Flashback: At the Music Hall: Goodbye Little Yellow Bird

This post first appeared on October 16, 2010.  I thought that it would be a nice companion to the day's posts.

Yellow Warbler

© Joseph Crisalli

The snow was very plentiful
And crumbs were very few
When a weather-beaten sparrow to a mansion window flew
Her eye fell on a golden cage
A sweet love song she heard
Sung by a pet canary there
A handsome yellow bird
He said to her, “Miss Sparrow, I’ve been struck by cupid’s arrow.
Will you share my cage with me?”
She looked up at his castle
With its ribbon and its tassel
And in plaintiff tones said she:
“Goodbye, little yellow bird, 
I’d rather brave the cold
On a leafless tree, 
Than a prisoner be,
In a cage of gold.”


British composer Clarence Wainwright Murphy, an extremely prolific creator of theatrical and music hall songs, teamed with lyricist W. Hargreave in 1903 to write Little Yellow Bird (also known as Goodbye, Little Yellow Bird). The song is a sentimental tale of the decision to choose freedom over love and a commentary on the classes.

Angela Lansbury as Sybil Vane in
The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1945
Turner Home Entertainment

The lyrics describe a scene of a poor sparrow who is tortured by the elements, but would prefer to shiver than to be trapped in an opulent cage. Little Yellow Bird was immensely popular in the music halls of England. It’s popularity led to its use in the 1938 film, Alf’s Button, and later in the stunning 1945 version of The Picture of Dorian Gray. In the latter, a young Angela Lansbury sings Little Yellow Bird as sweet music gall girl Sybil Vane. This is Dorian’s first encounter with the girl and he quickly falls in love with her. Had Sybil taken the advice of the sparrow in her song and stayed out of that gilded cage, she might not have met the end that she did. Enjoy this clip from The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Miss Lansbury, in Murder She Wrote, as Jessica's cousin, Emma, performs the song again.  I searched and searched, but could not find a clip of it.

Flashback: At the Music Hall: Goodbye Little Yellow Bird

This post first appeared on October 16, 2010.  I thought that it would be a nice companion to the day's posts.

Yellow Warbler

© Joseph Crisalli

The snow was very plentiful
And crumbs were very few
When a weather-beaten sparrow to a mansion window flew
Her eye fell on a golden cage
A sweet love song she heard
Sung by a pet canary there
A handsome yellow bird
He said to her, “Miss Sparrow, I’ve been struck by cupid’s arrow.
Will you share my cage with me?”
She looked up at his castle
With its ribbon and its tassel
And in plaintiff tones said she:
“Goodbye, little yellow bird, 
I’d rather brave the cold
On a leafless tree, 
Than a prisoner be,
In a cage of gold.”


British composer Clarence Wainwright Murphy, an extremely prolific creator of theatrical and music hall songs, teamed with lyricist W. Hargreave in 1903 to write Little Yellow Bird (also known as Goodbye, Little Yellow Bird). The song is a sentimental tale of the decision to choose freedom over love and a commentary on the classes.

Angela Lansbury as Sybil Vane in
The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1945
Turner Home Entertainment

The lyrics describe a scene of a poor sparrow who is tortured by the elements, but would prefer to shiver than to be trapped in an opulent cage. Little Yellow Bird was immensely popular in the music halls of England. It’s popularity led to its use in the 1938 film, Alf’s Button, and later in the stunning 1945 version of The Picture of Dorian Gray. In the latter, a young Angela Lansbury sings Little Yellow Bird as sweet music gall girl Sybil Vane. This is Dorian’s first encounter with the girl and he quickly falls in love with her. Had Sybil taken the advice of the sparrow in her song and stayed out of that gilded cage, she might not have met the end that she did. Enjoy this clip from The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Humanitarian of the Week: Angela Lansbury

Born in Poplar, London, to actress Moyna MacGill and communist party member, Edgar Lansbury, Angela Brigid Lansbury inherited her mother’s theatrical nature. When Edgar Lansbury passed away from stomach cancer, Moyna MacGill married a Scotsman who ended up being abusive to the family. They fled to Canada, and, then to New York where Angela’s love of drama really flourished. Moyna MacGill traveled to Hollywood on a fundraising tour for Noel Coward. Angela and her brothers joined their mother in California, and Angela began working at Bullocks Wilshire Department Store. One evening, at one of her mother’s parties, young Angela met a casting director who thought she might be perfect for a part in an upcoming film starring Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman. The film was Gaslight. And, of course, Lansbury was perfect for the part of Nancy Oliver—the tarty maid with an eye for Boyer. For Angela’s first film, she also received her first Academy Award nomination—a nomination which would be followed by another the following year for her portrayal of the doomed Sybil Vane in The Picture of Dorian Gray opposite Hurd Hatfield.

And, thus, began a very successful film career with starring roles for Angela Lansbury in pictures which include: The Three Muskateets, Samson and Delilah, All Fall Down, the Manchurian Candidate, The Greatest Story Ever Told, The Pirates of Penzance and Beauty and the Beast among many others. Throughout these decades, Miss Lansbury was also a tremendous success on Broadway starring in Mame, Gypsy, Sweeny Todd and Blithe Spirit—just to name a few.



Photo Courtesy of The New York Times



Interestingly enough, despite her impressive body of work, she’s known to most people as Jessica Fletcher in the 1980’s-era murder-mystery program, Murder She Wrote. With tremendous success and countless awards to her credit, Lansbury prefers to use her talents not for her own personal gain, however. Angela Lansbury has, instead, devoted her life to doing good works, using her fame to make impassioned pleas to other people to also contribute their time and efforts to causes such as Muscular Dystrophy, Breast Cancer, The Actors' Fund, ALS and AIDS.

In 2006, Angela Lansbury returned to New York and to Broadway, and to this day, continues to help raise funds for and awareness of the many causes which she champions. For her selfless spirit, bright outlook and unceasing kindness, Angela Lansbury is this week’s “Humanitarian of the Week.”

At the Music Hall: “Little Yellow Bird” by Clarence Wainwright Murphy, 1903

Yellow Warbler

© Joseph Crisalli

The snow was very plentiful
And crumbs were very few
When a weather-beaten sparrow to a mansion window flew
Her eye fell on a golden cage
A sweet love song she heard
Sung by a pet canary there
A handsome yellow bird
He said to her, “Miss Sparrow, I’ve been struck by cupid’s arrow.
Will you share my cage with me?”
She looked up at his castle
With its ribbon and its tassel
And in plaintiff tones said she:
“Goodbye, little yellow bird,
I’d rather brave the cold
On a leafless tree,
Than a prisoner be,
In a cage of gold.”


British composer Clarence Wainwright Murphy, an extremely prolific creator of theatrical and music hall songs, teamed with lyricist W. Hargreave in 1903 to write Little Yellow Bird (also known as Goodbye, Little Yellow Bird). The song is a sentimental tale of the decision to choose freedom over love and a commentary on the classes.

Angela Lansbury as Sybil Vane in
The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1945
Turner Home Entertainment

The lyrics describe a scene of a poor sparrow who is tortured by the elements, but would prefer to shiver than to be trapped in an opulent cage. Little Yellow Bird was immensely popular in the music halls of England. It’s popularity led to its use in the 1938 film, Alf’s Button, and later in the stunning 1945 version of The Picture of Dorian Gray. In the latter, a young Angela Lansbury sings Little Yellow Bird as sweet music gall girl Sybil Vane. This is Dorian’s first encounter with the girl and he quickly falls in love with her. Had Sybil taken the advice of the sparrow in her song and stayed out of that gilded cage, she might not have met the end that she did. Enjoy this clip from The Picture of Dorian Gray. Pardon the captioning. I couldn’t find a clip without it.