Annotation:Lira Lira La

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LIRA LIRA LA. English, Air (cut time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part. The song appears in George Coleman's opera The Surrender of Calais (London, 1792), music by Samuel Arnold. It is sung by the character Mandelon (sung famously by Mrs. Bland), and begins:

Little thinks the townsman's wife,
While at home she tarries;
What must be the lass's life,
Who a soldier marries.
Now with weary marching spent,
Dancing now before the tent,
Lira, lira, lira, lira, lira la,
With her jolly soldier.

The melody also appears in several late 18th/early 19th century publications, such as James Aird's Selection, vol. 4 (Glasgow, 1796), Thomas Preston's Entire New and Compleat Instructions for the Fife (London, 1796), G. Astor's The Hoboy Preceptor, or Military Pieces (London, 1800), and Thomas Ball's The Gentleman's Amusement Book 2 (Norfolk, Va.).
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Source for notated version:

Printed sources: : Aird (Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, vol. 4) 1796; No. 186, p. 70.

Recorded sources:

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