The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1888-09-20
HALF.FORGUTTEN SONGS.
Melodies that Were Popular Twenty Years
Ago,


Ago.
How many of the popular songs of
twenty years ago can the cd boys of to-
day recall? How many of the old melo-
dies that thrilled them in the days of
their hot youth have found an abiding
place in their memoryP The evolution
of the popular song presents striking
illustration of the survival of the unfit
est.
The great sentimental success of the
ante-war period was undoubtedly ben
Bolt.n The untimely death Of some
thing lovable and beautiful was the
usual theme of the sentimental song of
that period, though it varied occasion
ally in order to picture the heart havoc
caused by the separation of slave lovers.
ben Bolt" was splendid illustration
of the prevailing theme. II was hum
med, whistled, sung and played on
musical instruments for more than a
decade. 1t was immensely popular with
the young ladies, many of whom are
now grandmothers. Sweet Alice
was shrined in every sentimental fe-
males heart, and the question of the
day was:
Don't you remember sweet Alice, Ben Bolt
Sweet Alice with her hair so browni
She wept with delight when you gave Der smile
And trembled with fear at your frown.
Sharing ben Bolt'sn popularity
during the same period were two songs
widely sung by Dan Emmett, Dan Bry.
ant and other MINISTRIES. These were
Nelly Gray" and 80, Sasannahi" both
depicting the sufferings of slave-lovers
Nellie Gray" Swept the country like
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.
80, dear Susannah,n was built more
in the comic way, and the request
Don't you cry for me" was based on
the consoling fact that II am going t.
Alabama with the banjo on my knee.
The pessimistic strain in which the
fate of certain "old Niger" popularity
known as Uncle Ned" was bemoaned
was well known before Nelly Gray" OF
"Susannahn appeared. Dan Emmett
Dixie and Fosters "Swanee River
have proven the most permanent of the
ante-war melodies. A Sentimental bal.
lad cal ed "Lorenan was greaI
fayorite in the COS, and for thirty year;
previous the appearance and philosophy
of "Old Ros in the Bow were known tt
every one.
A state of warefare has always proved
conducive to song. The tlourishlng con-
dition of minstrelsy in ages past was
due largely to the warlike and advent
urous spirit of the times. During the
civil war both sides were prolific. in
song making. The South made the first
great hit with Randall's Maryland, My
Maryland" The Bonnie Blue Flag
was the Southern National air, and was
to the boys in gray what Yankee
Doodle was to the boys in blue. The
Southern women ardently took it up,
and through every city rang the chorus
I[urrah hurrahl for Southern rights Of war,
IIurrahl for the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears the
IS single star,
Of the sentimental songs of the wal
period, the most popular were Fairy
Bell, Annie of the DELL just Before
the battle, Mo'her,n "Toll the Bell foI
Lovely Nell" and "Whcn This Cruel
War Is over" In the North, wait fol
the Wagon and Tramp, Tramp
Tramp, the Boys Are Marching" had Q
great success during the same period
And the others that ran riot through
the camp and fireside were Mary
Blame "Old Cabin Home Fair
Fair, with Golden Hair" and DAISY
Dean Who has forgotten Daisy
Dean and its wistlul chorus:
| None knew thee but to loyo thee,
Thou dear one of my heart,
Thy memory is eyer fresh and green;
The wIld-tiowers may wither
And fond hearts be broken,
Still love the, my darling Daisy Dean.
A beautiful song, truly pathetic, OBJ
tanned great popularity in both Nortl
and south during the war. This wa.
Florence Percy's Rock Me to Sleep
Mother"
The South produced two war song
that evince genuine poetic talent, anC
have been accorded unstinted praise b.
the critics They are the Conquered
Banner and IAN is Quiet Along the
Potomac Tonight" the first named b!
Father Ryan, and the last by Lama
IFountaine. One of the most pathetic
poems that appeared during the wa
was Somebody's Darling" 1t raj
thus:
Into the ward of the whitwashed halls,
Where the dead and the dying lay,
Wounded by bayonets, shells, and balls,
Somebody's darling was borne one day;
Somebody's darling, so young and brave,
Wearing yet on his sweet, pale face
The lingering light OF his boyhood's grace
The circus clown was the great pro
mulgator of popular music during ant
Lust after the war. He was then in tn,
the full blaze of his glory. Since thel
the blaze has degenerated to n spark
and that is threatening to go out. Blu
twenty years ago he was the bigges
attraction in the ring, and his song soil
j like shares in a wildcat mining scheme
The war songs were succeeded b,
what might be termed the Billyemer
sonian ephoch These were the day
when the big Suntlower" and "Lov,
Among the Roses were epidemic. Tn
agile Billy was the pioneer of the gentee
song-and- dance business, and when h
sang: t+.
l feeljust ashappy asa big sunnower
That mods and bends in the breezes,
And my heart is as light as the wind that blows
The leaves from Off the trees-es,
he was pronounced unapproachable
OF the same date is that ridiculous com
position, Captain jerks of the Hors
. Marines w.. Lingard brought i
over from London and first sang it il
his lightning changes. Lingard ha
never been surpassed in his act of light
ming changes, and while he maintainel
, intimate relations with Captain jerks
he prospered. When he attempted
something higher he got into trouble
Pat Malloy," THE Charming Youni
Man of the Flying Trapeze," "The Fel
Flow That Looks Like Me-" I'm tn,
Bowery," and "The Yellow Girl Tha
Winkrd at Me" were widely sung a
that time. The invasion of Lydi
Thompson and her British blends il
. | 1868 was followed by deluge of Englisl
, music hall songs. About this time tn,
, topical song began to appear, Ton.
I Pastor and his imitators prcferring tina
sort of composition. In the early 10
the big successes were: Little Fraud,
81 Feel SO Awful Jolly When the Ban,
Begins to Play" Champagne Charlie,
, 1.-THE Mulligan Guards "The Cottage
by the Sea-" Killarney "Goodby
Charlie, Ten Thousand Miles Away,
and Jennie the Pride of the Kildare.
Then came; my Gal" "Strolling OF
/ the Sands" There's Letter in tn
Candle" and since then the quantit,
=. has increased and the quality decrease,
in the same ratio.-IHdntd COHstitu
ton.
This is an error. Mr.. Fountaine'
. claim to the authorship of this poem
was exploded long ago. The poem wa
written by Mrs. Ethel Beers, North
ern woman.