Lyr Req: old lullabies

Subject: Old Lullabye
From: GUEST,Colleen
Date: 04 Apr 02 - 12:49 PM

My mom is desperately seeking the lyrics to songs that her mother sang to her as a child in the 30's. She has given me titles as she remembers them, but I have not been able to find any songs by those titles. She remembers them as, "She Counted Each Penny", "My Best Girl", "Only Me", and "The Passing Policeman". Can anyone help me find these songs? Thanks!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Lullabyes
From: Sorcha
Date: 04 Apr 02 - 01:31 PM

The Fatherland, The Motherland, The Land of My Best Girl at Levy. Maybe?
She's My Best Girl, Levy
Also this from Levy:
Title: My Best Girl. Song.
Composer, Lyricist, Arranger: by Walter Donaldson.
Publication: New York: Jerome H. Remick & Co., 1924.
No music available.

Only Me, Levy

Lost Child, Levy, first phrase includes "passing policeman". Let us know if these are correct, OK?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Lullabyes
From: SINSULL
Date: 04 Apr 02 - 02:24 PM

Hi Colleen. I have been looking for a recording of "ONLY ME" without success for about a year. My father has promised to do one for me. If you know of one, please let me know. Thanks, Mary

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Lullabyes
From: Sorcha
Date: 04 Apr 02 - 02:27 PM

No luck at all on She Counted.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Lullabyes
From: GUEST,Colleen
Date: 05 Apr 02 - 09:08 AM

Thanks, Sorcha, for the "Lost Child" info. That's the one I was looking for, and "Only Me" also. No luck with the "My Best Girl" song, though. The song I am looking for is about a little newsboy who tells people he will show them a picture of his best girl, and the picture he shows is a picture of his mother. I hope someone can find "She Counted Each Penny (she didn't have many....etc.) I think that's the one my mom would most love to find. Thanks, Mary, for your efforts, as well. I hope the version of "Only Me" that Sorcha found is what you are looking for, too.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Lullabyes
From: masato sakurai
Date: 05 Apr 02 - 11:26 AM

There're 4 songs with the title "My Best Girl" in ASCAP database.

~Masato

Subject: Lyr Add: THE LITTLE LOST CHILD (Marks, Stern)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 07 Apr 02 - 03:32 PM

Transcribed from the copy at The Lester H. Levy Collection of Sheet Music.

THE LITTLE LOST CHILD
(Words by Edward B. Marks, music by Joseph W. Stern, 1894)

A passing policeman found a little child.
She walked beside him, dried her tears, and smiled.
Said he to her kindly, "Now, you must not cry.
I will find your mama for you by and by."
At the station when he asked her for her name,
And she answered "Jennie," it made him exclaim,
"At last of your mother I have now a trace.
Your little features bring back her sweet face.

CHO: "Do not fear, my little darling, and I* will take you right home.
Come and sit down close beside me. No more from me* shall you roam
For you were a babe in arms when your mother left me one day—
Left me at home, deserted, alone, and took you, my child, away.

"'Twas all through a quarrel. Madly jealous, she
Vowed then to leave me, woman-like, you see.
Oh, how I loved her! Grief near drove me wild."
"Papa, you are crying," lisped the little child.
Suddenly the door of the station opened wide.
"Have you seen my darling?" an anxious mother cried.
Husband and wife, then meeting face to face,
All is soon forgiven in one fond embrace. CHO.

[*Use "we" in second chorus. **Use "us" in second chorus.]

Subject: Lyr Add: ONLY ME (Ford & Bratton, 1894)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 09 Apr 02 - 10:49 AM

Transcribed from the sheet music at the Levy site, and edited a bit:

ONLY ME [Published 1894.]

NOTE. "The Story told in this little song is of a Mother who lavished all her maternal caresses upon one favorite child, while the other she treated with indifference. The childish expression "It's Only Me," made a deeper impression on the Author, than a masterpiece of grammatical construction could possibly have done."

Words by Walter H. Ford. Music by John W. Bratton,

A mother of fashion was being arrayed
By her dainty French maid, Babette.
Her two little girls in the nursery played,
But one was her darling, her pet.
A sound from the room caused the mother to cry,
"Was that you, my dear Marie?"
The answer came back 'twixt a sob and a sigh:
"No, Mamma. It's only me."

CHO: "Only me, only me," sobbed in a weary tone,
Wrung from an innocent baby's heart, that felt so much alone!
One got the kisses and kindly words. That was her pet, Marie!
One told her troubles to bees and birds. That one was "only me!"

Close to a white cot on a bright summer day,
The mother's heart wakened at last.
The life of her baby was ebbing away.
The tears of repentance fell fast.
"Now don't you cry, mamma dear. You needn't care.
It isn't your dear Marie.
And maybe the Angels will [have?] love [to] spare,
A little for only me." CHO.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Old Songs
From: GUEST,dmeyer022tampabay.rr.com
Date: 20 May 05 - 12:24 PM

I am looking for the words to a Lullaby it has (A passing policeman found a little girl she walk beside him at the station when he ask her name she answred "Jenny" which made him exclain.)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Old Songs
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 22 May 05 - 11:41 PM

GUEST, the song you're asking about is called THE LITTLE LOST CHILD. Lyrics have already been posted in another thread called "Lyr Req: Old Lullabies" (Click).

If you want to discuss that song, please do it in that thread because this thread is about one specific song called "The Old Songs."

(The title IS confusing and others have made the same mistake.)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Lullabies
From: GUEST,Chris
Date: 10 Aug 10 - 07:09 PM

Thank Jim Dixon so much for the lyrics to "A Mother of Fashion". I've been looking for them for ages. It wss one of my grandmother's favorite songs, and she used to sing it to me, (and I'm 81!)

Chris Jameson

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: old lullabies
From: GUEST,Deb Lawrence
Date: 15 Sep 10 - 10:24 AM

Thank you for the lyrics for A Lady of Fashion, my mother who passed away June 27th 2010 sang this to me as a small child.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: old lullabies
From: Tannywheeler
Date: 15 Sep 10 - 12:16 PM

Lullabies!!?? Shudder. Of course, my own kids loved Jean Ritchie's "Old Woman All Skin & Bones"! & "Go Tell Aunt Rhody"...Tw

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: old lullabies
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Aug 21 - 08:17 AM

Thank you to Jim Dixon. How kind of you to fill in the gaps of our memories.

Laurel

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: old lullabies
From: GUEST,#
Date: 09 Aug 21 - 12:19 PM

The song referred to in the OP as "She Counted Each Penny" may be the following:

“She’s Been A Mother To Me”

1896
Words by Walter H. Ford
Music by John W. Bratton

A poor little maiden, with newspapers laden
Was trying her best not to cry
She counted each penny, she didn’t have many
Then called a policeman near by,
My mother’s in jail, sir, will you take this bail, sir
And tell them she didn’t do wrong.
It’s all a mistake, sir,
And her heart will break, sir,
If I am away from her long.

Chorus
She’s been a mother to me,
Good and true,
Kind as no other could be,
All I know,
We’ve one another, you see,
Just we two,
That’s why I love her, I do,
For she’s been a mother to me.


She isn’t my mother, but there I’ve not other
She found me one day at her door,
She did all she could, sir, to bring me up good, sir
She couldn’t do wrong I am sure,
The judge heard her story, her face shone with glory,
Your mother, may go, my dear child.
And as he dismissed them,
She ran up and kissed him,
Then turned to the court room and smiled.

Chorus


That is from https://cityhallpark1899.com/2013/08/22/shes-been-a-mother-to-me/

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: old lullabies
From: Monique
Date: 09 Aug 21 - 01:28 PM

Here are the Yiddish lyrics:

מיר דוכט ,אז די סאָﬥﬢﬡטן ,וועלכע הכּן
,ניט אומגעקערט אהײם זיך פון טראנשײ
,זײ ליגן אין די גריבער ניט באגראָבן
.איך בושלען זיך פארװאנדלט האָבן זײ

,און כאָטש ס׳איז װײַט אזױ שוין די מילבאָמע
,דאָך פליִען זײ און שרײַﬠן צו אונדז הױך
,עס טוט בא אונדז א צאפל די נעשאָמע
.מיר קוקן אף די פרײַנט ,וױ דורך א רויך

,עס פליט, עס פליט איבער מײַן קאָפּ א סטײַע
,אין שטרעגגע שורעס - בושלען אָן א שיר
-און איך דערוע דאָס אײנציקע דאָס פרײַע
.קאָן זײַן ,דאָס אָרט ,װאָס איז פארגרײט פאר מיר

װען קומען װעט מײַן צײַט - מיט בושלען הויכע
,אװעקפליִען ,וױ יעדן איז באשערט
דאן װעל איך פונעם הימל שרײַען אױכעט
.צו די ,װאָס כ׳האָב געלאָזן אף דער ערד