page_title: Sleepy Seas
section_title: Arrangements
hierarchical_section_title: Sleepy Seas / Arrangements
caption_attribution_description: English: Creator: Unidentified Location: Bundaberg, Queensland Description: View this image at the State Library of Queensland: http://hdl.handle.net/10462/deriv/248643 Information about State Library of Queensland’s collection: http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/resources/picture-queensland
context_page_description: "Sleepy Seas" was a hit song which was first published 1920 by Private Reginald Stoneham while he managed the Melola Salon music store. It was an instant popular success with dance halls. The following year sales expanded to other music publishers. This vocal waltz was used to accompany silent movies, in the era before talkies.
  Australian audiences found the song lifted their spirits in times of crisis and "Sleepy Seas" achieved astonishing sales. By 1928 it was universally known across Australia and enjoyed some global success. The song was frequently revived in musical theatre and variety entertainment, more than ten years after publication. The romantic overtones perhaps reflected gender relations in War-time Australia. It was sometimes performed in Islander style with ukulele and grass skirt.
  Fortunately, the song escaped the scandals of producer Jack De Garis. Stoneham founded his own music publishing business and sold copies alongside those of fellow Australian composers.
  Australia sighed with relief in 1950, as a copy of the music became the singular clue that solved a murder investigation.
  The song was erroneously attributed to famous Australian pop successor Jack O'Hagan.
context_section_description: Big Band Swing style
  Brass Band
  Jazz Sextet
  Violin trio
  Symphony orchestra
  Piano, Accordion and violin trio
  Piano, cello, violin trio
caption: Alan Rattray's Australian silent movie orchestra
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