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The 1900's --- Music hath charm to soothe the savage beast or Make it RAGTIME!

In 1903 HAYDEN Quartet would have a hit with highly popular Christian hymn first published in 1868, IN THE SWEET BYE AND BYE :
 
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BY THE SYCAMORE TREE would be yet another ballad that would be popular as a recording. Harry Macdonough would
 
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Also recording BY THE SYCAMORE TREE was Bob Roberts.
Bob Roberts would reach his peak as a recording artist starting about 1903 through 1907, after which his stage career took over his time. During this time period Roberts rivaled Billy Murray and they both were paid approximately $30.00 per recording by the Edison Phonograph Company (the going rate at that time).
 
A Hit recorded by Dan Quinn made it to the top 40 for 1903. The song was none other than THE BEER THAT MADE MILWAUKEE FAMOUS:
 
Hit #38 was UP IN THE COCOANUT TREE sung by the great Billy Murray on an EDISON Cylinder Record: The record by the way is NOW nearly 120 years old. Who would have thunk!
 
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Here is another ditty popular in 1903 sung by Dan Quinn ---- THERE'S A LOT OF THINGS YOU NEVER LEARN AT SCHOOL:
Lyrics

  1. I confess when I left college
    With a bunch of high class knowledge
    My cranium was not its normal size
    All the high degrees I’d won them all
    The toughest problems done them
    I simply thought the earth would be my prize
    But I find my education
    Didn’t seem to jar the nation
    I find no streets named after me today
    I meet folks without much learning
    In a way beyond discerning
    They’re teaching me new wrinkles every day
Chorus
There’s a lot of things you never learn at school
There’s a lot of things that never go by rule
There’s an awful lot of knowledge
That you never get at college
There’s a lot of things you never learn at school

  1. Tommy’s teacher told the story
    Of George Washington’s young glory
    Who chopped the tree and cried
    “Oh, lie I can’t”
    Tom thought George was a dandy
    Next day an ax was handy
    He took it and chopped down the Rubber plant
    “Now who did this?” yelled his daddy
    “It was I” replied the laddie
    “Like Georges “Pop” embrace your truthful lad”
    Cross his knee Tom’s papa pressed him
    With a baseball bat caressed him
    “Boy’s Pops have changed since Georgies time” said Dad
  2. Although Doctors are prolific
    With their knowledge scientific
    A visit to our house they seldom take
    For dearest old grandmother
    Has a cure somehow or other
    For every kind of ailment pain or ache
    Now our little baby hollered
    When a writing pen it swallowed
    It filled us with six diff’rent kinds of fright
    But Grandma just took a bottle
    Poured some black ink down it’s throttle
    It reach’d the pen and made the baby write
  3. Our new cottage they’ve been painting
    And one night I felt like fainting
    When I gazed upon my Sunday pearl-grey pants
    On those trousers bright and mellow
    Spots of paint bright red and yellow
    It really nearly put me in a trance
    Till I read in next day’s paper
    A small “ad” that seem’d the caper
    The way to take out paint stains without doubt
    Send a dime and learn the plan Sir
    Well, I did and got this answer
    Just take a scissors, cut the paint stains out
 
Well. we are about to leave 1903, but here is an EXTRA from that year you might enjoy. MY COSIE CORNER GIRL, sung by Harry Macdonough:
 
The big number one hit of 1904 was written in 1903 and was titled BEDELIA (Irish song). MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS wasn't it, but we'll have it posted here soon enough. Billy Murray would record it on an EDISON Cylinder in 1903 but sheet music and records would continue to build in sales. Here is BEDELIA --- the perfect blend of a comic story involving an Irishman and his lassie: BEDELIA would also be recorded by many of the popular artists of the day. Here is the Haydn Quartet from 1904 on a BERLINER Record: Here GEORGE Gaskin sings BEDELIA (not a very good recording --- well worn) But it all goes to show the popularity of this song:
 
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Another hit of 1904 written in 1903 was SWEET ADELINE. Here it is sung by the Haydn Quartet:
 
Of course another big hit written 1904 was indeed MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS. It would be the song sung all during the St. Louis Fair, and was recorded by a lot of artists. However, the fair would end and so this big smash hit would come to define a wonderful moment. The song would again be a popular hit in 1944 when the movie MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS would again make the song memorable: Here we have Billy Murray singing for us. He is likely my favorite singer of this period, as he apparently was for many record buyers of this period: Here a movie trailer for the Judy Garland movie MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS that contains this popular song. Here also is a 1904 music box disc rendition of this popular tune played on a MIRA interchangeable disc music box of the period (as it might have sounded in an ice-cream parlor or home at that time) ---- enjoy:
 
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SWEET ADELINE written in 1903 would become a standard ---- popular among barbershop quartets, even the Three Stooges would sing this song years later in one of their shorts. Here is the Haydn Quartet in 1904 singing SWEET ADELINE: Here is the Columbia Quartet the same year singing it too.
 
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So much of what we think is determined by the propaganda spread to the people. In today's world everything is made to be something other than what is intended or what is actually is.
 
Integrityrespec said:
So much of what we think is determined by the propaganda spread to the people. In today's world everything is made to be something other than what is intended or what is actually is.
Click to expand...
Please provide an example. Thanks!
 
Another catchy tune from 1904 was entitled ALEXANDER. It would be recorded by several artist including Bob Roberts and Billy Murray that year: And here are the words from the sheet music singer:
 
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Another popular song from 1904 was I'VE GOT A FEELING FOR YOU. Here it is sung by Arthur Collins: And here is a Yiddish version of this song: And also Bob Roberts' 1904 recording:
 
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In 1903 a musical (Babies in Toyland) would be performed and was destined to become very popular for the Christmas season. In 1904 Corrine Morgan and the Haydn Quartet would record a song that would become an annual favorite around the holidays --- TOYLAND https://playback.fm/charts/top-100-songs/video/1904/Corrine-Morgan-Toyland I find this tune haunting as one realizes that ALL little children are destined to enjoy youth for only a fleeting moment ---- and as they mature and age, they must pass the keys to that kingdom on to another... Here is the sheet music singer with the words to the music: https://www.sheetmusicsinger.com/toyland-2/ The first time I heard this song was during a Christmas holiday ---- My parents took me to see Walt Disney's Babies in Toyland ---- it seems almost like yesterday, and in a way it was...
 
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In the middle of the charts was a song about flying (the new great adventure of the era). The song is titled COME TAKE A TRIP IN MY AIRSHIP. What I find a surprise is that male singers of the day had no problems whatsoever with singing a song that was from a woman's standpoint. I really think it had to do with the innocents of the time --- NOBODY THOUGHT ANYTHING ABOUT IT. It was just a song, those were the words, and everybody was singing it. Also realize that an airship was a ZEPPELIN or DIRIGIBLE or BLIMP. Aeroplanes were not much beyond experimentation:
 
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Well, there were airships and trains. In 1904, #15 for that year was ALL ABOARD FOR DREAMLAND. And here is Byron Harlon to sing it for us on a ZON-O-PHONE record And here is the sheet music singer with the words:
 
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Here is a VICTOR Record recorded in February of 1904. It is operatic and by the GREAT CARUSO singing CELESTE AIDA. He was VERY popular even among the "common" people. And Caruso would indeed have the 1st million selling recording --- though this isn't it. This recording does present the range of sound these acoustic recordings were capable of...
 
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The Hayden Quartette would have a hit that would run for 10 straight weeks in 1904 on their VICTOR Record entitled, SWEET ADELINE published the same year:
 
Bob Roberts had a hit from Vaudeville on a COLUMBIA Record in 1904, titled I MAY BE CRAZY BUT I AIN'T NO FOOL ---- a rather witty song:


I wonder why dat everybody always chooses me
To sell things to and tell things to and give them sympathy
You've heard what they hand farmer folks
Well that ain't one, two, three
With the gold bricks and the fish-tales that they try to hand to me

Well, I may be crazy, but I ain't no fool
One and one is always two that’s what I learnt in school
Cause I have known for many a year
That you mustn’t believe everything you hear
Well, I may be crazy, but I ain't no fool

Now me and a man once had a fuss and was to fight a duel
They first said swords but I cried
No, I'm too good t'would be cruel
I think that pistols will be best
His seconds said, They will
Oh, yes, revolvers will just suit our friend there, "Buffalo Bill"

Well, I may be crazy, but I ain't no fool
I read all 'bout Buff'lo Bill when I was goin' to school
There's one thing that's a certainty
He'll make no target out of me
Well, I may be crazy, but there was no duel

I fell in love once with a girl, to her my heart was true
I had a rival and he swore that he loved Lula, too
So, Lu advised us both to jump from off the Bridge next day
And the one that got back to her first, she would marry right away

Well, I may be crazy, but I ain't no fool
Two and two is always four, I learnt that thing in school
My rival agreed and then he grabbed his hat
But I could never love a girl like that
Well, I may be crazy, but I ain't no whale



Read more: https://www.lyricsvault.net/php/artist.php?s=45705#ixzz7RbtSLMgP
 
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In 1898 the EDISON Phonograph Company would hire a comedian named Cal Stewart. This gentleman knew both Mark Twain and Will Rodgers as friends and shared a similar wit. Cal Stewart would begin recording a whole series of records as a country bumkin known as UNCLE JOSH who lived in the quaint small town of Pumpkin Center. Uncle Josh would tell stories and laugh at his own jokes. And 1904 would see several of these recording selling in the thousands. So, how's bout we go back in time to this little country place and see what kind of predicaments Uncle Josh gets himself into ---- and what people thought was comedy at the turn of the last century:

1904 Cal Stewart ---- UNCLE JOSH AND THE INSURANCE COMPANY
Well, sir, 'long last fall 'bout corn-shuckin' time,
Feller come along wanted to insure me against accidents for twenty-five dollars a week,
And I told him, I guess I'd had 'bout all the accidents a man could have an' live:
I've fell in the thrashin' machine, had the reaper run over me, and a well cave in on me,
Well he talked me into it, so I took out the policy,
And next day I went over to help Ezry Hoskins,
Who was a-buildin' a new house,
And Ezry sent me up on the top floor to take down some brick what was up thar.
Well I rigged up a rope an' a pulley an' I tied one end of the rope to a beam down the cellar,
And t'other to an old empty barrel, and I filled that doggoned ol' barrel full of brick,
And went down the cellar an' untied the rope to let it down!

Well, it was heavier than what I was, an' it started down, and I started up,
An' I met it halfway, an' it took a right smart (?) of me back down again!
That was the fust accident, then I hit the roof, that was the second accident,

An' the barrel hit the cellar floor an' knocked the bottom out of it,
An' the bricks all run out, and then I was heavier than it was,
An' I started down, an' it started up, an' I met it again,
And what it didn't do to me in the fust place it done in the second place,
An' that was the third accident!

I hit the cellar floor, an' the rope flew out of my hands,
That was a fourth accident when that darned old barrel come down,
Hit me on top o' the head, an' made five accidents all together!
Well, I had it figured out:
I could lay in bed about ten weeks an' clear off a mortgage on the farm,
But that agent come along, said it wan't only one accident,
An' that's all he'd pay me for, an' I stayed in bed four days,
An' got eighteen dollars and thirty-six cents!

Darned ol' insurance company warn't nothin' but a swindle, anyhow!

EVENING TIME AT PUMPKIN CENTER (Cal Stewart & Ada Jones & Peerless Quartet)

(Harness bells)
Who was that drove up, Sary?
Why, it's Ezra Hoskins!
(Knocking)
Come in! Good evenin' Ezry
Good evenin'! Well! Feels nice and warm in here. I was just passin' the Post Office,
And they give me this letter for you, Josh.
Thank you, Ezry. Won't you sot down and visit a spell?
No, it's gettin' right on late, and I guess I'll drive on. Good night, all of you!
Good night, Ezry.
(Harness bells)
Who's the letter from, Josh?
It's from Reuben! Says he'll be home from France for Thanksgiving.
Well, that's worth giving thanks for!
(Child crying)
Sary, you'd better put some camphor and goose grease on that child's breast.
Sounds like he's going to have croup.
It's his teeth, father. Wish I had one of them rubber rings for him to cut his eye teeth on!

You give him that gold brick on the mantel! That's what I cut my eye teeth on!
(Laughter)
Reuben'll be mighty proud of that boy.
Why, gosh, plumb forgot: Reuben ain't never seen him! We'll have to put hobbles on Reuben when he gets home!
(Laughter)
Father, how you do talk!
Silas, if you grease them boots and sot 'em by the fireplace, they'll go on easier in the morning!
Don't think I can get 'em on till I've worn 'em three or four times!
(Laughter)
Well, it's about bedtime. Jim, let the cat in, and put the carpet up to the door.
Rose, an' you play something on the melodeon, and we'll sing it!
Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer
That calls me from a world of care
And bids me at my Father's throne
Make all my wants and wishes known
In seasons of distress and grief
My soul has often found relief
And oft escaped the Tempter's snare
By thy return, sweet hour of prayer
 
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Bob Roberts would have a nice hit with TEASING in 1904 on an EDISON cylinder:
 
1904 would have another really big hit with GOODBYE MY LADY LOVE. I must admit that I might not be quite so gentlemanly to sing a farewell --- I was always more of a "Frankly Scarlet, I don't give two Hoots!" But this song does put into words pleasantly what many a man thought knowing his girl was a two-timer. Here is Harry MacDonough to sing this great hit on a 1904 EDISON Cylinder. Note: A lead in verse was always popular back then.

Author Collins would also have a hit with the song in 1904 as well:
 
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Isabel Jay would have a wonderful hit with POOR WAND'RING ONE from the Gilbert and Sullivan's comic operetta THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE. She had already made a recording of this song in 1900, but would go on to make 2 more recordings in 1904 of the same song, as it were so well received. Ms. Jay would die at a very young age due to complications from scarlet fever that she contracted as a child. . This may give you an idea as to how the song fits in the operetta: This operetta made its debut New Years Eve -- December 31st, 1879 and remained quite popular for over 100 years.
POOR WOND'RING ONE
For shame
For shame
For shame
Poor wandering one
Though thou hast surely strayed
Take heart of grace, thy steps retrace
Poor wandering one
Poor wandering one
If such poor love as mine
Can help thee find true peace of mind
Why, take it, it is thine
Take heart, no danger lowers
Take any heart but ours
Take heart, fair days will shine
Take any heart, take mine
Take heart, no danger lowers
Take any heart but ours
Take heart, fair days will shine
Take any heart, take mine
Poor wandering one
Though thou hast surely strayed
Take heart of grace, thy steps retrace
Poor wandering one
Poor wandering one
Poor wandering one
Take heart, take heart
Take any heart but ours
Take heart, take heart
Take heart, no danger lowers
Take any heart but ours
Take heart, take heart
Take any heart but ours
Take heart
 
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