Why do you ring ding ding?

 When I first heard the "Elizabeth Serenade", I thought it was a German folk-song.

I went to school with a girl named Antje.  We weren't best friends, but friendly enough to visit each other's houses.  Antje's mum, who was German, was a single mother, like mine, and I knew her from her volunteer work in our Guide troop.

I remember a visit on a sunny day.  They had a small house down by Craigflower Creek, which flowed under the bridge near our school.

Antje's mum put a recording on, which began with flutes sounding rather like those in the Dance of the Reed Pipes in Tchaicovsky's The Nutcracker. 

"Isn't this Beautiful?!"  she enthused, teutonically.

It was certainly pretty.  The feathery flutes were followed by a chorus singing lustily in German, interspersed with what sounded like aggressive handbells, a wee bit jarring, but I looked out at the water flowing by the house and listened appreciatively.

It was years until I learned that this piece was originally an instrumental (which, frankly, suits it better), composed by Ronald Binge, some time around 1951.  It didn't really have a title - apart from Andante Cantabile, but when Britain suddenly found itself with a pretty 25-year-old queen in 1952, it was renamed Elizabethan Serenade.  

This recording by Ron Goodwin and his orchestra is probably the most recognizable arrangement of the piece.  George Martin, who, years later, would produce the Beatles, had a hand in producing this one, and it's a pleasant listen.  Easy, you might say.  As ear-worms go, there are far worse.

Of course, then someone had to write lyrics for it.  I'll spare you.  The title of this post is ripped from Christopher Hassall's verses, for which the kindest adjective is "twee".  Google it if you must.

I rather expected to hear the Elizabethan Serenade over the past ten days, instead we're getting a lot of Nimrod.

It may be a moot point; I heard some years ago that Queen Elizabeth really wasn't much of a music-lover, which must have made sitting through all those concerts, ballets, shows, and operas a challenge.

She'll be getting more than enough music tomorrow, but then, I guess she won't have to hang around.