[Sheet music] The Blue Dragoons

Sheet music for the song titled 'The Blue Dragoons', with lyrics written by Frederic Edward Weatherly and music composed by Kennedy Russell. This song was written in 1911, with this copy of the sheet music published about 1912. The front cover features the signature of the composer. Inside the front cover are the typed lyrics for the song in full and an advertising preview of the song titled 'A Devonshire Wedding', written by H Lyall Phillips. The back cover features a list of the titles published by music publisher, Chappell & Co, that were regarded as 'ballad concert successes'.

Carman writes that from the early 18th century, dragoons were trained for combat with swords from horseback. Prior to this, they were a type of mounted infantry who travelled on horses but fought as conventional infantry soldiers. The lyrics of this song describe the former, with its description of soldiers with sabres on horseback, and encourages men to join in order to prove that they aren't made of silver spoons and to be rewarded with kisses.

In addition to being a proliferate lyricist who is said to have written the lyrics for 3000 songs, Weatherly was also an author and a lawyer. Some of his most famous songs include 'The Holy City', 'Danny Boy' and 'Roses of Picardy'.

Russell Kennedy was born Robert Charles Kennedy in London, England. He was a pianist and conductor, including opera and theatre, who also performed the piano accompaniment at concerts in London.

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].