1907: "Dear Old Golden Rule Days"
Various Artists

1907: “Dear Old Golden Rule Days”
January 2, 2016 hennessey
Various Artists: 1907: "Dear Old Golden Rule Days"

25 hits from 1907, the year that American banks suffered one of the worst panics in U.S. history, ushering in a two-year depression.  Features sentimental favorites by Byron G. Harlan ("School Days") and Frank Stanley ("Auld Lang Syne"), comic hits by Collins and Harlan, Bob Roberts, and Helen Trix ("The Bird on Nellie's Hat"), and the first stateside hit for Harry Lauder ("I Love a Lassie"). Other top artists include Billy Murray ("San Antonio" and "Harrigan"), Bert Williams, Ada Jones, Stanley and Burr ("Red Wing"), Enrico Caruso ("Vesti La Giubba" from Pagliacci), and the U.S. Marine Band doing a rousing version of Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag." Deluxe, full-color 24-page booklet features detailed notes on the songs, an historical essay, and rare graphics. List price: $17.49

OVERVIEW

  • Catalogue number: ARCH 9008
  • UPC: 777215104624
  • Original release date: May 27, 2003
  • Running length: 66:45 / 25 tracks
  • Notes & packaging: Includes a 24-page full-color booklet
  • Tracks recorded: 1905-1907
  • Contains racially derogatory language
  • In Archeophone’s Phonographic Yearbook series
Tracks and Sound SamplesProduct DescriptionPackage DealsMore by these Artists
 Sample all tracks 
Tracklist
1. School Days (When We Were a Couple of Kids) Byron G. Harlan 1907
2. I Just Can’t Make My Eyes Behave Ada Jones 1907
3. San Antonio Billy Murray 1907
4. Red Wing (An Indian Fable) Frank C. Stanley and Henry Burr 1907
5. Camp Meeting Time Arthur Collins and Byron Harlan 1906
6. Maple Leaf Rag U.S. Marine Band 1906
7. Pagliacci-Vesti la giubba Enrico Caruso 1907
8. Because You’re You Elise Stevenson and Harry Macdonough 1906
9. Let’s Take an Old-Fashioned Walk Ada Jones and Billy Murray 1907
10. I Love a Lassie Harry Lauder 1905
11. The Bird On Nellie’s Hat Helen Trix 1906
12. My Gal Sal Byron G. Harlan 1907
13. Merry Widow Waltz Victor Dance Orchestra 1907
14. No Wedding Bells for Me Bob Roberts 1907
15. Harrigan Billy Murray 1907
16. Honey Boy Columbia Quartette 1907
17. Three Rubes Seeing New York Peerless Trio 1907
18. Bake Dat Chicken Pie Arthur Collins and Byron Harlan 1907
19. My Irish Rosie Ada Jones 1907
20. Nobody’s Little Girl Byron G. Harlan 1907
21. Because I’m Married Now Billy Murray 1907
22. He’s a Cousin of Mine Bert Williams 1907
23. The Bully May Irwin 1907
24. If I’m Going to Die I’m Going to Have Some Fun Arthur Collins 1907
25. Auld Lang Syne Frank C. Stanley 1907

In 1907, New York’s financial districts needed to be taught the Golden Rule, as an October run on the Knickerbocker Trust Co. precipitated one of the biggest depressions in U.S. history. When the panic transpired, President Teddy Roosevelt was on a two-week nature expedition down the Mississippi River. Meanwhile, in homes across America, people were listening to Billy Murray, Ada Jones, Byron Harlan, and the newly-arrived sensation from the highlands of Scotland, Harry Lauder.

A Penchant for Sentimental Ballads

What adult today doesn’t remember singing “School Days” in his or her youth? This classic song of nostalgia for the rigors of “readin’ and writin’ and ‘rithmetic” was composed by Will Cobb and Gus Edwards and first heard in 1907. Byron G. Harlan, who performs it here, had perhaps his biggest successes this year. With “Nobody’s Little Girl” and Paul Dresser’s heartbreaking swan-song masterpiece, “My Gal Sal,” Harlan had phonograph listeners shedding many a tear.

Cowboy and Indian Songs

Two peculiar genres were very much in vogue during 1907: so-called “cowboy” songs and “Indian” songs. Neither kind was especially authentic to its supposed origins, but that made little difference. In the former category, Billy Murray builds on the 1906 success of “Cheyenne” with his version of “San Antonio,” performed here on an Edison black wax cylinder with a chorus. And in the latter genre, “Indian” songs, is “Red Wing,” as sung by the team of Frank Stanley and Henry Burr. “Red Wing” was so well known that T. S. Eliot referenced it in his signature poem, “The Waste Land.”

Now Appearing!

For many of the performers included here, their recordings during 1907 marked a first. “The Bird on Nellie’s Hat” was the first release by new vaudeville star Helen Trix. For Harry Lauder, “I Love a Lassie” was his first recording released stateside (although it was made in 1905). Meanwhile, “The Bully” (an 1896 smash) was from May Irwin’s first and only set of sessions for Victor. For the U.S. Marine Band, “Maple Leaf Rag” was from the first sessions for the outfit after a long absence from recording. And finally, the sketch, “Three Rubes Visiting New York” is taken from the first batches of releases for the new Indestructible cylinder company.

Songs You Can’t Forget

“Auld Lang Syne,” “My Irish Rosie,” and “Merry Widow Waltz” are tunes that have stood the test of time. Here they are in versions nearly one hundred years old. These are recordings made by the most significant of early phonograph personalities: Frank C. Stanley, a singer of solo songs, duets with Henry Burr, and quartets with the Columbia Quartet; Ada Jones, already the most popular of all female singers, and newly introduced as a partner with Billy Murray; and the Victor Orchestra, ably conducted by Walter B. Rogers.

Nowhere else can you find all these great original songs, by the original artists, on one CD, beautifully remastered and accompanied by a lush, full-color 24-page booklet featuring extensive notes, an essay on the time period, and original source graphics and sheet music.

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