John McCormack question
AAbramsNY
Kathleen" (which seems to be one of the mainstays of most other Irish tenors)?
I have searched in vain for any recording or listing of him singing it. Did he
just not like it or what --- it seems an obvious omission in his recorded
works. I know it's sentimental fluff but I've always had a soft spot for this
particular song. Many thanks.
Matthew B. Tepper
<20010514124422...@ng-mq1.aol.com>:
Maybe it was the "signature tune" of some competing Irish tenor (though I
can't imagine anybody competing with him in his prime!), and he simply
declined to poach on another person's territory....
Chris Connelly
"AAbramsNY" <aabr...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20010514124422...@ng-mq1.aol.com...
Actually, the bulk of McCormack's "irish song" repetoire were in fact
vaudeville songs and show tunes - many written by popular composer/star
Chauncey ("When Irish Eyes are Smiling") Olcott.
"I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen" was a popular song written by a German
composer who's name escapes me for his wife - who was named Kathleen.
Anyway, I'm not sure when it became associated with the "irish" songs
McCormack was famous for singing.
Although McCormack recorded many popular songs - especially later in his
career ("Rose-Marie", "All Alone", etc.) it may never have occured to him to
use this song in his act - or record it, beautiful as it would have been in
his voice.
I find it amazing he never recorded "Danny Boy" - although he recorded "Were
I the tender Apple Blossom" or whatever the love lyric is that was set to
the Derry Air.
AAbramsNY
composer who's name escapes me for his wife - who was named Kathleen. >>
Thanks! That's very interesting - I always assumed that song was as Irish as
the Blarney Stone. It's a pity he didn't record it because, as you say, it
certainly would have been beautiful in his voice.
Eveleen McAuley
"Chris Connelly" <chris.c...@worldspan.com> wrote
>
> "I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen" was a popular song written by a
> German composer who's name escapes me for his wife - who was
>named Kathleen.
Thomas P. Westendorf, according to Google.
Eveleen McAuley
Marty Robinson
Plainfield, Illinois, not far from Chicago. He wrote "I'll Take You Home
Again Kathleen" in 1876 reportedly out of loneliness for his wife Jeanie
who was visiting her parents in upstate New York. Why he didn't call it
"I'll Take You Home Again Jeanie," I know not, but it doesn't scan as
well, even with the same number of syllables.
MR
Cub driver
Most of what Americans believe to be Irish songs are actually
Irish-American, written on Tin Pan Alley for a population of
immigrants who sentimentalized the country they had fled for various
reasons, mostly having to do with starvation. "Kathleen" is one of
these, as can be seen by the fact that the speaker says "take" and not
"bring".
The McCormack CD "Songs of My Heart" contains one or two of these
chestnuts but mostly songs of Irish origin, including a few of the
ballads that we have learned to prize, such as "The Bard of Armargh"
and "Down by the Sally Gardens", when sung by such modern balladeers
as Liam Clancy and Tommy Makem.
all the best - Dan Ford (email: war...@danford.net)
The Only War We've Got (Early Days in South Vietnam)
http://danford.net/onlywar.htm
Mike Richter
>
> Most of what Americans believe to be Irish songs are actually
> Irish-American, written on Tin Pan Alley for a population of
> immigrants who sentimentalized the country they had fled for various
> reasons, mostly having to do with starvation. "Kathleen" is one of
> these, as can be seen by the fact that the speaker says "take" and not
> "bring".
>
> The McCormack CD "Songs of My Heart" contains one or two of these
> chestnuts but mostly songs of Irish origin, including a few of the
> ballads that we have learned to prize, such as "The Bard of Armargh"
> and "Down by the Sally Gardens", when sung by such modern balladeers
> as Liam Clancy and Tommy Makem.
I cannot let this thread go without a 'pitch' for the film "Song o' my
Heart", available on VAI VHS 69067. As a movie, it is no better than you
would expect, but McCormack sings a dozen songs (in 91 minutes, so the
depth of the plot may be inferred from time alone). The only opera
selection is "Then You'll Remember Me" from Balfe's "The Bohemian Girl"
(hey, Balfe was Irish, remember!), but who cares?
