Lyr Add: Will You Love Me When I'm Old

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Will You Love Me When I'm Old
From: Crowhugger
Date: 10 Jun 10 - 01:45 PM

In the text above the poem it says they are the words of Jean Paul Friederich Richter. Never heard of 'im myself, which I hasten to add is no measure of anything.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Will You Love Me When I'm Old
From: GUEST,kendall
Date: 10 Jun 10 - 01:07 PM

Joe, my head is full of old songs and most of them I have no idea who wrote them.

Subject: Lyr Add: WILL YOU LOVE ME WHEN I AM OLD?
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 10 Jun 10 - 11:08 AM

The following poem appears without attribution in The Knickerbocker; or, New-York Monthly Magazine, Volume 34 (New York: Samuel Hueston, Oct, 1849), page 360:


WILL YOU LOVE ME WHEN I AM OLD?

Will Affection still enfold me,
As the day of life declines,
When Old Age with ruthless rigor
Ploughs my face in furrowed lines:

When the eye forgets its seeing,
And the hand forgets its skill,
When the very words prove rebels
To the Mind's once kingly will:

When the deaf ear, strained to listen,
Scarcely hears the opening word,
And th'unfathomed depths of feeling
Are by no swift currents stirred:

When fond Memory, like a limner,
Many a line perspective casts,
Spreading out our by-gone pleasures
On the canvass of the Past:

When the leaping blood grows sluggish,
And the fire of youth hath fled,
When the friends who now surround us
Half are numbered with the dead:

When the years appear to shorten,
Scarcely leaving us a trace,
When old Time with bold approaches
Marks his dial on my face:

When our present hopes, all gathered,
Lie like dead flowers on our track,
When the whole of our existence
Is one fearful looking-back:

When each wasted hour of talent,
Scarcely measured now at all,
Sends its witness back to haunt us,
Like the writing on the wall:

When the ready tongue is palsied,
And the form is bowed with care,
When our only hope is heaven,
And our only help is prayer:

When our idols, broken round us,
Fall amid the ranks of men;
Until Death uplifts the curtain,
Will thy love endure till then?


*
The British Library has sheet music described thus:

WILL YOU LOVE ME WHEN I'M OLD. Ballad [begins: "Will affection still enfold me"].
Author: William Henry West, the Elder.
Publisher: London, [1853]

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Will You Love Me When I'm Old
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 16 Jan 07 - 11:15 PM

Holy Bat Guano Joe - If walk down AbbyRoad as GUEST I'm deleated 20%!!!

If I post under a nomulcer I'm deleated 40%

You know my style.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Busily scanning the 2006 log access.

---

Ayup. I do know your style - very well.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Will You Love Me When I'm Old
From: kendall
Date: 16 Jan 07 - 11:10 PM

Ok, two different songs.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Will You Love Me When I'm Old
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 16 Jan 07 - 09:55 PM

Kendall - Guest may be referring to the Beatles song 'When I'm 64' on - I think - Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band......; or of course, he may not.

Leadfingers - so glad someone mentioned the Tom Lehrer gem; it is quite amazing how topical his songs can be for subjects like this and 'stuff' in general--Folk Song Army, New Math, and 'Who's next' for starters......

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Will You Love Me When I'm Old
From: SINSULL
Date: 16 Jan 07 - 09:50 PM

"Will You Love Me In December As You Do In May?"

Haven't sung this one in a while...

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Will You Love Me When I'm Old
From: kendall
Date: 16 Jan 07 - 09:49 PM

Guest, can you supply a source? I'd like to hear their version.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Will You Love Me When I'm Old
From: kendall
Date: 16 Jan 07 - 09:17 PM

Guest, opinions are what makes horse racing.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Will You Love Me When I'm Old
From: Leadfingers
Date: 16 Jan 07 - 08:43 PM

I will NOT Mention Tom Lehrer - When You Are Old and Grey





Ooops - I just did !

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Will You Love Me When I'm Old
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Jan 07 - 07:50 PM

The BEATLES said it better.

---

You're right - but why don't you use a consistent user name when you post? If you post without a name, you risk deletion.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: Lyr Add: WILL YOU LOVE ME WHEN I'M OLD? (J. Ford)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 15 Jan 07 - 10:15 PM

Indiana University Sheet Music Collections has the sheet music. The most significant difference is the repetition of the last line of each verse. I have boldfaced the other differences.

WILL YOU LOVE ME WHEN I'M OLD?
J. Ford
Philadelphia: F.A. North & Co., 1872.

1. I would ask of you, my darling, a question soft and low
That gives me many a heartache as the moments come and go.
Your love I know is truthful, but the truest love grows cold.
It is this that I would ask you: Will you love me when I'm old?
It is this that I would ask you: Will you love me when I'm old?

CHORUS: Life's morn will soon be waning, and its evening bells be tolled,
But my heart will know no sadness if you'll love me when I'm old.

2. Down the stream of time together we are sailing side by side,
Hoping some bright day to anchor, safe beyond the surging tide.
Today our sky is cloudless, but the night may clouds unfold,
And its storms may gather 'round us. Will you love me when I'm old?
And its storms may gather 'round us. Will you love me when I'm old?

3. When my hair shall shame the snowdrift, and mine eyes shall dimmer grow,
I would lean upon some loved one in the valley as I go.
I would claim of you a promise worth to me a world of gold.
It is only this, my darling: that you'll love me when I'm old.
It is only this, my darling: that you'll love me when I'm old.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Will You Love Me When I'm Old
From: Joe Offer
Date: 14 Jan 07 - 05:57 PM

Who's the songwriter, Kendall?
You gonna make me look it up?
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: WILL YOU LOVE ME WHEN I'M OLD
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 14 Jan 07 - 05:51 PM

I have the CD - it is a truly wonderful song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: WILL YOU LOVE ME WHEN I'M OLD
From: kendall
Date: 14 Jan 07 - 02:35 PM

I learned this one from the singing of my good friend, Ed Trickett many years ago. He recorded it on Folk Legacy FSI 64.

Subject: Lyr Add: WILL YOU LOVE ME WHEN I'M OLD
From: kendall
Date: 14 Jan 07 - 02:31 PM

WILL YOU LOVE ME WHEN I'M OLD
^^

I would ask of you my darling, a question soft and low,
It gives me many heartaches as the moments come and go,
I know your love is truthful, but the truest love grows cold,
And it's this that I would ask you, "Will you love me when I'm old?

Life's morn will soon be waning, and its evening bells be tolled,
And my heart will know no sadness if you'll love me when I'm old.

Down the stream of life together we are sailing side by side,
Hoping some bright day to anchor, safe beyond the surging tide,
Today the skies are cloudless, but the night may clouds unfold,
And the storms may gather 'round us, will you love me when I'm old?

When my hair shall shame the snowdrift, and my eyes shall dimmer grow,
I would lean upon some loved one, down the valley as I go,
I would claim of you a promise, worth to me a world of gold,
And, it's this that I would ask you, will you love me when I'm old?

K. M.