New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-06-04
HEROES AND HONEGS.
THE SUBJECTS OF THE SONGS OF THE
DAY.
FEW. SMALL AND POOR THIS YEAR. AMI "i'i'

II q had not been for the war. the year
product of popular songs would be hardly worm
noticing AS II Is, the word popular rea"'
ought 10 have quotation marks, or interrogation
marks or negation marks, or marks OF IRONY
ar como such marks around ii, or after IL, or
sonewbere about It, For there have been ex-
tremely few-almost none-songs this year that
have been popular, as the songs of some other
vears have been popular. There are lie"
that a considerable number OF persons "ouiu
be able To recognize by name. but there Is Prac-
ticallv none that have become familiar IN the
ears as household words.
The war did not make any songs that deserve
10 be called popular. The hack writers ana COLI
posers for the variety theatres were OF COURSE
glad of a special opportunity to turn asioe lor
a moment from the beaten tracks or Bowery
girls and women who had gone pathetcaiiy
wrong. and mothers whose boys had gone pa
tbeticallv wrong. and to take up such good.
honest subject as war. But the war. important
as II was to the history Of the Nation and of the
world and deeply as it moved the patriotism or
all good citizens. did not wiring the very hearts
OF the whole people as the Rebellion DID, ana IL
was not. consequently productive or songs
destined to long and vigorous life, as the Re-
belliOn
"sONGSTERS."
II ANYBODY who does not frequent the variety
theatres wants to know just what songs are
sung in them. the best way is to buy the books
of songs ("songSter' is the trade name) "hich
are sold in the streets. Two for five cents Is the
usual price and if you buy half a dozen differ
ent ones at random you are likely to get about
oil the songs that there are going. Nine-tenths
OF the songs in them are utter rubbish and
usually the other tenth is So too: but now ana
then the tenth song il interesting for one rea-
son or another, perhaps as showing what the
frequenters of the variety and concert halls
like perhaps because of its bearing on current
topics There is one OF the little books of the
present day which is far superior to its class.
because it is devoted almost exclusively to
songs of and patriotism. 1t is better still
because it does not try to be entirely up to date
but unblushingly revcrts to the songs which
have been known and we'll known for thirty or
fifty years. But it devotes its space especially
to songs of the year just passed. And it really
seems a pity that genuine sentiment. such as
often runs through such songs as these. should
be so perverted by the utter incompetency of
the rhymester as to have comic effect, when 1t
has any at all instead of a serious one. The
leading song of the book. for instance is called
after the War" and ii tells of a soldier who
went to tho war, leaving a sweetheart behind
him. and was killed. 1t is not good enough TO
quote because Of its goodness. nor bad enough
TO quote because Of its badness The second one
is called Just the Sun Went Down. and
the reader is at liberty to guess whether the
refrain is here quoted because Of its goodness
or because Of its badness.
One thought of mother at home alone feeble
and Old and gray,
One Of the sweetheart he left in town. happy
and young and gay;
one kissed a ringlet of thin, gray hair one
kissed a lock of brown
Bidding farewell to the Stars and Stripes, Just
the sun went down.
The refrain of the next. THE Lonely Cuban
Grave" is really much better than the average.
and yet there is nothing at all remarkable about
II. is there?
Far. far away N sunny Cuba. he had persisted
with the brave.
And he's sleeping by the hillside, in a lonely |
Cuban grave.
But there i something remarkable about the |
most OF them-they are remarkably bad. The |
next is called "On the Shores Of Havana. Far
Away" The reader will easily guess that it
goes to the tune Of con the Banks of the
wabash" This is the chorus:
Oh. the moon shines down tonight upon the
waters
Where the heroes Of the Maine in silence lay:
May they rest in peace, the loved ones who are
sleeping
ON the shores OF Havana. far away.
The tone becomes LEES pathetic when Dewey
Is the subject. and the bard exultantly asks:
What did Dewey do to them what did Dewey
do?
lie ana them up 50 thoroughly he only left a
few:
1t wasn't to the Queens taste-thats a pun and