"Kashmiri Song" or "Pale Hands I Loved" is a 1902 song by

Amy Woodforde-Finden Amy Woodforde-Finden (1860 – 13 March 1919) was a composer who is best known for writing the music to "Kashmiri Song" from ''Four Indian Love Lyrics'' by Laurence Hope. Biography Amy Woodforde-Finden was born Amelia Rowe Ward in 1860 at Valpar ...

based on a poem by Laurence Hope, pseudonym of Violet Nicolson. The poem first appeared in Hope's first collection of poems, '' The Garden of Kama'' (1901), also known as ''India's Love Lyrics''. The following year, when Amy Woodforde-Finden set to music ''Four Indian Love Lyrics'', "Kashmiri Song" emerged as the most popular, quickly becoming a drawing room standard and remaining popular until the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

Words

Interpretations

The phrase "beside the Shalimar" presumably refers to one of two Shalimar Gardens, the Shalimar Gardens

Kashmir Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...

or the Shalimar Gardens

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second List of cities in Pakistan by population, most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th List of largest cities, most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is th ...

. Although the former seems the likelier identification, given the song's title, the fact that Nicolson lived in

gives some weight to the latter.

Recordings

There have been numerous recordings of the song, including: * Cellist Julian Lloyd Webber on the 2006 album ''

Unexpected Songs ''Unexpected Songs'' is a 2006 album by Julian Lloyd Webber. Track listing # "Star of the County Down"/"Lady D'Arbanville" by Cat Stevens/Trad. arr. Chowhan # "Oblivion" by Ástor Piazzolla arr. Lenehan # "Marble Halls" by Michael Balfe # "Prelu ...

'' * One of only two

Rudolph Valentino Rodolfo Pietro Filiberto Raffaello Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguolla (May 6, 1895 – August 23, 1926), known professionally as Rudolph Valentino and nicknamed The Latin Lover, was an Italian actor based in the United States who starred ...

recordings, made in 1923. Among famous singers to record the song in the inter-war years, there are 3 versions by Peter Dawson, two by

Frank Titterton Frank Titterton (31 December 1893, in Handsworth – 24 November 1956, in London) was a well-known British lyric tenor of the mid-twentieth century. He was noted for his musicianship. Titterton trained originally as an actor and was a member of T ...

, and single versions by John McCormack and

Richard Tauber Richard Tauber (16 May 1891 – 8 January 1948) was an Austrian tenor and film actor. Early life Richard Tauber was born in Linz, Austria, to Elisabeth Seifferth (née Denemy), a widow and an actress who played soubrette roles at the local theat ...

Culture

The song has led an unusually varied life particularly in the field of popular culture. Some of the places where the song/poem is mentioned or quoted are: * The film '' The Sheik'' (1921) starring

, based on the 1919 novel '' The Sheik'' by

E. M. Hull Edith Maud Hull (16 August 1880 – 11 February 1947) was a British writer of romance novels, typically credited as E. M. Hull.

. *

Ford Madox Ford Ford Madox Ford (né Joseph Leopold Ford Hermann Madox Hueffer ( ); 17 December 1873 – 26 June 1939) was an English novelist, poet, critic and editor whose journals '' The English Review'' and ''The Transatlantic Review'' were instrumental in ...

's novel ''

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'' (1924–1928). * In the Srinigar section of his 1933 film ''India Speaks'',

Richard Halliburton Richard Halliburton (January 9, 1900 – presumed dead after March 24, 1939) was an American travel writer and adventurer who swam the length of the Panama Canal and paid the lowest toll in its history—36 cents in 1928. He disappeared a ...

asserts that everyone knows "the Kashmiri song". *

Jack Conroy John Wesley Conroy (December 5, 1899 - February 28, 1990) was a leftist American writer,"Jack Conroy." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 29 Oct. 2009, also known as a Worker-Writer,AP, . "Jack Conroy, Novelist, 91." ...

's novel '' A World to Win'' (1935). *

Peter DeRose Peter DeRose (or De Rose) (March 10, 1896 – April 23, 1953) was an American composer of jazz and pop music during the era of Tin Pan Alley. Biography A native of New York City, he showed a gift for all things musical at an early age. He lea ...

and Billy Hill's song " On a Little Street in Singapore" seems to reuse a lot of the same words (1939). * The film '' This Happy Breed'' (1944), based on

Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time'' magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and ...

's stage play (1939). * The film ''

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'' (1943), sung by

Deanna Durbin Edna Mae Durbin (December 4, 1921 – April 17, 2013), known professionally as Deanna Durbin, was a Canadian-born actress and singer, who moved to the USA with her family in infancy. She appeared in musical films in the 1930s and 1940s. With t ...

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's novel, ''Dark Tunnel'' (1943) * Anthony Gilbert's novel, ''The Black Stage'' (1945) * The film ''

Maytime in Mayfair ''Maytime in Mayfair'' is a 1949 British musical comedy film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding, Nicholas Phipps, and Tom Walls. It was a follow up to ''Spring in Park Lane''. The film was one of the most popula ...

'' (1948) refers to the song, suggesting it is a cliché. *

Henry Miller Henry Valentine Miller (December 26, 1891 – June 7, 1980) was an American novelist. He broke with existing literary forms and developed a new type of semi- autobiographical novel that blended character study, social criticism, philosophical re ...

's novel, ''Sexus'' (1949) *

Daphne du Maurier Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning, (; 13 May 1907 – 19 April 1989) was an English novelist, biographer and playwright. Her parents were actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier and his wife, actress Muriel Beaumont. Her grandfather was Geo ...

's novel, ''

The Parasites ''The Parasites'' is a novel by Daphne du Maurier, first published in 1949. Plot

This novel is the story of the Delaney family. The Delaneys led complex and frequently scandalous lives; their strange relationship with each other closed ...

'' (1949) *

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's novel, ''

Ring for Jeeves ''Ring for Jeeves'' is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 22 April 1953 by Herbert Jenkins, London and in the United States on 15 April 1954 by Simon & Schuster, New York, under the title ''The Return of Jeeves ...

'' (1953), quoted by captain Biggar *

Anthony Powell Anthony Dymoke Powell ( ; 21 December 1905 – 28 March 2000) was an English novelist best known for his 12-volume work ''A Dance to the Music of Time'', published between 1951 and 1975. It is on the list of longest novels in English. Powell' ...

's novel, ''

Casanova's Chinese Restaurant ''Casanova's Chinese Restaurant'' is a novel by Anthony Powell (). It forms the fifth volume of the twelve-volume sequence ''A Dance to the Music of Time'', and was originally published in 1960. Many of the events of the novel were included in t ...

'' (1960), the fifth volume of ''

A Dance to the Music of Time ''A Dance to the Music of Time'' is a 12-volume ''roman-fleuve'' by English writer Anthony Powell, published between 1951 and 1975 to critical acclaim. The story is an often comic examination of movements and manners, power and passivity in Eng ...

''. *

Have Gun – Will Travel ''Have Gun – Will Travel'' is an American Western series that was produced and originally broadcast by CBS on both television and radio from 1957 through 1963. The television version of the series starring Richard Boone was rated number t ...

, episode 24 of season 6, “Caravan” (1961-62) *

Gilbert Sorrentino Gilbert Sorrentino (April 27, 1929 – May 18, 2006) was an American novelist, short story writer, poet, literary critic, professor, and editor. In over twenty-five works of fiction and poetry, Sorrentino explored the comic and formal possibili ...

's novel ''Aberration of Starlight'' (1980) * The poet

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's ''Lucia in Wartime'' (after E F Benson) (1985), where it is sung by Major Benjie. * An episode of

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, 'Trouble at Sea' (1989) *

Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and ...

's novel, '' Midnight’s Children'' (1991), where Sabarmati plays it on a pianola. * Vikram Seth's novel, ''

A Suitable Boy ''A Suitable Boy'' is a novel by Vikram Seth, published in 1993. With 1,349 pages (1,488 pages in paperback), the English-language book is one of the longest novels published in a single volume. ''A Suitable Boy'' is set in a newly post-inde ...

'' (1993) * A

ghazal The ''ghazal'' ( ar, غَزَل, bn, গজল, Hindi-Urdu: /, fa, غزل, az, qəzəl, tr, gazel, tm, gazal, uz, gʻazal, gu, ગઝલ) is a form of amatory poem or ode, originating in Arabic poetry. A ghazal may be understood as a ...

Agha Shahid Ali Agha Shahid Ali (4 February 1949 – 8 December 2001) was an Indian-born poet who immigrated to the United States, and became affiliated with the literary movement known as New Formalism in American poetry. His collections include ''A Walk T ...

(1997) * Title of a short story by

Anne Enright Anne Teresa Enright (born 11 October 1962) is an Irish writer. She has published seven novels, many short stories and a non-fiction work called ''Making Babies: Stumbling into Motherhood'', about the birth of her two children. Her writing expl ...

in her collection, ''Yesterday's Weather'' (2008). *

Lorrie Moore Lorrie Moore (born Marie Lorena Moore; January 13, 1957) is an American writer. Biography Marie Lorena Moore was born in Glens Falls, New York, and nicknamed "Lorrie" by her parents. She attended St. Lawrence University. At 19, she won '' Seve ...

's novel, ''

A Gate at the Stairs ''A Gate at the Stairs'' is a novel by American fiction writer Lorrie Moore. It was published by Random House in 2009. The novel won Amazon.com's "best of the month" designation and was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize f ...

'' (2009)

References

External links

Woodforde Family websiteKashmiri Song sheet music
a
Maggie Teyte recording (1921)
a

{{authority control Songs written by Amy Woodforde-Finden Indian songs 1902 songs Songs about India Songs based on poems
kashmiri song lyrics