January 24
In the Good Old Summertime, Music by George Evans; Lyrics by Ren Shields (1902)
This piece was originally published in Tin Pan Alley (see previous Music Monday post!), but it had trouble gaining ground. A popular actress of the day, Blanche Ring, pushed to get it included in her musical comedy show, in which it became immensely popular. It continued to gain popularity and was covered by many singers up through the 1950s, and the melody and a variation of the lyrics are even used in Baylor University’s school song. I include this one not only because it was so popular, but because it represents another commonality in this era - many songs became popular through their inclusion in musical theatre. Of course, we still see this today, though we have the added media of movies that help spring songs to popularity. In general, I feel like nowadays, songs from movies tend to get more popular than songs from Broadway, though there’s always the exception. It continued to be popular throughout the 1950s, partly due to its inclusion in a 1949 movie of the same name, starring Judy Garland.
In looking through popular songs from this era, I found that quartets (think barbershop quartet) were quite popular, too, so this recording is another good example of early 1900s popular music. I also thought those of us in the Northern hemisphere might enjoy thinking about the summer in the middle of winter. (We got snow again last night where I live.)
Youtube link:
Baylor University school song, That Good Ol’ Baylor Line:
(Reference link: http://greatentertainersarchives.blogspot.com/2012/07/history-of-song-in-good-old-summertime.html)
(Top 40 of 1902 here: https://playback.fm/year/1902)
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