Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1883-02-09

n ii"Sio W" view lorh oTAR reporter. Inc
|, song may live for day, or become n
+ household lyric for all time, and the au.
thor's name not be known to the masses.
I Some songs have become world wide
famous and will be repeated until the end
of time. Among these are Home, Sweet
, Home, 'The Marseillais' and Scots. Wha
Haze wi Wallace Bled" But while How
ard Payne, DE Iisle and Burns are re-
membered, there are hundreds of authors
who have written popular pieces whose
names are never mentioned"
'What constitutes a popular song ?"
. was asked
~ can answer your question best by
telling you II little story. Some years
ago, when Rollin Howard composed n
song and dance, he took his production,
of which he felt very proud, to Pond &
Co., and offered to sell it to them. They
looked it over and returned it with the
remark: we do rot publish such stuff as
that Mr.. Howard pocketed his discomfi-
ture in silence and sadly wended his way
homeward. A short time after this
Howard went to Boston, where he was
engaged to sing in minstrel company.
One night Mr.. G. A. White the composer
and publisher, heard Howard, and offered
to publish his discarded song This is
how 'Shoo, Fly, Don't Bodder Me- came
to see the light. 1t soon became popular
all over the land The publisher sold
over 2OO,O 900 copies. and with the profits
established the well-known Boston firm
of White, Smith * Co. A song is popular
when it catches the public fancy, and the
best songs seldom become popular
| ''How do you account for this 2"
''Well, the popular mind is not educa-
tod Eos
have what they call an ear for music, but
have no knowledge of music. They have
no special training in order to appreciate
the general beauties of tirst-cass song. |
or the fine, delicate shades of expression
that are the very soul of the piece. The
ballad, or comic ditty, is about the extent
OF popular appreciation. In these yuu
Will find simple melodic period. such as
Wait Till the Clouds Roll by. Jenny. |
and Tommy Dodd.' There is no effort
OF the mind to glide, as it were, through |
these.
"Iell me some of the popular songs"
just now, Wait Till the Clouds Roll |
by, Jenny by HI. Fulmer, has captured
the popular fancy, aud will continue to |
sell for some time. Close ON the heels of |
tins piece comes an answer to little |
Clouds are Rolling by, Jenny by May
lath, much superior song i'll every way
and likely to be as popular. Then we have
In the Morning by the Bright Light, by
james A. Bland. the colored song writer
and the best of his kind All his pieces
have become popular, and include keep
dem Gates Wide Open,' Wont We Have
n Jolly Time 2 oh, dem Golden Slip
pers.. and DE Angels am a-Coming.
Another piece that is likely to become
popular is 'Peek-a-boo, sung during the
last week in Friend and Foe ut the
Windsor Theatre by William Seaman.
In the popular list is When the Leaves
Begin to Turn, by G. \. White of Boston
1t IS beautiful waltz song. There is a
fund of the popular songs sung by Har-
rlSan and Hart | need only mention
Babies ON Our Block : The Skids Are
Out To-day; Whist, the Bogie Man :;
Little Widow Dunn !; Never Take the
Horseshoe from the Door
I'm trade we call song popular when
1t reaches a sale of 10000 copies. Many
editions only reach 5000, and some do
not run beyond 800 copies. There may
not appear to be any value to Il song IN
til it goes before the public. If they
catch on, then the value of the song is as
sured. Many good pieces-real gems OF
which do not go beyond the artists stu
dio, Among this class is n sweet thing
called Say not, My love Will Change
with Time, written by Albert Rowse.
When Harrigan and Hart sold the Multi
gan Guards for $50 they did not expect
that 1t would march to the tune Of 100,-
600 copies. The Hildebrandt Montrose
song they sold for 80, and the publish
ers worked off 200, 900 copies"
WHO are the leading composers?
"1on mean OF this class OF music
Well, many Of our most popular songs
have been written byauthors ON the other
side of the water Our home names are
Harrison Millard, Will $. Hays, S. c.
Foster. j. r. Thomas, II. i. banks, Hen
ry Tucker, W. H. Brockway, c. A.
White, J. T. Ordway, +. Root, j. A.
Bland, G. Operti, Harry Birch, b. +.
Baker and Others These men do not all
write their own wOrds-most of them buy
the poem. There are few good sonn- poets,
the best, pehaps, being Mr.. George
Cooper His remuneration is poor, being
from - TO so for Il song outright. Many
OF them possess genuine mort When
the composers sell n song, they receive
from $50 10 so, and sometimes 5000
some will only take II commission on the
sales and secure handsome profit should
the piece reach public favor, When
Danks wrote Silver Threads Among the
Gold he sold it for $40. After it was
published the purchaser sold 400, 900
copies, and the piece is still sought for.
Harrison Millard made money by writing
music. While holding n comfortable
position i'll the Custom House, he man
aged to secure small fortune by his
muse, His Viva rAmerica' brought HIM
-, 800, and his song, when the Tide
Comes In. has been worth 81 900 II year.
The song Waiting is now looked upon
as stock-selling piece, the publishers
disposing of 5000 copies year, while
his Under the Daisies sells at the rate of
1000 copies. 'Mollie Darling has had II
sale of something like half million
copies.
- A. Barry composed Little Foot
steps and sold it for 81. The publishers
made money and disposed of 5000
copies. Hays songs Little Old LogCabin
i'll the Lane, we Parted by the River |
side, each had n sale of 100000. Ord |
ways song, Dreaming Of Home, Mother
reached Il sale of $4,000 to GO, 00O.. How
the Gates Came Ajar,' by Eastbuin, |
reached sale of 1907 900. Brockway sold |
his Little Sweetheart, Come and Kiss |
Me, for S25, and the publishers run out |
an edition of $4,000 copies. The Old
Folks ut Home by Foster, reached IL sale
OF 4OO, 600 copies and still continues to he
bought. THE Sword of Bunker Hill
reached sale of 10O 900 copies, and the
famous temperance song. Father, Corne
Home, written by Work, has had sale
of 300, 900 copies"
GLOW about the English songs ?"
"rhey are readily sold in this county.