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Show SONGS WEDSEDTO SING Some Old Melodies and Their Local Asso-' Asso-' ciation The Origin of "The Old , Oaken Bucket." GOOD OLD SONGS OF CHILDHOOD. A Life on the Ooe.n Wave," and Other Familiar Verses Little Compensation Compen-sation for the Authors,. :' In a small and old fashioned but cozy cliop house, way down town, two veritable veri-table Bohemians sat the other afternoon, and over their pipes exchangod recollections. recollec-tions. Their talk after a while touched upon old familiar songs, many of which possess peculiarly interesting local associations. asso-ciations. "Now there's 'The Old Oaken Bucket,' Baid one of tho Bohemians; "that song had its birth up here in Duane street in 1817. Samuel Woodworth, a gifted but erratic printer, was living there at the time. One hot summer's day he went into his house and drank a glass of water, remarking, 'that taste's good, but how I wish that I could drink just at this minute from the old oaken bucket on my father's farm.' Woodwortb's wife remarked sympathetically, 'What a poem could be written on that thought!' The printer pondered for a minute, and sitting down at the nearest table began to write. Soon tho touching ' verses beginning 'How dear to this heart are the scenes of my childhood' were written. Soon afterward the words were coupled with a melody composed by Kiallmark for 'Araby's Daughter,' and were sung far and wide." " 'Woodman, Spare That Tree,' is another an-other famous song, based on a local incident," in-cident," said tho second Bohemian. "The words were written by George P. Jlorris, who lived in Now York almost all his life and died hers in 1864. When he was a boy his homo was on a farm not far from Bloomingdale. Ho was wont to play there under an old tree planted by his grandfather. "Many years after he had left the farm and the property had passed out of the hands of his family ho happened in that neighborhood one day, and saw a man about to cut down the old familiar tree. Ho begged tho man to desist, and received the gruff response that tho tree would bring $10 for firewood, lie gave tho man the money and took a bond for the safe protection of tho tree. Soon afterward he wrote the noted song, which was set to musio by Henry Rus-Bell." Rus-Bell." "You liave heard how 'A Life on the Ocean Wave' came to be written, I suppose?" sup-pose?" queriod tho first speaker, as he moistened his lips. "No? Well, it was . this way. Epes Snrgent was walking along the edge of the Battery one bright morning when the numerous craft, dancing danc-ing on the glistening water, brought to his mind a suggestion made to him some timo before by his friend, Henry Russell, that he write a marine Bong. Ho wrote the words of 'A Life on tho Ocean Wave,' End showed them to George P. Morris, who remarked that they mado a nice little lit-tle poem, but they would not do for a song. Soon afterward Rnssell met Sargent and asked him for tho verses. Taking them to a musio store ut Broadway and Park Placo, Russell went into a little hack room, seated himself at a piano and in a few minutes composed the air of the famous song. Sargent never received a cent for it, although tho sales of the song Were large. " 'Ben Bolt,' you rcmomber, was a noted 6ong along about 1850," continued the first Bohemian. "The original words of that song were written in 1812 by Dr. Thomas Dunn English, of Philadelphia, While on a visit to New York, and sent as a gratuitous contribution to a maga-Eine maga-Eine edited by his friend N. P. Willis. Some years af toward the verses wei-e repeated re-peated from memory to Nelson Kneass, a New York Bohemiun, who set them to music, adapting an old German song. The instantaneous success of 'Ben Bolt' made it a source of great profit to its publishers, but Kneass died in poverty, complaining that he only received a triflo tor his work. So far as is known the Writer of the original verses got nothing. " "But few writei'3 of popular songs ever made any mouoy out of them," oracularly oracular-ly remarked the second Bohemian. "There's the familiar case of John Howard How-ard Payne, a New York boy, who wrote 'Home, Sweet Homo' while starving in on attic in Paris. The song was to bo Kung in his opera, 'Clari, tho Maid of Milan.' Payne never got anything for it, and later in his lifo he wrote to a friend in this city: 'How often have I teen in the heart of Paris, Berlin, London Lon-don or some other city, and have heard persons sinirinar or hand orcnns uhiviny 'Home, Sweet Home' without having a shilling to buy myself tho next meal or a place to lay my head.' " "True, Payne's caso was a pathetio cue," assented Bohemian No. 1, "but there have been instances where song writers made a great deal of money and did not know how to keep it. Tako the experience of Stephen Collins Foster, for example, lie produced 'Old Kentucky Ilome,' 'Old Dog Tray,' 'Old Folks ut Home,' 'Old Uncle Ned' and scores of ether popular songs for which ho received re-ceived large sums of money. It is a matter mat-ter of record that mure than llJo.OOO copies of 'Old Dog Tray' were sold iu eighteen months. Foster was a reckless, happy-go-lucky fellow. Some of his most famous songs wero written on brown wrapping paper iu the back part of a downtown grocery in this city. He was taken sick here nud was conveyed to a hospital, where he died penniless Jan. 18, 1SG1. "Another man who received large urns of money for his songs was Henry C. Work, of this city, the author of Wake Nicodomus,' 'Marching Through Georgia' and 'Grandfather's Clock.' The Bales of the last mentioned song wero enormous, and Work received ijS.OOO in royalties on that alone." Now York Times. |