Looking backward is part of the human condition, and we as we age we can feel that our best days are behind us. It is no wonder so many songs have been written about earlier times.
The Good Old Days usually referred to an idealized rural life.
On a Good Old Fashioned Straw Ride is a novelty song by Dave Reed and George Christie from 1912, performed by the musical marriage team of Maud Lambert and Ernest R. Ball, Apple jack and hugging and kissing seem to be the main attraction of the straw ride experience. Along with playing on folk's nostalgia, there is a hefty dose of stereotyping the lingo of rural folk and a surprising amount of gol'darn cuss words.
Everybod's waitin' for the old straw ride
Every one's excited, Every one's delighted,
Every fellow's got a lady by his side;
Look at all the farmers in their right red hose!
Gals a galivantin' in their Sunday clothes!
Beautiful night time,
That is the right time,
Time to forget your woes;
We'll dance all night, till broad daylight,
And wake up the goldarn town:
I'll hop around the fiddle, like a chicken on a griddle,
Till they have to take a rope and tie me down!
Under the glimmer of a great big moonbeam rollin' a long,
While we're all sing' a song,
It's great to cuddle and kiss some fair little Miss;
Then back to the pumpkin and the squash, by gosh, we'll merrily glide,
If you ain't huggin' and kissin', there's somethin' you're missin',
on a good old time straw ride.
'Tildy, hurry up and don't you stop to fuss!
Howdy, Zaccaria! Is there room for us?
Who is that a crushin' What's the use of rushin'?
Hiram, quit your ticklin', yer a gosh darn cuss,
Pass around the apple jack agin', by heck!
Who is that a droppin' peanuts down my neck?
This is the game, boys, I'm glad I came boys,
Ain't gonter cost one speck;
Say look here, Zeke, why don't you speak?
And don't look so goldern black!
Well, I recon, Mister Smarty, I'm a bustin' up yer party,
But to tell the truth, I'm sittin' on a tack! (chorus)
***
 |
| 1905 Beaux Arts Edition piano solo of Home Sweet Home |
Many nostalgia songs are about missing home, the most famous of course being Home, Sweet Home. Songs were written about other 'homes' as well. Here is Susquehanna Home by Dave Ringle published in 1924. Listen to an instrumental Victor recording here. It is a surprisingly upbeat tune.
Why did I stray, wanter away
Fool I was to ever roam
Cows in the corn,mooin' at dawn,
call me back to my old home
Like all rollin' stones I'm blue my roamin' days are thru'
Susquehanna Home, Land of honeycomb,
Like the pine trees I am pinin'
Like an old stray dog I'm whinin'
Longing to sneak home under cover
To my gray haird pal I love her,
Moon a shinin' high
Can't you hear me cry,
Old shack layin' back on the hill
I'll be comin' back for a thrill
Susquehanna home.
Stars twinkle bright all thru' the night
O'er the fields of silv'ry dew
Clouds floatin' by sure make me sigh
soon I will be floatin' too
Back to those I long to see where my heart will always be. (chorus)
***
As the last song shows, nostalgia for home is basically missing Mom. There are numerous songs idealizing mothers. Here are a few.
Mother Dear by J. A. Pedersen and Ted. S. Barron, 1914, is one example.
I sit and dream alone.
On fond mem'ry's ship I take a trip
ack to my dear old home.
Back to those happy childhood days,
The dearest days of all;
I long to be back there again
In those days beyond recall.
I long to nestle in your arms again, Mother dear,
For in my dream your sweet voice still I hear,
your face I seem to see,
I hear you calling me,
Back to dear old home sweet home and mother dear.
In memory I am longing
To be a child once more,
To roam once again 'mid scenes of youth,
With loved ones I adore.
My thoughts are all of mother dear,
Tho' I am far away,
My heart is filled with longing
Just to be back home some day. (chorus)
***
Another mother song, Mother of Mine, by George A. Little and J. D. Stanley, 1913, is one of many with the same title and the least well known.
There is one that I'll love when the seas restless wave
Will not beat on the sandy shore,
There is one name I'll breath
When the Father who gave
Tells me that my life's work is o'er.
Mother of mine, mother of mine,
Seems that you're always beside me,
Your eyes divine ever will shine,
Through all my sorrow you guide me.
When on the day I pass away,
to that new land of sunshine,
Again on your breast I'll find sweet rest,
Mother, O, mother of mine!
When the light silver hair first grew into the gold,
And the smile sweet to see passed away,
When the light in her eyes
Father Time's story told
Then I knew all I lost that sad day. (chorus)
The lyrics recalling mother may seem saccharine to us today, and a stereotype of an idealized mother. Behind them lurks the sad reality of how short a woman's life was, how many lost their mothers early in life. Childbearing, disease, overwork taxed a woman's health. If one considers that the son's memories of his mother are from his childhood and that perhaps he lost her early in life, we see the song in a different light.
***
Mother was a standard by which all girls were measured. Men wanted to marry their mother. Or at least a gal who reminded him of dear old Mom.
Wedding bells are ringing,
Choir sweetly singing,
Soon the happy bride will ride away.
As she whispers “Good-bye, Daddy,”
To her father old and gray.
Tenderly he holds her;
Tears are in his eyes.
“Listen, child,” he whispers fond and low.
“Your mother was an angel,
and you’re an angel, too,
For you look just like your mother, long ago.
You’ve got the same eyes of blue,
You’ve got the same sweet smile, too,
And may the angels up above you
Watch and love you all life through.
You’ve got the same loving way,
And ev’ry night I’ll kneel and pray
That you’ll be through life,
a good true wife, dear,
Just as your mother was.”
“Just a simple story;
Love in all its glory—
Sun or storm your mother’s love was true.
But the angels came and took her
On the day they left me you.
Tenderly I watched you
Growing day by day;
Now the time to part is drawing near.
Remember that your mother
was steadfast, staunch, and true,
And I know you’ll always be like her, my dear.
***
The times were changing fast. But some were holding steadfastly to the old ways.
I can't find anything on An Old Fashioned Girlie by James O'Dea and Sam S. Krams and Jack Von Tilzer from 1914! James O'Dea (1870-1914) married Lyricist and Songwriter Hall of Fame star Anne Caldwell in August 1904 and they had two children.
They wandered where this City meets the town,
The girl was dressed in simple gingham gown,
The boy who came to woo as sweethearts often do,
Gazed lovingly into the eyes of brown
"I don't see what you see in me," she said,
"Old fashioned as I am, and country bred."
The boy said with a smile,
"I like a girl of style
But believe me, dear, I'd rather have instead,
An old fashioned girlie in an old-fashioned frock
An old fashioned candlelight a glow,
An old fashioned sofa and an old fashioned clock
That's just about a half hour slow.
And old fashioned courtship with a wedding feast and then
A joy to last our whole lives through,
That's an old fashioned heaven with a bunch of six or seven
Old fashioned kids like you.
The maiden blushed and turned her head away,
She knew not what to do or what to say
The boy as you can guess,
with lover like caress,
Said "dearest won't you name the wedding day,"
The birds were singing sweetly overhead,
The lily nodded to the roses red,
Two eyes with tears were wet,
To lips in kisses met
As once more the youthful lover fondly said, (chorus)
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