Lyrics: The oriole with joy was sweetly singing The little brook was babbling it's tune The village bells at noon were gaily ringing The world seem'd brighter than a harvest moon For there within my arms I gently pressed you And blushing red, you slowly turned away I can't forget the way I once caressed you I only pray we'll meet another day In the shade of the old apple tree Where the love in your eyes I could see When the voice that I heard, like the song of the bird Seem'd to whisper sweet music to me I could hear the dull buzz of the bee In the blossoms as you said to me With a heart that is true, I'll be waiting for you In the shade of the old apple tree In the shade of the old apple tree Where the love in your eyes I could see When the voice that I heard, like the song of the bird Seem'd to whisper sweet music to me I could hear the dull buzz of the bee In the blossoms as you said to me With a heart that is true, I'll be waiting for you In the shade of the old apple tree
Since I can remember my Dad sang In the shade of the old apple tree Sat two Irishmen as drunk as could Said Mike to his friend There’s a fly in the end Of my nose won’t you slap it for me Now mikes friend was an accommodating old chap And he picked up the ax and kerwap The fly flew in the air And they buried Mike there In the shade of the old apple tree. I’m 69 now and cannot believe this has been passed down in our family instead of this lovely song. Kinda makes me feel sad.
the pre ww1 era seems so nice, up there with the 50s as one of America's best eras, artistically, culturally, advanced yet simple technologically, the era of songs like this and of worlds fairs, early movies and such and so on, sounds like such a nice time to be alive in the United States, the oldest still living people in the United States were born in 1907, those of them with some form of intact memory would be some of the last that remember this time in our history
This is almost haunting, in a way. Popular music was so different - lacking in bass, a supporting band somewhat like a small orchestra, and a sort of "flowery" audio aesthetic, if that makes sense to anyone else. The cover artwork has a quaint style, as well. I get the impression that many singers of the time, including Mr. Burr, put on some sort of European accent while recording. What is truly haunting, though, is the fact that Henry Burr, Harry Williams, Egbert Van Alstyne, every instrumentalist involved in this song, as well as every other musician and absolutely everybody from this period has grown old and died by now. In a sense, music is from a whole other world. How poetic. EDIT: By coincidence, I just so happened to learn what was that "European accent" I mentioned! The singing style is "bel canto", and it is of Italian origin.
The cover artwork was designed to go with sheet music, I believe. That’s something you’d never see anymore but it was common back then for pop songs because most people had a piano at home and not everyone could afford a record player. Another interesting thing about pop music from this era is that even with the rise of ragtime, there were a lot of songs in 3/4. When you think about some of the biggest hits of the day: “Come Josephine in my Flying Machine”, “In My Merry Oldsmobile”, “Let Me Call You Sweetheart”, they’re all waltzes. No doubt written by people who grew up with and deeply admired the waltz composers of the 1800s. The first few years of the 1900s were an interesting bridge between the Romantic and modern eras.
I noticed that too. They always pronounce the R's really strong in 1900s music. Not bad, just a different style. Many things changed but modern music that we all love comes directly from this after all 🙃
This is such an beautiful song sang by one of the greatest tenors ever, Henry Burr. I'm so glad that I have the original sheet music of this song from 1905.
This sounds so clear and crisp for such an old recording. I sometimes wish I could go back in time to this fascinating era if only for a short while. However, until they invent a time machine I'll just have to make do with listening to music like this on RU-vid and watching Boardwalk Empire etc. Lol
nice melody... nice romantic song (by Harry Williams & Egbert Van Alstyne)... great composition... lovely performance by a great artist with a lovely voice.... bella canbsion.........
@Reality rupture Yes, but there's more to it than a simple reference to the year the song was composed. Adding "for a song xxx years old" implies older songs aren't typically good.
@Maxx Fleischer Interesting. Recently I've been reading about the music of this period of time; and then started to search for recordings of those times. Greetings from Mexico City.
is Henry Burr the first person to ever sing this song? Because I searched on google to see who the original singer of this song was and it keeps coming up with Louis Armstrong which can't be right because he was born in 1901 unless he could sing at the age of 4 xD
Love this song btw! its so awesome that even though we are in 2016 we are still able to listen to such lovely music. I know it was in 2010 but thank you for uploading this!
CrazySweetGirl I love to be able to help the old songs live on today! You're welcome, and I'm still uploading vintage recordings in case you would like to subscribe. :)
Didnt Burr reference this 10 years later with Peerless Quartet's is there still room for me neath the old apple tree? Guess that song was like a sequel. Many modern musicans have done the same kinda thing(Iron Maiden,50 Cent etc)
@@aileen9553 Here, let me explain. If you listen very carefully, in the talking tree scene of the 1939 Wizard of Oz film, you can here the song in the form of incidental music.
