Guide Me Soft

Lyrics

(1)

William!
Glorious repression
Articulate, immaculate, glorious
Revolution

Coast to coast
Lord guide me soft
From coast to coast
God guide me soft
I come for your goods  (2)
I come for your goods
Pray guide me soft
Pray guide me soft
Coast to coast
Lord guide me soft
Coast to coast
God guide me soft

I come for your goods
I come for your goods
Pray guide me soft

From coast to coast
Lord guide me soft
From coast to coast
Lord guide me soft

Notes

1. This seems to be a thematic song in the context of I am Kurious, Oranj, a prayer spoken by William of Orange for success and ease in his endeavors.  

^

 

2. This is a gaffe commonly attributed to various kings, due to the double meaning--sometimes a wag is said to have responded "For our chattel too!" or something of that nature (thanks to Crimm).

Dan has done some research:

"Earliest example I can find is this:

Lord Chesterfield’s Witticisms; or, the grand pantheon of genius, sentiment, and taste (1773)
 


“When Mynheer Bentinck, grandfather to the present duke of Portland, went to Wales to be present at a meeting of the gentlemen of that country, he attempted to make a speech in broken English, and addressed them in the following manner: “Gentlemen, I be com deer for all your goods; “Ay, ay,” replied Sir Watkin Wynn, “and our chattels too.” “



By 1885, this version is doing the rounds:

Temple Bar: a London magazine for town and country readers, November 1885 (and quoted by New York Times, 22 November 1885:
 

When the mistresses of George I. arrived in London they were received with ribald cries by the crowd, when one of them put her head out of the window of the carriage and cried out, "I come for your goots." "We know you do," roared the mob, "and our chattels, too."


In the twentieth century, there were new political targets:

The Germans: Their empire, how they have made it.
by C. R. L. Fletcher.
Oxford Pamphlets, 1914
 
“the tearing up of European treaties, together with the French threat to our oldest allies the Dutch, produced immediate war. With the interval of two years, 1801-3, that war lasted for twenty-two years; and at the end of it even Napoleon, when beaten, called the British 'the most constant, the most generous of his foes'. 

Alas! there is a great deal of human nature even in apostles of Freedom. The French soon forgot the missionary part of their business, but the pleasure of conquering other peoples remained. For a long time, however, they professed they were trying to benefit the peoples they attacked. 'We are coming for all your goods,' they cried to us. 'Yes, damn you! and for our chattels too,' replied the British. But they never came here, though they kept us long a-quake with the threat that they would come.”



There are attributions to William III, which are about as common as those to George I's mistresses."

^

Comments (6)

Crimm
  • 1. Crimm | 27/02/2018
This song includes a quote from William III said in error during a speech
"I come for your good, I come for all your goods"
A slip of the tongue which did not go down so well.....

Source:
An Essay on Junius and His Letters: Embracing a Sketch of the Life and ...
By Benjamin Waterhouse
Via Google Books

Cheers
dannyno
  • 2. dannyno | 05/03/2018
That story is apocryphal and attributed to various foreign-langauge speaking kings or mistresses of kings.

Whoever it is tours Britain, and finds themselves abused. When they say, “Good people, why you abuse us? We come for all your goods!", the response is "yes, and our chattels too."

It's undoubtedly the source of those lines in the lyrics - good find. But a bit more work to do I think.
bzfgt
  • 3. bzfgt (link) | 10/03/2018
Of course it's apocryphal! Nobody ever said anything that awkwardly risible, or to put it another way such things are always attributed to those in power so even if he said it he didn't.
bzfgt
  • 4. bzfgt (link) | 10/03/2018
Interestingly Google puts this in lots of mouths but not that of William III...
dannyno
  • 5. dannyno | 12/03/2018
Earliest example I can find is this:

Lord Chesterfield’s Witticisms; or, the grand pantheon of genius, sentiment, and taste (1773)


“When Mynheer Bentinck, grandfather to the present duke of Portland, went to Wales to be present at a meeting of the gentlemen of that country, he attempted to make a speech in broken English, and addressed them in the following manner: “Gentlemen, I be com deer for all your goods; “Ay, ay,” replied Sir Watkin Wynn, “and our chattels too.” “


By 1885, this version is doing the rounds:

Temple Bar: a London magazine for town and country readers, November 1885 (and quoted by New York Times, 22 November 1885:

When the mistresses of George I. arrived in London they were received with ribald cries by the crowd, when one of them put her head out of the window of the carriage and cried out, "I come for your goots." "We know you do," roared the mob, "and our chattels, too."


In the twentieth century, there were new political targets:

The Germans: Their empire, how they have made it.
by C. R. L. Fletcher.
Oxford Pamphlets, 1914

“the tearing up of European treaties, together with the French threat to our oldest allies the Dutch, produced immediate war. With the interval of two years, 1801-3, that war lasted for twenty-two years; and at the end of it even Napoleon, when beaten, called the British 'the most constant, the most generous of his foes'.

Alas! there is a great deal of human nature even in apostles of Freedom. The French soon forgot the missionary part of their business, but the pleasure of conquering other peoples remained. For a long time, however, they professed they were trying to benefit the peoples they attacked. 'We are coming for all your goods,' they cried to us. 'Yes, damn you! and for our chattels too,' replied the British. But they never came here, though they kept us long a-quake with the threat that they would come.”


There are attributions to William III, but as common as those to George I's mistresses.
bzfgt
  • 6. bzfgt (link) | 21/03/2018
Outstanding work, thank you, Dan.

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