Fred Mitchell looked back on his hard life (in his 80s in 1967) and was commenting on how rough his life had been. All work, no playing, The he paused for a moment and said the following,
"The singing. There was such a lot of singing in the villages then, and this was my pleasure. Boys sang in the fields, and at night we all met at the Forge and sang. The chapels were full of singing. When the first war came, it was singing, singing all the time. So I lie; I have had pleasure. I have had singing"
This was paraphrased by Ronald Blythe who visited the English village of Akenfield and became the following lyrics to the Song "I Have Had Singing" by Steven Sametz
The singing,
There was so much singing then,
And this was my pleasure too.
We all sang,
The boys in the fields;
The chappels were full of singing,
Always singing.
Here I lie;
I have had pleasure enough,
I have had singing.
Not really a quote, but it is something that makes mre read it over and over and over again. It is just beautiful to behold.
GE-Raven