Love Me and the World Is Mine

"Love Me And The World Is Mine" is truly a good old song. [Some recent quartets have revived it, but] twenty years ago, barbershoppers often sang it wherever they gathered. It was, in fact, at one time a Barberpole Cat song.

It is described in the Heritage of Harmony Songbook as having "unusual structure and fine poetry." Sigmund Spaeth called it a classic, and wrote that it is "a masterpiece in its economy of materials, giving singers the impression that they are covering a tremendous range, although it is actually less than an octave from the lowest to the highest note of the melody."

The music was composed by Ernest R. Ball, who also composed "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling," "Mother Machree," "Dear Little Boy Of Mine," and "Let The Rest Of The World Go By." Not much is known about David R. Reed, Jr., the man who wrote the words, except that he published songs and that many of these were sung in Broadway shows between 1894 and 1923.

When they collaborated on "Love Me And The World Is Mine" in 1906, Ball and Reed produced a fine song that all barbershop singers can enjoy.

-- from Macon, GA Sharptalk, Fred Hinesley, editor

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