Prima Facie Records

The Complete Songs of A. A. Milne (and Lewis Carroll) (PFCD212/213) £15.00 / £20

By Harold Fraser-Simson, 1872-1944

CD1

'When We Were Very Young'

1. Buckingham Palace [02:07] 2. Happiness [00:21] 3. The Christening [01:40] 4. Puppy and I [02:26] 5. The Four Friends [01:39] 6. Lines and Squares [01.20] Brownie [01:18] 8. Independence [01:06] 9. Nursery Chairs [02:29] 10. Market Square [02:28] 11. Daffodowndilly [01:10] 12. Disobedience [02:43] 13. Spring Morning [03:36] 14. The Three Foxes [01:41] 15. Politeness [00:37] 16. Jonathan Jo [00:49] 17. At the Zoo [01.37] 18. Rice Pudding [01:55] 19. Missing [01:40] 20. Hoppity [00:42] 21. Shoes and Stockings [01:22] 22. Sand-Between-The-Toes [02:30] 23. Knights and Ladies [01:31] 24. Halfway Down [01.33] 25. Before Tea [01:21] 26. Teddy Bear [06:26] 27. Bad Sir Brian Bottany [03:33] 28. In the Fashion [01:07] 29. The Alchemist [01:26] 30. Growing Up [00:58] 31. If I Were King [01:30] 32. Vespers [02:39] 
'The King’s Breakfast'
33. Feed-My-Cow [01:42] 34. The King’s Breakfast [06:50]

CD2

'Winnie the Pooh'
1. Isn’t it Funny [00:32] 2. How Sweet to be a Cloud [01:10] 3. It’s very, very funny [00:18] 4. Cottleston Pie [01:11] 5. Lines Written by a Bear of Very Little Brain [01:06] 6. Sing Ho! For the life of a Bear [00:37] 7. They all went off to discover the Pole [00:46] 8. 3 Cheers for Pooh [01:33]
'Now We are Six'
9. Sneezles [02:08] 10. Binker [03:32] 11. Cherry Stones [01:12] 12. Us Two [02:00] 13.The Engineer[00:51] 14. Furry Bear [01:08] 15. Forgiven [02:10] 16. The Emperor’s Rhyme [02:33] 17. Down by the Pond [01:08] 18. The Friend [01:16] 19. Twice Times [02:14] 20. Cradle Song [02:04] 21. Waiting at the Window [01:05] 22. Wind on the Hill [01:31] 23. In the Dark [02:46] 24. The End [01:02]
'The House at Pooh Corner'
25. The more it snows [00:57] 26. What shall we do about poor little Tigger? [01:03] 27. I could spend a happy morning [01:23] 28. Oh, the butterflies are flying [01:28] 29. If Rabbit was bigger [00:41] 30. This warm and sunny spot [00:50] 31. I lay on my chest [00:49] 32. Here lies a tree [02:01] 33. Christopher Robin is going [02:06]
'Songs from Alice in Wonderland'
34. How doth the little crocodile [01:12] 35. Fury said to a mouse [00:58] 36. You are old, Father William [02:12] 37. Speak roughly to your little boy [01:19] 38. Will you walk a little faster [04:26] 39. ‘Tis the voice of the Lobster [01:06] 40. Beautiful Soup [02:50] 41. They told me you had been to her [01:28]

Available for the first time, all sixty-seven songs composed by Harold Fraser-Simson (1872-1944) to the famous poetry of A. A. Milne. 'When we were very young', 'Now we are six', 'Winnie the Pooh' and 'The House at Pooh Corner' are all represented on the album along with a complete recording of the pantomime 'The King’s Breakfast'. Also on the album are the collection of eight songs Fraser-Simson wrote using the words of Lewis Carroll from 'Alice in Wonderland'.

This album spans well known settings ('Buckingham Palace', 'Halfway Down', 'Cottleston Pie' & 'Vespers') to unknown and previously unrecorded works. A wonderful nostalgia trip for those familiar with some of these songs from their youth and a brilliant album to listen along with children. Volante Opera Productions is proud to be able to release this comprehensive collection so that future generations will be able to listen to and enjoy a piece of British musical history that otherwise would be lost to time. Recorded by a team of seven singers (Julian Boyce, Simon Crosby Buttle, Helen Greenaway, Rosie Hay, Philip Lloyd-Evans, Francesca Saracino & Stephen Wells) and pianist Frederick Brown - all of whom appear by arrangement with Welsh National Opera.

Performers

Frederick Brown piano
Julian Boyce baritone
Simon Crosby Buttle tenor
Helen Greenaway mezzo
Rosie Hay soprano
Philip Lloyd-Evans baritone
Francesca Saracino mezzo
Stephen Wells bass

Artists appear by arrangement with Welsh National Opera

Publishers

These songs were originally published by Methuen & Co Ltd, publishers, in the following volumes. 
Music by H. Fraser-Simson, words by A. A. Milne: 
Fourteen Songs from When we were very young (1924) The King’s Breakfast (1925) Teddy Bear & other songs from When we were very young (1926) Songs from Now we are six (1927) More Very Young Songs (1928) The Hums of Pooh (1929)  
Music by H. Fraser-Simon, words by Lewis Carroll:
Songs from Alice in Wonderland (1932)

Credits

Recorded at The Vanguard Centre, Caerphilly, in January and May 2023
Recording Engineer: Stephen Wells
Audio Editing: Simon Crosby Buttle
Cover Artwork: KIMBO
Booklet design and layout: Simon Crosby Buttle & KIMBO
Album made possible thanks to a kind donation by June Buttle

Born 15th August 1872 in London, England, Fraser-Simson was educated at Charterhouse and Cambridge then worked in commerce until his song-writing vocation eventually took hold. 

He had moderate success with songs ‘I Sent My Love Two Roses’, ‘The Raindrop And The Rose’, ‘Falmouth Town’ and ‘The Old Land’ and building on this he wrote his first London musical, Bonita (1911). It was his musical, collaborating with lyricist Harry Graham, The Maid Of The Mountains (1916), which ran for 1,352 performances, that cemented his career as a composer of popular operettas and musicals.

Fraser-Simson’s other stage works include A Southern Maid (1917) Our Peg (1919), Missy Jo (1921), Head Over Heels (1923), Our Nell (1924), The Street Singer (1924), and Betty In Mayfair (1925), a ballet Venetian Wedding (1926), incidental music for The Nightingale And The Rose (1927), and Toad Of Toad Hall (1929). 

He collaborated with A. A. Milne to write musical settings of children’s poems When We Were Very Young (1924). So popular were these that he followed them with Milne’s The King’s Breakfast (1925), Teddy Bear And Other Songs (1926), Now We Are Six (1927) and The Hums of Pooh (1929). After these he also set songs by Lewis Carrol in a collection entitled Songs from Alice In Wonderland (1932).