Decades before the WWII hit song
Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree with Anyone Else But Me, trees figured in courtship songs. Gardens and orchards and the great outdoors were places where lovers could coo in sweet privacy. Love and Gardens have associated with love since Adam and Eve.
Is There Still Room For Me Neath the Old Apple Tree by Edgar Leslie, Lew Brown and Maurie Abrahams, 1915, has a man telephoning his sweetheart back home. The recording even includes a ringing phone!
Hear a Victor recording performed by the Peerless Quartet here.
Hello there long distance, please don't make me wait in vain
I asked you to connect me with a homestead down in Maine
I hate to hold the wire, don't get mad if I complain
I long to hear my sweetheart's voice again
Oh, hello dear, yes, this is me, I'm many miles away
I'm lonesome and I just called up to say
Is there still room for me
'Neath the old apple tree
Where there once was a bench for two
Oh, that bench wasn't long
And you know it wasn't strong
When I sat there with you
I've got fare back to Maine
And I'll jump on a train
If your heart beats as fond and as true
Is there still room for me
'Neath the old apple tree
If there is I'll come back to you
Listen operator, what's the matter with this phone
It seems to me you never had a sweetheart of your own
You say there's wire trouble and you've got the numbers mixed
Well, hurry up and get the wires fixed
Is that you dear? Yes I can hear, they cut us off somehow
I'm waiting and I want your answer now
Is there still room for me
'Neath the old apple tree
Where there once was a bench for two
Oh, that bench wasn't long
And you know it wasn't strong
When I sat there with you
I've got fare back to Maine
And I'll jump on a train
If your heart beats as fond and as true
Is there still room for me
'Neath the old apple tree
If there is I'll come back to you
***
After their hit
In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree, Williams & Van Alstyne gave us
Neath the Old Cherry Tree Sweet Marie by Williams & Van Alstyne, 1907, performed by Josephine Gassman,
Hear it here.
Gassman (1882-1962) was a "coon shouter" who performed "coon songs" with African American children, the act known as
Josephine Gassman and her Pickaninnies. They toured from 1898 to 1906 across America and the world, playing the Orpheum with Will Rogers. One notice mentioned the "pickanninies" antics and their cake walk as well received. Acts with female singers and African American children were popular and included
Louise Dresser and her Picks.
The drowsy robin to his mate was calling,
The sun was slowly sinking in the West,
The creeping shadows to the East were falling,
'was then I felt a throb within my breast,
For it was with you I used to wander,
And court you in the good old fashioned way,
But now I sit alone at night and ponder,
And wonder if we'll meet another day.
'Neath the old cherry tree, sweet Marie,
Where you first gave your heart, love, to me,
Not a word did you say,
But as you turned away
I could see, sweet Marie, I could see,
Though your lips were as still and as red
As the cherries that hung over head,
Both your eyes told me well,
What your lips dared not tell,
'Neath the old cherry tree, sweet Marie.
In loneliness I turn the picture over,
And in my mind I see you painted there,
As fresh tonight as were the stems of clover
I wove in to the tangle of your hair
Perhaps another sits beneath the tree, dear,
Perhaps you're telling him you love him too,
Or maybe you have saved a thought of me, dear,
And dreamed I might again be there with you. (chorus)
***
The hit song
Take Me Back to the Garden of Love by E. Ray Goetz and Nat. Osborne, 1911, performed by Cario Portello, says his sweetheart's love is a garden in itself.
Hear it sung by Walter Von Brunt here.
Sweet thoughts of first love are filling me,
With joy but once we feel;
While thoughts of fear are thrilling me,
Its joy may prove unreal.
Often ‘twould seem love is luring me,
To find that you’re untrue;
To have, you reassure me,
In hope I long for you.
[Chorus]
Take me back to your Garden of Love, dear,
Once again let me bloom in your heart,
Take me back to the beautiful spring time,
Where sunshine and love never part.
To the rose in my heart that is dying,
You are just like the dew from above,
I need you, I want you, I love you,
Take me back to your Garden of Love.
If in your heart you regret me not,
Renew each vow to me;
Just like a sweet forget-me-not,
Once more each word will be.
If in your dreams you could understand,
Your love’s a fragrant bow’r;
Your heart’s my key to wonderland,
Come claim this fading flow’r. (chorus)
***
On a farm in Normandy,
There resided Rose Marie,
She was the pride of the country side,
Fair as a maid could be.
Came a lover bold one day,
When a most persuasive lay,
Tho’ she was grieving, when he was leaving,
He consol’d her in this way.
Chorus
When it’s apple blossom time in Normandy!
I want to be in Normandy,
By that dear old wishing well,
With you, Marie!
When it’s apple blossom time in Normandy,
I’m coming back to woo,
And the spring will bring a wedding ring,
Little sweetheart to you!
Said Marie “It’s clear to me,
Tho’ sincere you seem to be,
I am afraid of the promise made;
You may not come back to me.
By the wishing well today,
I shall wish that you will stay”
Said he despairing, “Love, I’m declaring,
I’m in earnest, when I say. (chorus)
Apple blossom time soon came,
Rose Marie then chang’d her name,
For with the spring he had brought the ring,
His loving bride to claim.
By the wishing well they stray,
Happiness is theirs today,
‘Mid blossoms falling, he is recalling,
What he fondly used to say. (chorus)
***
Another Andrew B. Stirling and Harry Von Tilzer hit was
Under the Yum Yum Tree, 1910.
Hear an Edison recording here by Collins & Harlan, complete with a spoken interlude of stereotyped African Americans. Even in these love songs, racism was a sad source of humor.
Chorus
Under the Yum Yum tree
That's the Yummiest place to be
When you take your baby by the hand
There'll be something doing down in Yum Yum land;
That is the place to play,
With your honey, and kiss all day,
When you're all by your lonely,
You and your only Yum! Yum!
Yummy Yummy Yum under the Yum Yum tree.
Yum Yum tree just grew, in the land of "Coo"
It was planted by old King "Spoon"
Even birds that fly, in it's branches high,
Sing a soft little loving tune,
Cupid and his band haunt that goo goo land
And a dart in your heart there'll be
If you spoony, spoony spoon
'Neath the moony, moony, moon,
Under the Yum Yum tree. (chorus)
***
There may not be a tree mentioned, but there is a garden in
When it's Ringtime in Springtime Then I'll Bring a Ring to You by Wm. Tracey and Ernest Breuer, performed by Bonita of
Bonita and Lew Hern, 1917. I can find nothing about this song.
Pauline De Landes (b. 1886) married Lew Hern (b. 1882 in Poland, d. 1965) and between 1904 and 1914 they performed together in vaudeville.
Dearie, Springtime is falling
I hear you calling too,
Sunshine and flow'rs,
Brighten the hours,
I'll soon be spending with you.
Chorus
When its ringtime in Springtime,
And the birds in the trees hum sweet melodies of love,
To a lonesome heart I'll be returning,
If that little spark of love's still burning,
Yearning, in the gloaming,
oh, my darling Love Ties we'll renew,
When it's ringtime in Springtime
Then I'll bring a ring to you.
Dearie, I know you're lonesome
I'm getting lonesome too,
Don't worry dear
Soon you will hear,
Wedding bells ringing for you. (chorus)
***
