The Darling of the Guards

[igenlode]

I've been working on my lower range (inspired by Geoff Castellucci -- although not by any of the techniques he describes using, which I did play around with but produced no results, but more by various things vocal coaches suggested when listening to him!) and managed to discover an extra three or four chest notes I literally didn't know I had, which can come out quite strongly if I just manage to arrange my larynx into the proper place. Likewise the bottom two or three notes that I nominally had before, but were never very reliable: as a result, my 'practice range' has suddenly expanded by almost an octave and I can feel my ribcage vibrating!

It is largely limited to practice experiments, though, because I still have a lot of difficulty getting my larynx into the right position to access those notes in any useful fashion as a transition from my 'normal' chest register; it's like an additional passaggio to negotiate, and while I'm used to getting up into my head voice (which is basically all the notes that an untrained singer can't hit at all) I don't have any experience going down. I've been trying this for about a month, and while I managed to surprise my singing teacher considerably I can't actually use those notes with any degree of reliability unless I start on them... Meanwhile, I've just been experimenting with transposing things down by a third in order to give myself more practice. (One advantage of getting older is supposed to be that your voice gets lower.)

I have to say I was rather surprised by the degree of suggestiveness in the lyrics for Horatio Nicholls' The Darling of the Guards, which I picked up at random during these experiments: given that the contemporary Dancing on the Ceiling was censored for lines like "At night I creep in bed/But never sleep in bed" and describing the singer as being underneath the counterpane with "my love/Up above", I'm more than a little amazed that lyrics which distinctly appear to suggest that the titular 'Darling' is having it off with all and sundry every night made it into print! (Presumably the difference between what you could broadcast on the BBC and what you could publish as printed music... but I can certainly picture Mae West or Marie Lloyd having a field day with the implications in this one.)

From the Private to the Captain,
Whatever arms she's wrapped in,
She's the Darling of the Guards.
Grenadiers, Fusiliers,
Not a regiment is barred,
She changes soldiers ev'ry night
With the changing of the guard [...]
She's the sweetheart of the forces,
She even loves their horses (normally I wouldn't even raise an eyebrow at that, but in this context it was unfortunate...)
They are charmed when she's armed
With the powder in her bag,
And ev'ry night from nine to twelve
She serves her country's flag[...]

I'm really not sure what the lyrics were intended to refer to; is the heroine supposed to be dancing the night away, perhaps? Because that's really not what it sounds like :-p
And this is not a 'soldiers' version' edited in the barrack-room; it's a popular songsheet issued with a pretty cover for the family to sing round the piano. (The actual cover shows an elegant young 1930s lady in a frogged jacket and gloves being gallantly escorted by a tall soldier in a busby, with ranks of other men looking disappointed in the background -- no suggestion that she is apparently picking up *all* of them at the rate of several a night!)

When they're shined up,
And they're lined up,
Where do they always wind up?
With the Darling of the Guards!

Comments

[betweensunandmoon]

This must be one very busy young lady. :P

[watervole]

I assume she's meant to be dancing with them all, but I automatically (in this day and age) jump to other interpretations.

What do you make of "They are charmed when she's armed
With the powder in her bag"

Or is it just a play between 'face powder' and 'gun powder'?

[igenlode]

It hadn't even occurred to me that it might be anything other than face powder...!

In this case I do think not -- cocaine was around in certain circles at this period (1934), but the wording really doesn't sound like a reference to it (and I find it hard to imagine anyone writing a popular song about a drug supplier to the British Army).

[watervole]

I wasn't thinking of cocaine, just puzzled.

Wasn't sure if face powder was used much then.

[igenlode]

Oh yes, lots -- even by women who didn't wear any other kind of make-up, and would have thought it pretty garish to paint their lips or nails. That's where we get the euphemism "to powder one's nose" for a visit to the lavatory.

In at least one children's novel, I can remember the little girl protagonist wondering why grown-ups were so terrified of having shiny noses, and at what age the nose started to go shiny -- in fact, I remember wondering it myself while reading! Ironically at puberty I discovered that the outside of the nose does start to get oily; in fact [surreptitious wipe] mine still is, along with my forehead.

So that was probably the idea: to obtain a 'dewy' complexion with a light even coating of absorbent powder. I believe that's what they use 'foundation' for nowadays? (I could never quite see the point of that, since it appeared to consist of applying a coating of flat matte colour all over the face, and then painting all the original variations of complexion artificially back on over the top...)

[watervole]

Wouldn't know. Don't use make-up. I think I experimented very briefly as a teenager, but life's too faff around. My husband is perfectly happy with me as I am :)
And I like him, shaggy hair and all.