[Sheet music] Your King and country want you : a woman's recruiting song

Sheet music for the song titled 'Your King and country want you: a woman's recruiting song'. This song was written by Paul Rubens and was published during 1914. It had an alternative title, drawn from the first line of the chorus, titled 'We don't want to lose you but we think you ought to go'. This copy of the music for this song was published by Chappell & Co, London, and features a picture of a woman on the front cover with her arms extended.

The back cover of this copy features a number of excerpts from newspaper headlines and articles in regards to a mysterious poem. The portrayal of these headlines was intended to support the news that Chappell & Co music publishers had secured the rights to publish the sheet music for the poem with its musical setting - 'The gate of the year'.

The song was written a woman's recruiting song with the intention of persuading men to enlist. The song lyrics were written for a female voice but alternative words were provided to allow the song to be performed by men and mixed vocal ensembles. It was reported to be the best seller of sheet music for the war effort and was popularised in Australia by the singer Miss Dorothy Brunton.

Paul Alfred Rubens was a British songwriter who composed material for the stage during the Victorian and Edwardian periods. He had no musical training and started writing music while a student at Oxford. At the age of 19, his song titled ‘The Little Chinchilla’ was picked up and featured in the show ‘The Shop Girl’ at the Gaiety Theatre, London. He is reported to have written some of the most popular songs of the Edwardian period.

Towards the bottom of this page is a sound recording of this sheet music, or a parody, that was created as part of the Music and the First World War project. More information about this recording, including names of the performers, can be found on the catalogue record for the sound recording. A link to the catalogue record for the sound recording can be found at the bottom of this page, under the heading ‘Related objects’ where it can be identified with the prefix [sound recording].