when we've to part as part we must -- 1892

Speranza 1892 we’ve been together now for forty years an’ it don’t seem a day too much there ain't a lady livin’ in the land as I’d swop for my dear old dutch. I've got a pal a reg’lar out an' outer, she's a dear good old gal, I'll tell yer all about 'er. it's many years since fust we met, 'er 'air was then as black as jet, it's whiter now, but she don't fret, not my old gall I calls 'er Sal, 'er proper name is Sairer, an' yer may find a gal as you'd consider fairer. she ain't a angel — she can start a-jawin' till it makes yer smart, she's just a woman, bless 'er eart, is my old gal. wweet fine old gal, for worlds I wouldn't lose 'er, she's a dear good old gal, an' that's what made me choose 'er. she's stuck to me through thick and thin, when luck was out, when luck was in, ah wot a wife to me she's been, an' wot a pal. I sees yer Sal — yer pretty ribbons sportin' many years now, old gal, since them young days of courtin'. I ain't a coward, still I trust when we've to part, as part we must, that Death may come and take me fust to wait... my pal. Lyrics were written by Albert Chevalier in 1892. The tune was composed by Chevalier's brother, Auguste, under the name Charles Ingle. It is a tribute to Chevalier's wife Florrie. The song's title refers to a 1880s colloquialism for a partner or friend. The phrase has indeed a number of etymologies: two Cockney rhyming slang explanations identify the phrase as coming from "dutch plate" ("mate") or "Duchess of Fife" ("wife"). Chevalier, however, claimed that his wife's face reminded him of the clock face of a Dutch clock.