AustLit

Kipling wrote 'The Absent-Minded Beggar' in 1899 as part of an appeal by London's Daily Mail to raise money for the dependents of British soldiers involved in the Boer War. The poem quickly became a hit throughout much the British Commonwealth, with recitals being given both at music halls and theatres. Sir Arthur Sullivan, who set the words to music the following year, found the irregular meter of the words of this song awkward to set, remarking that 'It puzzled me to compose Gilbert's "I Have a Song to Sing, O," but that was child's play compared to the task of setting Kipling's lines' (Farron, n. pag.). The first public performance of the Sullivan's version was 13 November at London's Alhambra Theatre.

NB: The above quotation from Sir Arthur Sullivan has been sourced from Jim Farron's website The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive, at http://math.boisestate.edu/GaS/index.html.

An other musical adaptation was also performed in Australia in January 1900; this latter version was composed by Robert Kaye, organist of All Saints Church, Brisbane. According to advertising, half the profits from the sales of the sheet music went to the Queensland Patriotic Fund. The first-known performance was staged at Centennial Hall, Brisbane, under the auspices of the Brisbane Musical Union (ctd. Brisbane Courier 13 January 1900, p.2).