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MMD > Archives > July 1998 > 1998.07.19 > 09Prev  Next


Hit Songs of WW1
By Robbie Rhodes

MMDigest 980706 published a query from Stephanie Carey to Andy Taylor
about locating a piano roll of  "Just a Baby's Prayer at Twilight
(For Her Daddy Over There)".

Sheet music collector Sandy Marrone, writing in the newsletter
"Remember That Song" for June 1998, says,  "Every stack of large size
sheets seems to contain at least one copy of it, and sometimes more.
My own collection includes 50+ copies. ... I've often wondered if it
was published in the millions, and whether it was more popular than
most of us realize."

Sandy was thrilled to find an edition published in France; the cover
page shows that it was written by well-known Tin Pan Alley composers
Sam M. Lewis, Joe Young and M. K. Jerome.  Does anyone have a music
roll of this song?

Sandy also reproduced the cover of a French Edition of "Over There",
by Geo. M. Cohan, which surely was the most popular song of WW1.  At
the top of the cover appears, in French,  "Launched by the American
orchestras at the Casino de Paris, Folies Bergere, Olympia, Alhambra,
etc. etc. - the greatest success of the whole world."

My own favorite WW1 song is the QRS roll of "La Madelon", the hit song
in France, but played as a one-step instead of the usual 6/8 march.
The French lyric is printed on the left edge of the roll, with English
on the right edge.  It's really boisterous in both languages !

Robbie Rhodes


(Message sent Sun 19 Jul 1998, 17:29:39 GMT, from time zone GMT-0700.)

Key Words in Subject:  Hit, Songs, WW1

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