Author: I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen

Subject: Author:I'll Take you home again Kathleen
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 16 May 02 - 04:44 PM

Hi. Sorry to bother you again. I checked in the DT and found the lyrics, but not the author.
I believe it was a German American doctor. Any ideas?
Thanks.

Seamus

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Click for related thread
Click for lyrics in Digital Tradition

Subject: RE: BS: Author:I'll Take you home again Kathleen
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 16 May 02 - 04:50 PM

Thomas Westendorf. And "home" means Austria, I think. Think in terms of the Sound of Music.See here for a bit more.

Subject: RE: BS: Author:I'll Take you home again Kathleen
From: GUEST,Bill Kennedy
Date: 16 May 02 - 04:51 PM

no, not Austria, Plainfield, Illinois, USA, he was a schoolteacher, wrote it for his wife I believe

Subject: RE: BS: Author:I'll Take you home again Kathleen
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 16 May 02 - 04:57 PM

Who came from Austria, as I'd heard it, back in the old country.

Subject: Origins: I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen
From: Joe Offer
Date: 16 May 02 - 05:22 PM

Hi, Seamus -
Here's a quote from The Book of World-Famous Music (James J. Fuld, 1966, 1971):

music and words by Thomas P. Westendorf. The first printing of this song was in Church's Musical Visitor (Supplement), Cincinnati, March, 1876.
The history of this song has been ably written by Richard S. Hill in "Getting Kathleen Home Again." The song is at times mistaken as an Irish ballad. That it was written in Kentucky to cheer up a homesick wife who wanted to return East is shown by Hill to be unlikely. Westendorf, a musician and composer, was born in Bowling Green, Caroline County, Va., in 1848 and died in Chicago in 1923.

-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Author: I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen
From:
Date: 16 May 02 - 06:24 PM

We had a thread on this subject

Take Kathleen Home to Where?

Subject: RE: Author: I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 16 May 02 - 08:46 PM

McGrath, Bill, Joe , George, thanks a million. You guys are great. Now why did I not get a reference to the threads when I tried earlier? I typed in I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen, and nothing came up. I got the lyrics from the DT alright. Thanks again.

Seamus

Subject: RE: Author: I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen
From: Genie
Date: 17 May 02 - 02:57 AM

I LOVE it when you guys talk song etymology!

Genie

Subject: Parody: I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen
From: Hrothgar
Date: 18 May 02 - 09:29 PM

I don't think this is in the DT:

I'll take you home again, Kathleen,
You'll never make it on your own.
Oh, what a night it might have been,
If you had left the grog alone!

I've often told you, Kathleen, dear,
That drinking cider, beer, and gin
Will land you on your pretty ear (rear)
Far sooner than a Mickey Finn.

I'll take you to your home, Kathleen,
To where your head will feel no paid,
And when the party's on again,
You can damn' well stay at home, Kathleen!

Last heard around 1965. Maybe it died a natural death....

Subject: RE: Author: I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen
From: GUEST,beachcomber
Date: 19 May 02 - 04:00 PM

Just lately on Radio One RTE I heard a programme called "Rattlebag" presented by Miles Dungan. It was one of a series about the origins of "Irish" songs and , among others such as "My Irish Molly-O" (often attributed to the Flanagan Bros who were Irishmen performing in New York of the twenties) "I'll take you home again Kathleen" was also revealed to have been written by a non-Irish person. It seems, if my memory holds true) that the name in the title was changed to Kathleen by the publishers to fit in with an "Irish song vogue" of the time and originally was a more common Eastern European name. Perhaps you can look up the archive for the programme in RTE's web site (www.rte.ie) Beach

Subject: RE: Author: I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 19 May 02 - 08:58 PM

Sheet music of 1876, published by John Church & Co., 66 W. Fourth St., Cincinnati, can be seen at the Lester Levy Sheet Music Collection:

I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen.

Westendorf was a fairly prolific composer of popular songs (Levy has 37 examples, including duplicates), many of which were in the "plantation" line, like I'll Nebber Leave Old Dixie Land or De Little Cabins All Am Empty Now. In Kathleen he was simply writing another cod-ethnic song for a guaranteed market.

Subject: RE: Author: I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen
From: masato sakurai
Date: 19 May 02 - 10:55 PM

Heard in the John Ford movies Rio Grande (1950) and The Quiet Man (1952).

~Masato

Subject: RE: Author: I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen
From: GUEST,Don Stevens
Date: 29 Jul 11 - 07:58 AM

Westendorf was a Teacher at the Indiana Boys School, in Plainfield, Indiana, where he wrote the Song. He, and his wife, were from the Northeastern U.S.

Subject: RE: Author: I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen
From: Thompson
Date: 19 Oct 16 - 11:57 AM

But what was Mrs Westendorf's actual name?

Subject: RE: Author: I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen
From: GUEST,Peter C
Date: 19 Oct 16 - 12:31 PM

Thompson - I am sure it was not 'Kathleen' I think his wife's name was Mary - always raises a laugh when we do that song!

Subject: RE: Author: I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 19 Oct 16 - 05:22 PM

Thomas Paine Westendorf was his real name and although he tried to get other songs popular this was really his first and only success. He continued as a teacher after it became popular. There is no reason to believe it was anything other than a fanciful piece trying to cash in on the general longing for home of emigrants. Whilst Malcolm was correct when he says W was prolific Hamm states none of the other pieces took off and the publishers eventually gave up on him. Of his 300 or so songs only this one achieved copyright renewal. Unfortunately W sold the rights of the song to publishers but the John Church Company recognised his contribution and sent him regular cheques, plus admirers of the song also sent him money. He achieved a fairly high status in education in Washington State, and Hamm suggests the appreciation of the American people was reward enough for him.

Subject: RE: Author: I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen
From: Brakn
Date: 19 Oct 16 - 05:52 PM

1880 census
Name Age Birthplace Occupation Father's Birthplace Mother's Birthplace
Thos. WESTENDORF 32   VA   Teacher/Officer   GER   VA
Jennie WESTENDORF 31   Ogdensburg?NY   Teacher/Officer   NY   NY
Jennie WESTENDORF 18M   KY      VA   NY
Louisville, Jefferson, Kentucky

Subject: RE: Author: I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen
From: Brakn
Date: 19 Oct 16 - 06:08 PM

THOMAS P WESTENDORF Birth: 23 FEB 1848 Bowling Green, Caroline, Virginia

Subject: RE: Author: I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 20 Oct 16 - 01:39 PM

I wonder was he an ancestor of Omar Westendorf, author of many Catholic hymns? Joe Offer??

Subject: RE: Author: I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen
From: GUEST,George Frampton
Date: 21 Oct 16 - 07:37 AM

This song was in the repertoire of traditional singer Charlie Bridger from Stone-in-Oxney, Kent, who Mike Yates and Andy Turner recorded in the 1980s.

I also heard an amplified an elderly autoharp player performing its melody in Week Street, Maidstone over ten years ago. Sadly, I never had the time nor gall to talk to him about it,