Item: The Christmas carol "Deck the Halls" is from Wales, where there's a harpist on every street corner. The song was originally sung with chorus portions interspersed with a harpist improvising a few bars, hence "strike the harp and join the chorus." Now, where the harpist would play, we sing, "fa la la la la, la la la la. (Source: PBS radio broadcast)
Item: The Christmas carol "What Child Is This?" takes the melody of "Greensleeves." The melody of "Greensleeves" was written by no less a personage than Henry VIII, who was quite a musician when not disposing of wives, founding the Episcopal church, and so on. The name of the song refers to ladies of easy virtue who stained their sleeves green while rolling in the grass! (Sources: PBS radio broadcast and Kira Prewitt, SAI and worker at a medieval festival.)
Item: The music to "Take Me Out To The Ball Game," 1908, was written by Albert Von Tilzer, brother of Harry Von Tilzer, who gave us many barbershop songs. When Albert wrote the music, he had never seen a baseball game. (Source: PBS radio broadcast)
Item: The oft quoted, "Music has charms to soothe a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak," is from a 1697 play, "The Mourning Bride," by William Congreve. (Source: "Bartlett's Familiar Quotations")
Item: In 1896, when "Annie Rooney," "After The Ball," "Maggie Murphy's Home" and "Two Little Girls In Blue" were among the nation's favorite songs, the Clapp Brothers (Ralph, Randall, Albert and Arch) were singing them in four-part harmony. The quartet broke up in 1898 during the Spanish-American war, but the four brothers much later became members of the Society in the Los Angeles area. (Source: "Heritage of Harmony," Val Hicks, Editor, SPEBSQSA, 1988.)
Item: "Barbershop harmony really begins at the end and works backwards. If a quartet is well equipped with 'wicked' endings, the body of the song may be fairly conventional. It is the close that leaves the final fragrance of the barbershop, and if this be beautifully flavored with a nostalgic aroma, it matters little what has gone before. The most obvious harmonies are forgotten in a really subtle finish." (Source: "Barbershop Ballads and How to Sing Them," Dr. Sigmund Spaeth, 1925)
back to Short Fillers
back to Aids to Bulletin Editors page