Lyr Req: My Old Pal (E McWilliams, J Rodgers)

Subject: Lyr Req: Old friends are always the best
From: GUEST,Peter Fisher
Date: 10 Mar 05 - 07:04 PM

For years I've been singing a fragment to myself that goes like this:

Oh the old friends are always the best you see
New friends you can find every day
But none can ever ----, or take the place
Of the old friends of yesterday.

And I remember the time, when all alone...

And that's about it. I was sure it was a Jimmie Rodgers song but I have been unable to find it in a 2 vol collection of his songs, or my 5 old LPs, or in any of the databases on this web site, or by Googling it or searching Cowpie etc. etc. You're my last hope.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old friends are always the best
From: Peace
Date: 10 Mar 05 - 08:07 PM

It is a Merle Haggard song. "My Old Pal".

I will return with the words.

Subject: Lyr Add: MY OLD PAL (E McWilliams, J Rodgers)
From: Peace
Date: 10 Mar 05 - 08:08 PM

MY OLD PAL
as sung by Merle Haggard

I'm thinking of you tonight, old pal,
And wishing that you were here.
I'm dreamin' of the times and the days gone by
When you filled my heart with cheer.
I remember the nights when all alone
We sang Sweet Adeline.
No other face can take your place
In my heart, old pal of mine.

Now the old pals are always the best, you see.
New friends you can find every day;
But they can't fill the places or ever be
Like the old pals of yesterday.

I'm wondering just where you are tonight
And if you ever think of me.
It would make my weary heart so light, sweetheart,
Your face again to see.
And I remember the nights when all alone
We sang Sweet Adeline.
No other face can take your place
In my heart, old pal of mine.

Now the old pals are always the best, you see.
New friends you can find every day;
But they can't fill the places or ever be
Like the old pals of yesterday.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old friends are always the best
From: Peace
Date: 10 Mar 05 - 08:11 PM

Sorry I didn't put line breaks in.

You can find this with a google of

My Old Pal, lyrics, haggard

Gang of sites there and some have the music downloads

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old friends are always the best
From: GUEST,Dale
Date: 10 Mar 05 - 08:14 PM

It does go back to Jimmie Rodgers, though. A nice version if you can find it is by Slim Dusty and his daughter Anne Kirkpatrick done some years ago.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old friends are always the best
From: Peace
Date: 10 Mar 05 - 08:25 PM

Dale, did Rodgers write it? Sorry then for thinking Haggard did.
Never heard the song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old friends are always the best
From: GUEST,Dale
Date: 10 Mar 05 - 09:44 PM

I had a hunch it was an Elsie McWilliams song, so I approached a search from that angle. Elsie McWilliams & Jimmie Rodgers, 1928.

Here's her page at the Nashville Songwriters Foundation. She was Jimmie's sister-in-law and collaborated on several of his big hits, as the page will show.

http://www.nashvillesongwritersfoundation.com/fame/mcwilliam.html

And here's a biography

http://www.mp3.com/elsie-mcwilliams/artists/275078/biography.html


Nothing to be sorry for, Brucie. We all do it at one time or another!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old friends are always the best
From: Peace
Date: 11 Mar 05 - 01:03 AM

Wow. Thank you, Dale, very much.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old friends are always the best
From: GUEST,Peter Fisher
Date: 11 Mar 05 - 02:37 PM

Hey thanks, guys. It was good to learn about Elsie McWilliams as well. I had "friends" instead of "pals" and that was enough to mess up my searches, I guess.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old friends are always... / My Old Pal
From: GUEST,Duke Miller
Date: 21 Dec 08 - 05:02 PM

I too have been searching for the lyrics to this song, "My Old Pal of Yesterday".   I used to have the sheet music, but it is long gone. It seems some of the words were, " For Old Friends are always the best they say, New friends you can make everyday, I close my weary eyes, as days roll by and dream of old pals of yesterday" ????Wish I could find the whole thing again.   I really believe parts of the Merle Haggard song were taken out of context from the original version??   Not sure of anything, but would sure like to know.

Subject: Lyr Add: MY OLD PAL OF YESTERDAY
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 23 Dec 08 - 08:46 AM

I copied the following lyrics from Motoya Kitagawa's Bluegrass Songbook:


MY OLD PAL OF YESTERDAY

Oh pal, I'm so blue since you left me.
Life's been a burden to bear.
I wonder, old pal, if you miss me.
I wonder if you miss me.

CHORUS: Does your memory stray to a yesterday
And picture two hearts that were light and gay?
Won't you come back for I still love you,
My old pal of yesterday.

At twilight when the shadows are falling
At the close of a long weary day,
I fancy I hear a voice calling.
It's my old pal of yesterday. CHORUS

When the whippoorwill calls from the wildwood
To his mate who's drifted away,
My heart sadly yearns for my childhood
And my old pal of yesterday. CHORUS

[However, I have listened to several sound samples, and I suspect the above transcription may have mislabeled the verses/chorus/bridge and gotten them out of order. I suspect "verse 1" is actually the bridge.]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old friends are always... / My Old Pal
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 23 Dec 08 - 08:47 AM

The Online 78-rpm Discography Project lists these recordings:

DEAR OLD PAL OF YESTERDAY
Arthur Fields 1927?

MY PAL OF YESTERDAY
Bill Bruner 1929

MY OLD PAL OF YESTERDAY
Jimmy Long 12/1/30
Joe Lester (Jimmy Long) 12/1/30
Gene Autry & Jimmy Long 10/30/1931
Gene Autry 10/30/31
Long Bros, 10/30/31
Joe Lester & Dick Moss (Long), 1929-31?
Judie and Julie 08/??/39
Buddy Starcher, 1950?

OLD PAL OF YESTERDAY
Girls Of The Golden West 1933

AT TWILIGHT, OLD PAL OF YESTERDAY
Ramblin Duet 1937

In addition, there are a couple of recent CDs that feature the Carter Family, but I presume these were taken from radio broadcasts, and were not released as singles.

Allmusic.com lists additional recordings, all presumably more recent, by Norman Blake, Amy Gallatin, Jerry Lee Lewis, Cliff Perry, Red Smiley, and Jody Stecher.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old friends are always... / My Old Pal
From: Louie Roy
Date: 23 Dec 08 - 11:11 AM

Jim you are correct about the verses they should be like this.I learned it off of a 78 by Gene Autry in th 1930s from his first rcording which he later had to change due to a infringement lawsuit brought by Jimmie Rodgers he sang it the same way Jimmie sang (Old Pal Of Yesterday)and that's how I learned to sing it and I still sing it the same way today.Anyway to make a long story short Gene kept the same words but changed the tune. This the correct version

In the evening when shadows are falling
At the close of a long weary day
I fancy I hear a voice calling
It's my old pal of yesterday
Chorus
Old pal of my dreams I still miss you
Lifes been a burden to bear
I wonder old pal if you miss me
I wonder if you still care
Does your memory stray to a yesterday
Picture two hearts that were young and gay
So won't you come back for I still love you
You're my old pal of yesterday
2nd verse
Whippoorwill call in the wildwoods
For a mate that has drifted away
My heart sadly yearns for my childhood
And my old pl of yesterday
Repeat Chorus

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old friends are always... / My Old Pal
From: kendall
Date: 23 Dec 08 - 11:41 AM

This is the sort of thing I grew up on. Then, I learned two more chords...