Just re-watched the Wolvercote Tongue, and Morse quotes a saying about love: "Just when you think you're past love you finally meet your last love." He says he thinks it's from Love's Old Sweet Song. But I checked and it isn't. Morse is seldom wrong, but I think he is this time! Can anyone give me the correct source for this neat quote? Almost sounds like it's from a music hall song.
shareThat line rings a bell with me, too ... but I can't remember from where.
As a phrase search, it only brings up some obscure amateur short story, where it is ALSO used as a quote ....
Maddening. I'm pretty sure it's from a song, though.
Found this information online:
'A Bachelor Gay' was the hit song of 'The Maid of the Mountains, a highly-successful musical comedy/operetta which premiered in Manchester, Lancs., England, on December 23, 1916. Lyrics are credited to Harry Graham and music to Harold Fraser-Simpson with additional lyrics by F. Clifford Harris and 'Valentine' and additional music by James W. Tate. (1875-1922) who is said to be the remembered for the song.
There are a number of LPs, CDs, MP3s etc. of 'A Bachelor Gay' available via the web, possibly the best being that sung by Peter Dawson.
Here, from the web, is one claimed version of the lyrics:
A bachelor gay am I, though I suffer from Cupid's dart
But never I vow will I say die in spite of an aching heart
For a man who has loved a girl or two though the fact must be confessed
He always swears the whole way through
To every girl he tries to woo
That he loves her far the best:
At seventeen he falls in love quite madly
with eyes of tender blue,
At twenty four he gets it rather badly
with eyes of a different hue.
At thirty five you'll find him flirting madly
with two or three or more;
And when at last he thinks he's past love,
it is then he meets his last love,
and he loves her like he's never loved before
A girl as you've heard of old, is a kind of a paradox
She changes her mind more times I'm told than ever she does her frocks.
And a man's like a moth around a flame for it's nearly always found
He burns his wings but all the same
The nicest part of Cupid's game
Is fluttering round and round:
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This song was sung by Maurice Chevallier, (the Frech actor),at a sidewalk caf'e, in the movie "Gigi".
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The Australian baritone Peter Dawson recorded this song; heard it on the BBC Good Old Days.
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The chorus was used in a BBC programme called "A life of bliss" . If memory serves, George Cole played David Alexander Bliss and Percy Edwards the role of his dog, a noisy little yapper named Psyche