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25 Jan 00 - 03:51 PM (#168228) Subject: RE: Complete tune - After the Ball From: SingsIrish Songs Wasn't it Mary Black who had a no 1 hit (in Ireland) with it in the early 90's??? Mary Kate |
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25 Jan 00 - 05:48 PM (#168279) Subject: RE: Complete tune - After the Ball From: George Seto - af221@chebucto.ns.ca One of the Blacks, with the group Arcady, did the song. Beautiful rendition. |
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25 Jan 00 - 05:58 PM (#168285) Subject: RE: Complete tune - After the Ball From: GUEST,stupidbodhranplayerwhodoesn'tknowanybetter Arcady recorded it on their 1st release entitled (appropriately) After the Ball. Frances Black sings it. Mary Black does some backing vocals ,but they are really low in the mix. I believe there are some other lyrics in Rise Up Singing. At any rate the CD is definitely worth getting. |
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25 Jan 00 - 07:42 PM (#168328) Subject: RE: Complete tune - After the Ball From: kendall I have this on an old 78 by Vernon Dalhart |
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26 Jan 00 - 04:29 PM (#168763) Subject: RE: Complete tune - After the Ball From: GUEST,PJ Curtis(Ireland) Yes, it was indeed Frances Black who recorded 'After The Ball' on Arcady's debut album. I produced the album and brought the song to Frances which ultimately became very successful for her and is also on the 'A Woman's Heart' comp CD. I found that version on an album by the Blue Sky Boys(The Bolick Bros) on an old Rounder album. PJC |
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21 Aug 02 - 04:36 PM (#769275) Subject: Lyr Add: AFTER THE BALL From: bernil I just love to listen to After the ball with Frances Black (from the CD A Woman's Heart) and that's no problem. But there's a problem anyway, as I love to sing it too and would like to sing the text she sings! I've found a version that's very close to the one she sings but there are some differences. I've copied it, tried to make the changes as I understand them, guessed some words and put ? for words I can't guess. Can somebody help me to fill in the missing words and correct it if something is wrong? I guess many of you have this wonderful record! (I hope I remembered how to do the line breaks. I don't write song texts here very often...) ------------------ AFTER THE BALL VERSE 1 A little maiden, climbs on an old man's knee Begs for a story, do uncle please Why are you lonely, why do you ? Have you no sweetheart, have you no home? I had a sweetheart, long, long ago Why we were not wed you soon will know List(en) to my story, I'll tell it all I broke her heart, pet, after the ball CHORUS: After the ball is over Just at the break of dawn After the dance is ending And all the stars are gone Many's the ? ? aching If you could read them all Many's ? ? that's vanished After the ball VERSE 2 ? lights were shining, in the big ballroom Softly the organ, was playing a tune There stood my sweetheart, my love, my own I wished some water, leave me alone (?) When I returned, ?, there stood a man Kissing my sweetheart, as lovers can Down went the glass, pet, broken that's all (?) Just like my heart was, after the ball CHORUS VERSE 3 Many years have gone by, I have not wed Due to my first love, though she is dead She tried to tell me, tried to explain I would not listen, ? in vain ? One day a letter came from this man He was her brother, the letter ran That's why I'm lonely, no home at all I broke her heart then, after the ball. ---------------------------- Thanks a lot in advance! Berit in Sweden Separate posts combined by JoeClone |
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21 Aug 02 - 04:47 PM (#769280) Subject: RE: After the ball, Frances Black From: GUEST,Bill Kennedy A little maiden climbed an old man's knees— Begged for a story: "Do uncle, please! Why are you single, why live alone? Have you no babies, have you no home?" Chorus: After the ball is over, after the break of morn, After the dancers' leaving, after the stars are gone, Many a heart is aching, if you could read them all— Many the hopes that have vanished after the ball. "I had a sweetheart, years, years ago, Where she is now, pet, you will soon know; List to the story, I'll tell it all: I believed her faithless after the ball." Chorus: "Bright lights were flashing in the grand ballroom, Softly the music playing sweet tunes. There came my sweetheart, my love, my own, 'I wish some water; leave me alone.' Chorus: When I returned, dear, there stood a man Kissing my sweetheart as lovers can. Down fell the glass, pet, broken, that's all— Just as my heart was after the ball." Chorus: "Long years have passed, child, I have never wed, True to my lost love though she is dead. She tried to tell me, tried to explain— I would not listen, pleadings were vain. Chorus: One day a letter came from that man; He was her brother, the letter ran. That's why I'm lonely, no home at all— I broke her heart, pet, after the ball." Chorus: After the ball is over, after the break of morn, After the dancers' leaving, after the stars are gone, Many a heart is aching, if you could read them all— Many the hopes that have vanished after the ball. the most popular song of the 1890s sold millions of copies of sheet music required at every dance music & lyrics by Charles K. Harris |
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21 Aug 02 - 04:56 PM (#769283) Subject: RE: After the ball, Frances Black From: GUEST,Bill Kennedy in th thread on soundtracks I mention Louis Malle's film 'pretty Baby'. There is a great jazz instrumental version of this song on that soundtrack. |
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21 Aug 02 - 06:03 PM (#769307) Subject: RE: After the ball, Frances Black From: bernil Thanks Bill, that solved some of my problems. She sings some things different though but I may not get closer than this. By the way, I know how to make line breaks. But I seemed to be asleep when I sent those messages... /Berit |
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21 Aug 02 - 07:03 PM (#769329) Subject: RE: After the ball, Frances Black From: masato sakurai The sheet music (not the first edition, though published the same year as the first) is at the Levy collection (CLICK HERE):
Title: After the Ball.
Joan Morris: After The Ball/Vaudeville Hlts [with sound clip] may be closest to the original version. ~Masato
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21 Aug 02 - 07:23 PM (#769347) Subject: RE: After the ball, Frances Black From: masato sakurai Fiddlin' John Carson And His Virginia Reelers' "After The Ball" (Realaudio; Recording Date: December 9, 1930) from Honkingduck.
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21 Aug 02 - 07:59 PM (#769357) Subject: RE: After the ball, Frances Black From: Murray MacLeod It is many years since I played accompaniment for this song, but I do remember that Frances Black's version, at one point in the song, totally differs from the original version, (and not for the better). No doubt I shall remember more fully in due course ... Murray |
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21 Aug 02 - 08:12 PM (#769362) Subject: RE: After the ball, Frances Black From: GUEST Bernil, I think Francis Black is singing Why do you roam? Many's the heart that's aching Many's the fond hope that's vanished
Low lights were shining Hope this helps!! KT
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21 Aug 02 - 08:26 PM (#769376) Subject: Lyr Add: AFTER THE BALL (Frances Black) From: masato sakurai From The Frances Black Homepage:
After The Ball
Lyrics:
"Low lights were shining in the grand ballroom,
"Many years have gone by, I've never wed ~Masato |
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21 Aug 02 - 08:54 PM (#769390) Subject: RE: After the ball, Frances Black From: SINSULL Joan Morris' "Vaudeville" and "After The Ball" (LP, CD) are treasure troves of music from this period. You can find them on Ebay if not in your local music store. |
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22 Aug 02 - 03:03 AM (#769491) Subject: RE: After the ball, Frances Black From: bernil Thanks all, both Guest and Masato have now given me the exact text that Frances sings! It may be "wrong" or not so good but I want to sing with her until I've learned it! And thanks for the other tips about the song. /Berit |
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22 Aug 02 - 09:13 AM (#769577) Subject: RE: After the ball, Frances Black From: GUEST,Bill Kennedy really sad that Frances Black would say 'songwriter Trad.' Charles K. Harris wrote lyrics and melody, as stated in earlier post. |
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22 Aug 02 - 09:21 AM (#769582) Subject: RE: After the ball, Frances Black From: Peter T. Surely one of the most beautiful song with one of the stupidest lyrics ever. Makes no sense. She doesn't have to "try" to tell him, plead or write letters, just say: "HE'S MY BROTHER, YOU DOPE". Why didn't she just write, "HE'S MY BROTHER" on a big card and dangle it in front of him? On the other hand, if she is kissing her brother the way lovers can, maybe he was well out of it. yours, Peter T. |
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22 Aug 02 - 10:45 AM (#769620) Subject: RE: After the ball, Frances Black From: Murray MacLeod You cynic, you ... Murray |
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22 Aug 02 - 10:55 AM (#769628) Subject: RE: After the ball, Frances Black From: GUEST Ever been madly in love, Peter T ? |
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22 Aug 02 - 11:44 AM (#769654) Subject: RE: After the ball, Frances Black From: bernil As for me I'm very sensitive and take everything very seriously so when I recently listened to and read the text carefully I started crying! It was such a terrible thought that a mistake could cause something so sad! I did not at all think about how stupid the text is! And when I read Peter T's message I had to laugh at myself! Ok, he may be cynical but what am I then? It feels like I'm kind of... Credulous? Uncritcal? Stupid? (could not even find the right Swedish word so I'm just guessing...) Well, it doesn't matter as I like to be emotional! :-) Berit |
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22 Aug 02 - 01:17 PM (#769712) Subject: RE: After the ball, Frances Black From: kendall Many song lyrics are stupid, you just have to get over it and realize that stupid thoughts are easier to write into a song than complex problems. |
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23 Aug 02 - 01:14 PM (#770297) Subject: RE: After the ball, Frances Black From: GUEST,John Hill Frances Black as I remember it doesn't sing the melody correctly. The song is a conversation between two people and the melody is different for both.... its always best refer to the original music when it exists .... rather than what is sung by a particular individual.... otherwise the song will get passed on to others wrongly.... as has happened with "The Rose of Allandale" and "When you were sweet sixteen" |
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23 Aug 02 - 02:39 PM (#770357) Subject: RE: After the ball, Frances Black From: Bat Goddess The song is based on a true story that took place in the upstairs ballroom of the Milwaukee Turners organization. The ballroom, which had been damaged by fire many, many years ago, has been recently restored. Linn |
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23 Aug 02 - 04:05 PM (#770411) Subject: RE: After the ball, Frances Black From: George Seto - af221@chebucto.ns.ca Bat Goddess, any idea of when that was, or the names of the people? |
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23 Aug 02 - 04:35 PM (#770425) Subject: RE: After the ball, Frances Black From: GUEST,Bill Kennedy Turners Hall in Milwaukee claims to be the site for the inspiration of this song, but I think anything else is apocryphal. One story has it Charles K Harris was jilted by his girlfriend there, not at all the same story as the song. Harris may have been inspired by something he witnessed or just had the idea for the plot twist. |
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23 Aug 02 - 11:37 PM (#770624) Subject: RE: After the ball, Frances Black From: masato sakurai According to Spaeth (who seems to have read the story of the song's creation by Harris himself--there's a book written by Harris: After the Ball, New York, 1926), the site was Chicago.
"Harris had the gift of writing songs for special occasions, and After the Ball was actually ordered for an amateur minstrel show in his home town of Milwaukee. At a dance in Chicago he had seen a pair of young lovers go home separately after a quarrel and had immediately jotted down the line 'Many a heart is aching, after the ball.' On his return to Milwaukee he soon worked out the rest of the song, using the technique of having an old man tell the story to his little niece, which made the word 'pet' available whenever a syllable was needed to fill out a line." (Sigmund Spaeth, A History of Popular Music in America, Random House, 1948, p. 260) ~Masato |
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24 Aug 02 - 12:54 AM (#770645) Subject: RE: After the ball, Frances Black From: George Seto - af221@chebucto.ns.ca Thank you Masato for another excellent piece of information. |
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24 Aug 02 - 04:19 AM (#770684) Subject: RE: After the ball, Frances Black From: bernil It's nice with all the information and the comments. I agree that it might be better to learn the original text but as I never will sing in public (I think) it doesn't matter so much. Anyway, it's strange that people have to change a few words in an old text, at least when it makes no real change. Berit
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24 Aug 02 - 08:41 AM (#770733) Subject: RE: After the ball, Frances Black From: Murray MacLeod Guest John Hill's post above is correct. Frances Black does sing the wrong melody, differing substantially from Charles Harris' original. Incompetence, or the folk process at work? I know where my vote would go. Murray |
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25 Aug 02 - 10:33 AM (#771254) Subject: RE: After the ball, Frances Black From: Ferrara Well, in a way it's the folk process at work, Murray. People sang/sing what they remembered. Or, just as often, they sang an approximation of what they remembered and filled in the rest. Me, I actually have the sheet music. I think maybe my great-aunt sent it to me with some other songs she thought I should learn on the piano. But maybe we bought it. Anyway having the music in front of me has always helped to fix tunes in my mind, so that the early songs I played on the piano are ones that I learned pretty solidly. But a lot of people would write down the words of songs and either "everybody knew" the tune, or the writer knew the tune and was just trying to memorize the words. Lots of times folks didn't have any kind of musical notation that was convenient, I suspect. This does not change the fact that I get irritated when people don't sing the "right" version of a published song. My mom was the same way: She got mad at Dinah Shore and Perry Como, back in the early 50's I guess, for the liberties they took with words & tunes. Rita F |
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25 Aug 02 - 07:54 PM (#771455) Subject: RE: After the ball, Frances Black From: masato sakurai There're two folk versions in the Max Hunter Collection, with lyrics, music transcriptions & sound recordings. (2) is close to the original.
(1) As sung by Frank Pool in Fayetteville, Arkansas on January 6, 1958
(2) As sung by Mrs. C. C. "Dorothy" Williford, Springfield, Missouri on June 30, 1958. ~Masato |
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25 Aug 02 - 11:42 PM (#771555) Subject: RE: After the ball, Frances Black From: masato sakurai At least two Harris songs which went into folk process were sung by the Carter Family.
(1) "Hello Central Give Me Heaven"
(2) "'Mid the Green Fields of Virginia"
~Masato |
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25 Aug 02 - 11:55 PM (#771558) Subject: RE: After the ball, Frances Black From: Ferrara Thank you for those links, Masato. I'm especially pleaed because I didn't know about the Max Hunter collection until now. Note for anyone who had difficulties: In the thread links, I had to chance ThreadID to Threadid to get it to work. Rita F |
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26 Aug 02 - 06:46 AM (#771648) Subject: RE: After the ball, Frances Black From: GUEST,John Hill Thank you for agreeing with me Murray. I would either vote for incompetance or a couldn't care less attitude that seems to to be prevalent among many "folk" singers these days. In most cases the "singers" have no knowledge of musical notation and make excuses for any deviations by pretending that some fairly recent song has been passed down by oral tradition in some way. I mentioned "The Rose of Allandale" previously because any written music to this song will show it to be in 4/4 time ... yet so many sing it incorrectly in 3/4 time...and with the chorus having the wrong melody. |
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26 Aug 02 - 06:57 AM (#771650) Subject: RE: After the ball, Frances Black From: GUEST,John Hill And thats another thing... Its spelt Allandale not Allendale. The former is in Scotland (as song) and the latter in England. |
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26 Aug 02 - 07:59 AM (#771658) Subject: RE: After the ball, Frances Black From: GUEST,anne This is the kind of thread that makes this site a godsend! I really must join. |
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26 Aug 02 - 11:04 AM (#771723) Subject: RE: After the ball, Frances Black From: George Seto - af221@chebucto.ns.ca We'd be pleased to have you, Anne! Welcome! It's amazing the knowledge that people like Masato, Murray, Malcolm, Joe, and on and on have at hand. Thanks be to Max and Mudcat!!! |
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18 Nov 09 - 06:32 PM (#2768796) Subject: Lyr Add: AFTER THE BALL (Charles K. Harris, 1892) From: Jim Dixon Bill Kennedy had all the words, but it's actually 3 verses of 8 lines, not 6 verses of 4 lines. From the sheet music at Indiana University: AFTER THE BALL Charles K. Harris Milwaukee: Chas. K. Harris & Co., 1892. 1. A little maiden climbed an old man's knee, Begged for a story: "Do, uncle, please! Why are you single? Why live alone? Have you no babies? Have you no home?" "I had a sweetheart, years, years ago. Where she is now, pet, you will soon know. List to the story. I'll tell it all. I believed her faithless after the ball. CHORUS: "After the ball is over, after the break of morn, After the dancers' leaving, after the stars are gone, Many a heart is aching, if you could read them all. Many the hopes that have vanished after the ball. 2. "Bright lights were flashing in the grand ballroom; Softly the music playing sweet tunes. There came my sweetheart, my love, my own: 'I wish some water. Leave me alone.' When I returned, dear, there stood a man, Kissing my sweetheart as lovers can. Down fell the glass, pet, broken, that's all, Just as my heart was, after the ball. 3. "Long years have passed, child. I've never wed, True to my lost love though she is dead. She tried to tell me, tried to explain. I would not listen. Pleadings were vain. One day a letter came from that man. He was her brother, the letter ran. That's why I'm lonely, no home at all. I broke her heart, pet, after the ball." |
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18 Nov 09 - 08:59 PM (#2768897) Subject: RE: Origin: After the Ball (from Frances Black) From: Q (Frank Staplin) American Memory has an Oliver Ditson copy, also dated 1892, but with the Harris trademark. The same cover, with Lyon & Healy, Chicago, imprint, and another with Chas. K. Harris Co. imprint, are in the Levy Collection, all dated 1892. The song must have been an instant hit. All have the photo of J. Aldrich Libbey, "the peerless baritone," on the cover. Copies also in National Library of Australia. |