Melody Maker was launched as a monthly magazine in January 1926. On page 3 appeared an advertisement for "Araby" which was said to have been written by "The World's Greatest Popular Composer", and was described as "The Most Haunting Refrain Ever Written."

To those in the know, this hype was probably not that surprising for Horatio Nicholls who wrote "Araby" to be alluded to as the world's greatest popular composer because his real name was Lawrence Wright, the publisher of Melody Maker.

Alas, "Araby" does not live up to the hype, it is a fair piece of uptempo music, but certainly nothing special, like most of the songs written by this tireless self-publicist. >>