Old-Time Songs.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 838, 23 March 1888, Page 4

Old-Time Songs.

(Chicago Tribune.)

How many of the popular songs of twenty years ago can the old boys of to-day recall ? How many of the old melodies that thrilled them in the days of their hot youth have found an abiding place in their memory ? The evolution.of the popular song presents a striking illustration of the survival of the unfittest. The great sentiineutal success of the anti-war period was undoubtedly ‘ Ben Bolt.’ The untimely death of something lovable and beautiful was the usual theme of the sentimental song of that period, though it varied occasionally in order to picture the heart havoc caused by the separation of slave-lovers. ‘Ben Bolt’ was a splendid illustration of the prevailing theme. It was hummed, whistled, sung, and played on musical instruments for more than a decade. It was immensely popular with the young ladies, many of whom are now grandmothers, ‘ Sweet Alice ’ wa3 shrined in every sentimental female’s heart, and the question of the day was : Don’t you remember sweet Alice, Ben Bolt, Sweet Alice with eyes so brown ? She wept with delight when you gave her a smilo And trembled with fear at your frown.

Sharing ‘ Ben Bolt’s ’ popularity during the same period were two songs widely sung by Dan Emmett, Dan Bryant, and other minstrels. These were ‘ Nellie Gray ’ and ‘O, Susannah !’ both depicting the sufferings of slave-lovers. ‘Nellie Gray swept the country like a cyclone ' My charming Nellie Gray, They have taken you away,

And I’ll never see my darling any more,’ was heard on every side and voiced by every tongue. *O, dear Susannah !’ was built more in the comic way, and the request, ‘ Don’t you ory for me,’ was based on the consoling fact that ‘ I’m going to Alabama with the banjo on my knee.’ The pessimistic strain in which the fate of a certain ‘ old nigger,’ popularly known as ‘Uncle Ned,’ waS bemoaned was well known before ‘ Nellie Gray ’ or ‘ Susannah ’ appeared. Dan Emmett’s ‘ Dixie ’ and Foster’s ‘Swanee Diver’ have proved the most prominent of the anti-war melodies. A sentimental ballad called ‘ Lorena ’ was a great favorite in the 60’s, and for thirty years previous the appearance and philosophy of * Old Rosin the Bow ’ was known to everyone. A state of warfare has always proved conducive to song. The flourishing condition of minstrelsy in ages past was due largely to the warlike and adventurous spirit of the times. Daring the civil war both sides were prolific in song making. The South made the first great hit with Randall’s ‘ Maryland, My Maryland.’ The ‘Bonny Blue Flag’ was the Southern national air, and was to the boys in grey what • Yankee Doodle ’ was to the boys in blue. The Southern women ardently took it up, and through every city rang the chorus—

‘ Hurrah ! Hurrah ! for Southern rights of war, Hurrah ! for the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears the single star.’ Of the sentimental songs of the war period the most popular were ‘ Fairy Bell,’ * Annie of the Dell,’ ‘Just before the battle, mother,’ ‘ Toll the bell for lovely Nell,’ and ‘ When this cruel war is over. In the North, ‘ Wait for the Waggon ’ and ‘ Tramp, tramp, tramp, the boys are marching ’ had a great success during the same period, and others that ran riot through camp and fireside were ‘ Mary Blane,’ ‘Old Cabin Home/ ‘Fair, fair, with golden hair,’and ‘Daisy Dean.’ Who has forgotten ‘ Daisy Dean ’ aud its wistful chorus ?

‘None knew thee bat to love thee, Thou dear one of my heart, Thy memory is ever fresh and green ; The wild flowers may wither And fond hearts be broken, Still I love thee, my darling Daisy Dean.’

A beautiful song, truly pathetic, obtained great popularity in both North and South during the war. This was Florence Percy’s ‘ Rock me to sleep, mother/ The South produced two war songs that evince genuine poetic talent, and have been accorded unstinted piai3e by the critics. They are the ‘ Conquered Banner ’ and * All quiet along the Potomac to-night/ the first-named by Father Ryan and the last by Lamar Fountaine. One of the most pathetic poems that appeared during the war was * Somebody’s Darling.’ The circus clown was the great promulgator of popular music during and

just after the war. He was then in the full blaze of his glory. Since then the blaze has degenerated to a spark, and that is threatening to go out. But twenty years ago be was the biggest attraction in the ring, and his songs sold like shares in a wild-cat mining scheme. The war songs wei-e succeeded by what may be termed the Billyemersonian epoch. These were the days when the ‘Big Sunflower 3 and ‘Love among the Roses’ were epidemic. The agile Billy was the pioneer of the genteel song-and-dance business, and when he sang “ I feel just as happy as a big sunflower That nods and bends in the breezes,

And my heart is as light as the wind that blows

The leaves from off the trees-es,’

be was pronounced unapproachable. Of the same date is that ridiculous composition. ‘Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines.’ W. H. Lingard brought it over from London and first sangit in his lightening changes. Lingard has never been surpassed in his act of lightening changes, and while he maintained intiinite relations with * Captain Jinks ’he prospered. When he attempted something higher he got into trouble. ‘Bat hfolloy,’ ‘The charming young man on the flying trapeze,’ * The dark girl dressed in blue,’ 4 The follow that looks like me,’ *lu the Bowery,' and ‘The yellow girl that winked at me,’ were widely sung at the time. The invasion of Lydia Thompson and her British blondes in 1868 was followed by a deluge of English music-hall songs. About this time the topical song began to appear, Tony Pastor and his imitators preferring that sort of composition. In the early 70s the big successes wore ‘Little Fraud,’ ‘ I feel so awfully jolly when the band begins to play,’ ‘ Champagoe Chsrley,’ * The Mulligan Guards,’ ‘ The Cottage by the Sea,’ * Killarnei',’ ‘Good-by-Cfaarley,’ * Ten thousand miiee away,’ tmd ‘Jenny, the pride of Kildare.’ Then came ‘My Gal,’ ‘Strolling on the Sands, ‘ There’s a letter in the candle,’ and since then the quantity has increased and the quality decreased in the same ratio.