritone A baritone is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the bass (voice type), bass and the tenor voice type, voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the ...

Peter Dawson, and many other versions have appeared since. Frederick Ranalow's recording was made in order to cash in on the sales of the Dawson version. The 1960s saw versions by

The Eagles The Eagles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1971. With five number-one singles, six number-one albums, six Grammy Awards and five American Music Awards, the Eagles were one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s in ...

(UK), Ken Sims' Vintage Jazz Band (UK) and The Ivy League (UK). In 1970, the cast of ''

Dad's Army ''Dad's Army'' is a British television British sitcom, sitcom about the United Kingdom's Home Guard (United Kingdom), Home Guard during the World War II, Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft (TV producer), David Crof ...

'' performed a sketch (' The Cornish Floral Dance') for '' Christmas Night with the Stars''. They repeated their versions in the 1975

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at the

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. Moss's song experienced a revival in an arrangement for the

Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band The Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band is a British brass band formed in 1881. The band is based in Brighouse, in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England. The band is known across the world, and is regarded by many as the best and most consistent " ...

by their MD Derek Broadbent, which sold half a million copies, and reached No. 2 in the UK Singles Chart by Christmas 1977. In 1978,

Terry Wogan Sir Michael Terence Wogan (; 3 August 1938 – 31 January 2016) was an Irish radio and television broadcaster who worked for the BBC in Britain for most of his career. Between 1993 and his semi-retirement in 2009, his BBC Radio 2 weekday brea ...

recorded a version which reached No. 21 in the same chart. Wogan's version was accompanied by the Hanwell Band from west London, and omitted the final verse containing the climax to the story. On ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

'', Wogan sang it live to a backing track. An instrumental version was recorded in 1979 by

Gheorghe Zamfir Gheorghe Zamfir (; born April 6, 1941) is a Romanian nai (pan flute) musician. Zamfir is known for playing an expanded version of normally 20-pipe nai, with 22, 25, 28 or even 30 pipes, to increase its range, and obtaining as many as eight ov ...

. A version of the song was prominently featured near the beginning of the 1996 film, ''

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''. In 2016, a campaign for Christmas Number One was launched for

's version of "The Floral Dance" after his death. All proceeds of the downloaded single were to be given to

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Lyric

Music and lyrics by Katie Moss, 1911 :As I walked home on a Summer night :When stars in Heav'n were shining bright :Far away from the footlight's glare :Into the sweet and scented air :Of a quaint old Cornish town :Borne from afar on the gentle breeze :Joining the murmur of the summer seas :Distant tones of an old world dance :Played by the village band perchance :On the calm air came floating down :I thought I could hear the curious tone :Of the

cornet The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. There is also a soprano cor ...

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

and big

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

Fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

, '

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

, big

bass drum The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter usually greater than its depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. The head ...

Bassoon The bassoon is a musical instrument in the woodwind family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuosity ...

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

and

euphonium The euphonium ( ; ; ) is a tenor- and baritone-voiced valved brass instrument. The euphonium is a member of the large family of valved bugles, along with the tuba and flugelhorn, characterised by a wide conical bore. Most instruments have thr ...

:Far away, as in a trance :I heard the sound of the Floral Dance :And soon I heard such a bustling and prancing :And then I saw the whole village was dancing :In and out of the houses they came :Old folk, young folk, all the same :In that quaint old Cornish town :Every boy took a girl 'round the waist :And hurried her off in tremendous haste :Whether they knew one another I care not :Whether they cared at all, I know not :But they kissed as they danced along. :And there was the band with that curious tone :Of the cornet, clarinet and big trombone :Fiddle, 'cello, big bass drum :Bassoon, flute and euphonium :Each one making the most of his chance :All together in the Floral Dance :I felt so lonely standing there :And I could only stand and stare :For I had no boy with me :Lonely I should have to be :In that quaint old Cornish town. :When suddenly hast'ning down the lane :A figure I knew I saw quite plain :With outstretched hands he came along :And carried me into that merry throng :And fiddle and all went dancing down. :We danced to the band with the curious tone :Of the cornet, clarinet and big trombone :Fiddle, 'cello, big bass drum :Bassoon, flute and euphonium :Each one making the most of his chance :Altogether in the Floral Dance. :Dancing here, prancing there :Jigging, jogging ev'rywhere :Up and down, and round the town :Hurrah! For the Cornish Floral Dance

References

External links

Musicweb British Light Music Composers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Floral Dance, The 1911 songs Music of Cornwall Songs about musical instruments Songs about dancing