Pretty Ring Time is a repertoire chosen from many of the songs that the Swingle Singers knew and loved growing up. All the composers are English from the early 20th century with the exception of one song, "Sally In Our Alley," written by the group's director and second tenor, Jonathan Rathbone. Most of this music was meant to be performed by piano and voice but lends itself wonderfully well to the group's capacities. The composers are Peter Warlock, Ivor Gurney, George Butterworth, Gerald Finzi, Frank Bridge and John Ireland. The lyrics are from Shakespeare, Tennyson, Shelley, Masefield, A.E. Houseman, Thomas Hardy and other notables of English letters whom the composers had set to music.