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Jeff Warner
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Her Bright Smile Haunts Me Still
Her Bright Smile Haunts Me Still Eleazar Gallop Tillett, Wanchese, NC, 1951
Earliest publication, Philadelphia, 1857, words by J. E. Carpenter and music by W. T. Wrighton (1816-1880). Text is below. Sigmund Spaeth, in A History of Popular Music in America, 1948, says it was 'A real hit of 1868, evidently published in 1864 [Levy Collection says 1862— but first published in 1857].'
Roud number RN4353. Ca. 100 listings in broadside collections and
Bold indicates words from Love Songs the Whole World Round, Albert E. Wier, ed., World Syndicate co., 1918.
Published by Joanna Colcord in her book Roll and Go, Bobbs-Merrill, 1924 (re-printed as Songs of American Sailormen, Norton, 1938), but she only refers to it as a 'composed song of the last century.'
It's been a year since last we met We may never meet again I have struggled to forget But the struggle was in vain For her voice lives on the breeze Her spirit comes at will In the midnight on the seas Her bright smile haunts me still In the midnight on the seas Her bright smile haunts me still
I have sailed 'neath alien skies I have chartered hazards path I have seen the storm arise Like a giant in his wrath Every danger I have known That a reckless life can fill Though her presence is now flown Her bright...
At the first sweet dawn of light When I gaze upon the deep Her form still greets my sight While the stars their vigil [vigor]keep When I close my aching eyes Sweet dreams my memory fill And from sleep when I arise Her bright...
Here's the text from the original 1857 publication:
'Tis years since last we met And we may not meet again I have struggled to forget But the struggle was in vain For her voice lives on the breeze And her spirit comes at will In the midnight on the seas Her bright smile haunts me still For her voice lives on the breeze And her spirit comes at will In the midnight on the seas Find more lyrics at ※ Mojim.com Her bright smile haunts me still
At the first sweet dawn of light When I gaze upon the deep Her form still greets my sight While the stars their vigils keep When I close mine aching eyes Sweet dreams my senses fill And from sleep when I arise Her bright smile haunts me still When I close mine aching eyes Sweet dreams my senses fill And from sleep when I arise Her bright smile haunts me still
I have sail'd 'neath alien skies I have trod the desert path I have seen the storm arise Like a giant in his wrath Every danger I have known That a reckles life can fill Yet her presence is not flown Her bright smile haunts me still Every danger I have known That a reckles life can fill Yet her presence is not flown Her bright smile haunts me still
(Confederate marching band):
Another pair of sentimental ballads is found in the medley of Lorena and Bright Smiles (SB 3.45; parts for 2nd B-flat tenor and baritone reconstructed). Lorena, 'the most popular musical sweetheart in the Confederate army, '35 tells about the enduring heartbreak of a frustrated love affair. The Rev. Henry D. L. Webster wrote the poem after his own experience with a thwarted love; composer Joseph Philbrick Webster was not related to the poet. First published in Chicago in 1857, the ballad became so widely loved that one could scarcely travel throughout the South without hearing it played at the piano, sung, or played by a band. Lorena is found in two different sets of the partbooks, in two slightly differing arrangements, attesting to its popularity with the band. Band member Julius Leinbach's diary records that on April 1, 1865, the bandsmen, trying to avoid capture by the Union army, came upon a house where a woman gave them something to eat. In return they played Lorena for her—their last performance as the 26th North Carolina Regimental Band, before being taken prisoner four days later.
The manuscript partbooks identify the second song in this medley as Bright Smiles. It is in fact a duple-meter version of the in the 1860s)—a fitting mate to Lorena. The arrangement, l ike the pairing of Come Where My Love Lies Dreaming and Annie of the Vale, has the two ballads preceded by a bravura introduction, with a short flashy interlude between them—providing the interesting question to today's performers: Just how fast did they play this tune? —Nola Reed Knouse Dr. N ola Reed Knouse is director of The Moravian Music Foundation, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
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