My dad sang this song to me in the late 40’s. I have lovely memories of his beautiful voice. He also had the habit of adding his own verses and words!!
Huh. Never woulda thunk it. I've of course heard various songs by Stephen Foster, but didn't know "I Dream of Jeanie" was by him. And I haven't really thought of him as having a particular "style" (though I haven't thought of him as having "no particular style" either -- just haven't really thought about it much). But curiously, after reading your comments, and then clicking on the video and hearing the first few lines sung, I immediately thought "Oh yeah -- that's clearly a Stephen Foster song." And the odd thing is that I can't put my finger on exactly why -- something about the melodic patterns or intervals jumped or some such. But I can still "hear" the style somehow and recognize it, something I hadn't noticed before (perhaps because when I've heard Foster songs in the past -- aside from the uber-famous ones --, I tended to hear them in groups, so that I wasn't "comparing them" or the like.)
Anyway, interesting read. Thank you (and pleasant to see -- even the possible sad bits -- if only because I seem to remember seeing something a while back about a move to "cancel" the guy for whatever passes for "reasons" these days. But not gonna go there. Just too pleasant and, well, pleasing, to hear today's song. Again, thanks.
Stanley, I'm glad you liked this week's choice. I have always loved Stephen Foster's music, perhaps because he takes back us to a time when "sentiment" was not a dirty word and didn't imply sappy mushy fake feeling. There is nothing fake here, but you have to be a person of good will to allow the song to touch you, to "sing" to you -- in this case a tale of a lost love. Can anyone doubt that this song came from the composer's own love and pain? We live in hardened and crass times. We can't FEEL deeply, I think, except for such emotions as anger and pride and self-importance. He didn't write for such an audience as we are. And as I am typing this reply, I hear Tony whistling "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair" outside the kitchen door!
Ha, Elizabeth, I remember having this thought myself when I heard this song in my youth! And how did you like Thomas Hampson's rendition? It positively brings me to tears.
Thank you for this. What a wonderful rendering of this song, by Mr. Hammond. It was a favorite of my Dad's, or rather, the first couple of lines were. I don't recall him ever finishing it except with a hum. But the lyrics rang a bell, so I'm thinking we probably had the sheet music for piano. I knew nothing about Foster beyond his lyrical tunes and a certain sentimentality, especially for a vision of the South which is now so very politically incorrect. The singer here gently tells us every detail of the composer's melancholy. To no great surprise, me old Dad had his own variation on that favorite first line. When my sister and I began our respective careers in the Girl Scouts my Dad used to serenade us with, "I dream of Brownie in her light blue jeans." Incorrigible.
Haha, Claudia, I would have LOVED your dear Dad. I discovered Thomas Hampson aboout 20 years ago, and came into possession of a CD of him singing the songs of Stephen Foster. WELL I pretty much wore that CD out from overuse. I'd sit in the quiet of our parlor on Ames Street in Coventry, Rhode Island and let his amazing voice just fill the air. I'm SO glad you liked it.
Regarding the vision of the Old South, we need to recall that Foster did most of those songs as a very young man, well before the Civil War. From what I gather, he never got far from Pennsylvania and New York in his life. But he was writing American songs that really did define the age. It is WE in our age who despise sentiment, largely because we just want to despise and negate the beautiful and sweet in life. Worthless! Not "important." But if you listen from a different perspective to Foster's songs about the South, and about the black people there, a sympathetic and kind-hearted listener can perceive a love for them, an appreciation for their humanity and goodness. WHY we can't see that and not blame the composer for writing in praise of them, I am not sure. I did learn in my meanderings this week that in his early youth, Foster actually ventured to write a play condemning slavery. So again -- his story is shrouded in mystery. Those who would tear him down are really doing so because they hate the good he did, as far as I can tell, or (is this worse) were just unable to see or hear -- or were they even aware of it? -- his work. This song is sublime. That is what my ear and my heart tell ME about it.
Thank you! I had no idea he was born on the 4th of July. Here I though George M Cohan (as unforgettably played by Jimmy Cagney in Yankee Doodle Dandy) was the runaway champ of best songwriter born on Independence Day, I'll have to adjust my rankings... who would have thought that category would have such tough competition?
I don't know what date HE was born, but Jimmy Cagney was born to play Cohan, wasn't he? Stephen Foster was simply amazing. I found my self wondering what he might have produced but for his early death. His life for all the beauty he left to the world seems to have been brief and sad.
The melody is, of course, very familiar, but I had no idea the words and Stephen Foster's backstory were so sad. I'll be humming this one today but with a little twinge of heart for Mr. Foster and his lost love:)
Barbara, I get the Song of the Week stuck in my head, as you can imagine, but I like to have it rambling around there while I consider what to say about it and the composer and whichever artist I decide to showcase. I learned this song in childhood .. in school. I was VERY FORTUNATE to have attended school in a backwater place where they were slow on the uptake of educational "innovation." From what I can tell, the music of Stephen Foster never really faded entirely from the American scene. And evidently they still love it in Japan, of all places. I can't hear this song without being reduced to tears. Even if I hear it every DAY it reduces me to tears. Stay tuned! I have a special treat for the founders going out on Sunday that you will like.
I started to listen to different renditions of Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair, and happily going down the rabbit hole, I came across a Stephen Foster Medley performed by the National Taiwan University Chorus that I think you will appreciate and enjoy.
Thanks for sharing that, Barbara! It is very late here in Atlantic Canada, where I am right now. But I look forward to looking at this first thing tomorrow!
My dad sang this song to me in the late 40’s. I have lovely memories of his beautiful voice. He also had the habit of adding his own verses and words!!
Huh. Never woulda thunk it. I've of course heard various songs by Stephen Foster, but didn't know "I Dream of Jeanie" was by him. And I haven't really thought of him as having a particular "style" (though I haven't thought of him as having "no particular style" either -- just haven't really thought about it much). But curiously, after reading your comments, and then clicking on the video and hearing the first few lines sung, I immediately thought "Oh yeah -- that's clearly a Stephen Foster song." And the odd thing is that I can't put my finger on exactly why -- something about the melodic patterns or intervals jumped or some such. But I can still "hear" the style somehow and recognize it, something I hadn't noticed before (perhaps because when I've heard Foster songs in the past -- aside from the uber-famous ones --, I tended to hear them in groups, so that I wasn't "comparing them" or the like.)
Anyway, interesting read. Thank you (and pleasant to see -- even the possible sad bits -- if only because I seem to remember seeing something a while back about a move to "cancel" the guy for whatever passes for "reasons" these days. But not gonna go there. Just too pleasant and, well, pleasing, to hear today's song. Again, thanks.
Stanley, I'm glad you liked this week's choice. I have always loved Stephen Foster's music, perhaps because he takes back us to a time when "sentiment" was not a dirty word and didn't imply sappy mushy fake feeling. There is nothing fake here, but you have to be a person of good will to allow the song to touch you, to "sing" to you -- in this case a tale of a lost love. Can anyone doubt that this song came from the composer's own love and pain? We live in hardened and crass times. We can't FEEL deeply, I think, except for such emotions as anger and pride and self-importance. He didn't write for such an audience as we are. And as I am typing this reply, I hear Tony whistling "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair" outside the kitchen door!
This sentiment consoles those of us who always envied blonde hair.
It is great to be a brunette after all!
Elizabeth Finnigan
Ha, Elizabeth, I remember having this thought myself when I heard this song in my youth! And how did you like Thomas Hampson's rendition? It positively brings me to tears.
Thank you for this. What a wonderful rendering of this song, by Mr. Hammond. It was a favorite of my Dad's, or rather, the first couple of lines were. I don't recall him ever finishing it except with a hum. But the lyrics rang a bell, so I'm thinking we probably had the sheet music for piano. I knew nothing about Foster beyond his lyrical tunes and a certain sentimentality, especially for a vision of the South which is now so very politically incorrect. The singer here gently tells us every detail of the composer's melancholy. To no great surprise, me old Dad had his own variation on that favorite first line. When my sister and I began our respective careers in the Girl Scouts my Dad used to serenade us with, "I dream of Brownie in her light blue jeans." Incorrigible.
Haha, Claudia, I would have LOVED your dear Dad. I discovered Thomas Hampson aboout 20 years ago, and came into possession of a CD of him singing the songs of Stephen Foster. WELL I pretty much wore that CD out from overuse. I'd sit in the quiet of our parlor on Ames Street in Coventry, Rhode Island and let his amazing voice just fill the air. I'm SO glad you liked it.
Regarding the vision of the Old South, we need to recall that Foster did most of those songs as a very young man, well before the Civil War. From what I gather, he never got far from Pennsylvania and New York in his life. But he was writing American songs that really did define the age. It is WE in our age who despise sentiment, largely because we just want to despise and negate the beautiful and sweet in life. Worthless! Not "important." But if you listen from a different perspective to Foster's songs about the South, and about the black people there, a sympathetic and kind-hearted listener can perceive a love for them, an appreciation for their humanity and goodness. WHY we can't see that and not blame the composer for writing in praise of them, I am not sure. I did learn in my meanderings this week that in his early youth, Foster actually ventured to write a play condemning slavery. So again -- his story is shrouded in mystery. Those who would tear him down are really doing so because they hate the good he did, as far as I can tell, or (is this worse) were just unable to see or hear -- or were they even aware of it? -- his work. This song is sublime. That is what my ear and my heart tell ME about it.
Thank you! I had no idea he was born on the 4th of July. Here I though George M Cohan (as unforgettably played by Jimmy Cagney in Yankee Doodle Dandy) was the runaway champ of best songwriter born on Independence Day, I'll have to adjust my rankings... who would have thought that category would have such tough competition?
I don't know what date HE was born, but Jimmy Cagney was born to play Cohan, wasn't he? Stephen Foster was simply amazing. I found my self wondering what he might have produced but for his early death. His life for all the beauty he left to the world seems to have been brief and sad.
The melody is, of course, very familiar, but I had no idea the words and Stephen Foster's backstory were so sad. I'll be humming this one today but with a little twinge of heart for Mr. Foster and his lost love:)
Barbara, I get the Song of the Week stuck in my head, as you can imagine, but I like to have it rambling around there while I consider what to say about it and the composer and whichever artist I decide to showcase. I learned this song in childhood .. in school. I was VERY FORTUNATE to have attended school in a backwater place where they were slow on the uptake of educational "innovation." From what I can tell, the music of Stephen Foster never really faded entirely from the American scene. And evidently they still love it in Japan, of all places. I can't hear this song without being reduced to tears. Even if I hear it every DAY it reduces me to tears. Stay tuned! I have a special treat for the founders going out on Sunday that you will like.
Barbara
3 min ago
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edited 2 min ago
I started to listen to different renditions of Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair, and happily going down the rabbit hole, I came across a Stephen Foster Medley performed by the National Taiwan University Chorus that I think you will appreciate and enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wkdZTphjM4
Thanks for sharing that, Barbara! It is very late here in Atlantic Canada, where I am right now. But I look forward to looking at this first thing tomorrow!