jean schwartz
Music Monday: Bedelia 1904
One hundred, twenty years ago, the Irish coon song serenade Bedelia was a number one song for the Haydn Quartet. According to TSort, this version of the song topped Billboard for eleven weeks. Written in 1903 by Jean Schwartz and William Jerome (Flannery), the song has been recorded many times by many singers.
Building songs around girls’ names has always been popular and this one may have been the most popular of this era. The sheet music bills the song as The Novelty Song of the Century and An Irish Coon Song Serenade. Coon songs were popular at the time but, steeped in racial stereotypes about African Americans. The song has more Irish influence than African American, so one assumes the publisher was trying to capitalize on the coon craze with the latter billing. The song was introduced by Blanche Ring playing the character of Liliandra in The Jersey Lily, which opened in September 1903. It was her first starring role on Broadway.
It is unclear who first recorded the song. Billy Murray [did a version that] went to #1. Considering his parents were Irish immigrants, it was fitting that Murray tackled the song, affecting a thick Irish accent to emphasize the song’s comedic nature. Murray’s was among four versions to chart in January 1904. It was quickly followed by a recording by the Haydn Quartet, which spent seven weeks at #1.
Music Monday: Hello Central! Give Me No Man’s Land 1918
One hundred, five years, ago…
Hello Central! Give Me No Man’s Land is a World War I era song released in 1918. Lyrics were written by Sam M. Lewis and Joe Young. Jean Schwartz composed the music. The song was published by Waterson Berlin & Snyder, Co. of New York City. Artist Albert Wilfred Barbelle designed the sheet music cover, which features a photo of Al Jolson next to a shadow of a child on the phone. Explosions in No Man’s Land take up the rest of the red background. The song was written for both voice and piano. It was first introduced in the 1918 musical Sinbad.
The song tells the story of a child attempting to call her father in No Man’s Land. She is unable to reach him over the telephone because her father has been killed fighting on the Western Front.
Wikipedia Summary
There is very little else written about this song. When I have gone to the Tsort charts, with these older pieces, I have usually chosen whatever was at the top of the particular chart, for the particular year. This time, I looked, specifically, for this month in 1918. According to (old) US Billboard 1, this song was on the chart for eight weeks. ~Vic
♦ The New York Public Library Digital Collections
♦ Library of Congress
♦ Smithsonian: National Museum Of American History
♦ WorldCat
♦ First World War: Multimedia History (Web Archive)
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