The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-09-09
CATCH WORDS In
POPULAR SONGS
THE "MooN WAS sHINING, AMI
THE "FAR AWAY" VARIETY.
And Then Came the Geographical and
Strolling Songs-Themes That Have
Been Popular in Recent Years
Public Taste Is Tickle.
Kansas City Journal.

Kansas O1Cy JOURNAL. Z
Ibid you ever notice how popular
songs 60 in cycles7' asked VIII r.
Winch, assistant manager of the Or
pheum, speaking to a group Of friends.
II find that | have unconsciously made
study of the pet phrases that 90 with
the songs of any particular period. For
instance, there was long time in
which every sentimental song 1 heard
from the stage here had the phrase in
gently shining from above Of course
that is where the moon usually shines
from, but for a time the song writers
seemed to think that their efforts would
be in vain if they did not have the
moon shining down instead of up.
That idea came into supplant the one
that. that preceded i, gradually took first
another and finally disappeared alto
gether. Usually there are three such
phrases in all popular songs; one just
coming in, one in full sway and one
past its. prime and disappearing.
A fair instance of this is seen in
the song Sunny TENNESSEE The rail-
road song had been rampant for some
time when this song was written: We
had had My Dad s the Engineer sThe
Baggage Coach Ahead and any num-
'bef of that kind. The train feature
| was just passing out, as [ said, and as
a concession to it the hero of the song
| Tennessee was speeding on a train
that would bring me back again to my
sweetheart who was waiting there for
me-
The "Far-Away" Songs.
However, the moon-rising business
was in full blast, so in the chorus When
the moon rose in it's glory, then told
life's sweetest story to the girl 1 loved
in sunny Tennessee The moon was
it in those days. MY sweetheart
shining bright tonight on my old Ken
lucky home and on the banks of the
Wabash far away. And that brings US
to another phase of the subject. Did
you ever notice that nothing was worth
singing about until it was far away!
'On the banks of the Wabash, far
away Mid the green fields of Virginia,
far away Down upon the Suanee
river, far, far away But to finish our
example: The last line about the girl
we loved who sleeps in sunny Tennes-
see was the forerunner Of the geo.
graphical graveyard element in songs.
There was Mary who slept by the banks
of the Wabash, Mary who slept in sun
silvery Rio Grande, Rose in Georgia and
the girl I loved out in the golden west"
things,'' said another of the group, IL
remember that just before the passen-
ger train came into the song they, all
started out on walk. while strolling
down the street one eve upon mere
pleasure bent man met the girl who
said, tell them that you saw me,
pines. He left lis sweetheart, and
while sstrolling along in the city's vast
throng On a day that was bitter and
cold he met another girl and she NAV
have seen better days. Those were
suppose s that day that was bitter and
cold saw the inception of the weather
condition songs 'On a; morning bright
and clear to my old home I drew near,
Just village down in sunny Tennes-
see.' And ''Twas bright and sunny
day when young wife went away from
her husband, who had wrung her heart
with pain. She was happy till she met
him That was the beginning of the
domestic difficulties idea in songs.
Your mother, child, left home one
night in There III Come Time and
Tho she fed with another she's still
my b 2a s mothe 4a in II No love H Her
Home for You transferred the break
ing up of home ties to the colored pop
ulation. And hence 'Just take your
clothes and CO. fAll coons look alike to
me- IF you amt got no money you
needn't come around For long Pc
Rod then every nanny was driving her
old man away from home. The next
thing to expect was the reaction, and
the logical result was Bill Bailey,
won't you please come homes'
Down the Scale.
"Talking of what to expect con.
tinued the first speaker. "When the
coon songs began to change from tyal-
Ter gals named Hannah to Jet black
ladies it showed which way asenti-
ment was drifting 1 saw that the
songs were going down in the anthro-
biological scale and predicted the end
When the negroes were as black as
they could get the Zulu song came in.
After the Zulu came the Hottentot
'She's My Sweet Forget-Me-Not,' and
then King of the Cocoanut Grove,
I'm Lonely, Dear Little Chimpanzee,
I Love You Only And now we have
the plain monkey song in Zanzibar.
The 'honeysuckle and the bee went
still farther down in the scale of evo-
luton and marked the change from an
imal to vegetable kingdom. THE Star
That Loved the Rose was getting clear
back to the nebular hypothesis. 1t
was too ethical for the common mind
and did not last. But it was certainly
following the evolution theory out to
its logical conclusion