Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair

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song lyrics

Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair
I dream of Jeanie with the light brown hair,
Borne, like a vapor, on the summer air;
I see her tripping where the bright streams play,
Happy as the daisies that dance on her way.
Many were the wild notes her merry voice would pour.
Many were the blithe birds that warbled them o'er:
Oh! I dream of Jeanie with the light brown hair,
floating, like a vapor, on the soft summer air.

I long for Jeanie with the daydawn smile,
Radiant in gladness, warm with winning guile;
I hear her melodies, like joys gone by,
Sighing round my heart o'er the fond hopes that die: -
Sighing like the night wind and sobbing like the rain, -
Wailing for the lost one that comes not again:
Oh! I long for Jeanie, and my heart bows low,
Never more to find her where the bright waters flow.

I sigh for Jeanie, but her light form strayed
Far from the fond hearts round her native glade;
Her smiles have vanished and her sweet songs flown,
Flitting like the dreams that have cheered us and gone.
Now the nodding wild flowers may wither on the shore
While her gentle fingers will cull them no more:
Oh! I sigh for Jeanie with the light brown hair,
floating, like a vapor, on the soft summer air.

Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair is a salon song by Stephen Foster (1826–1864). It was in 1854 by Firth, Pond & Co. in New York routed. Foster wrote the song in memory of his divorced wife, Jane McDowell. The text suggests a permanent separation.

Jeanie is one of the most famous winners of the ASCAP boycott of 1941. During the boycott, most modern titles could not be broadcast by the main broadcasters because they were unwilling to comply with the monopoly ASCAP's request to double license fees. Instead, the broadcasters used material from Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI) and public domain music. In 1941 an article appeared in Time Magazine on the subject, which said: "So often had BMI 's Jeannie [sic] with the Light Brown Hair been played that she was widely reported to have turned gray." (German in for example: "The broadcasters have played the BMI title Jeannie [sic] with the Light Brown Hair so often that it is said to have turned gray by now."

background

In 1850, Stephen Foster and Jane Denny McDowell, known as Jennie, married. The marriage was very short lived. The couple was repeatedly involved in different conflicts until they finally separated in 1853. Presumably in an attempt to win his wife back, Foster composed Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair in 1854 . The opening line of each verse suggests that she was thinking of Jane, it is said in verse one: "I dream of Jeanie" ( I dream of Jeanie ), in verse two: "I long for Jeanie" ( I long after Jeanie ) and in the third verse: "I sigh for Jeanie" ( I sigh for Jeanie ).

Although the song was one of Foster's favorite house music songs, it did not become a commercial hit. It was relatively unknown in its day, and Foster received just $ 200 in royalties on the first ten thousand copies sold. Foster, who struggled with financial difficulties for most of his career, had to cede the rights to Jeanie , as well as to other songs ( Old Folks at Home ). After his death, his ex-wife received the rights back, and in 1879 his daughter Marion received the rights.

Other versions

  • The violinist Jascha Heifetz arranged the song for violin and the piece became one of his significant titles.

The arrangement has been interpreted over and over again by many different violinists.

  • The song's ubiquity on radio broadcasts in the 1940s led Spike Jones to write the parody I Dream of Brownie with the Light Blue Jeans . In this song it finally turns out that Brownie was a wire-haired terrier . A number of quotes from other Stephen Foster songs can be heard in the instrumental interludes.
  • Fred Feuerstein and Barney Geröllheimer sing a version of the song in The House Guests (US first broadcast on December 22, 1961). The text variant is: "My bosom buddy and my lifelong pal ..... lah dee dee dah ....." (roughly German: "My bosom friend and my buddy for life ..."). They try to prove to their wives Wilma and Betty that they can get along without getting into each other's hair because the two families have to live together with the Feuersteins for a week because of water damage in the house of the Rubble.
  • Mary Tyler Moore sings the melody of the song in episode 4 ( Pink Pills and Purple Parents ) of the fourth season of The Dick Van Dyke Show from 1964 in the role of Laura Petrie , who is under the influence of tranquilizers and wine the text: I dream of Laura with the light brown hair, floating like a zeppelin on the summer air (German roughly: I dream of Laura and her dark blond hair, which floats like a zeppelin in the summer wind ).
  • On the Alvin Show , David Seville sings the song during a boat trip with a young woman he loves, much to the annoyance of Alvin and the Chipmunks. You react with a derogatory and disrespectful text variation We dream of Jeanie with the green-purple hair / She looks so funny, people stop and stare ... (German roughly: We dream of Jeanie with the green-red hair, she looks like this funny that people stop and stare ... ), with which they insult the young woman and irritate David himself.
  • The first line formed the basis for the name of the television series The Charming Jeannie (Original: I Dream of Jeannie )
  • The full title Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair was used as a nickname for the role of Jeanie in the television series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip , especially several times in the episode The Cold Open .
  • In the US premiere of the episode The Singing Mountie of the US military satire F Troop on September 8, 1966, Paul Lynde sings in his role I Dream of Wrangler with the light yellow hair to Wrangler Jane Angelica Thrift .
  • In the Bastogne episode of the US miniseries Band of Brothers (2010), a few lines of the song are vociferous a cappella by Technician Fifth Grade Joseph Liebgott ( Ross McCall ), Sergeant James H. "Mo" Alley and an unknown soldier sung just before they are covered by the German artillery.

Web links

Wikisource: Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair  - Sources and full texts (English)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Joanne O'Connell: Understanding Stephen Collins Foster, His World and Music. In: ProQuest. March 23, 2007. (English)
  2. ↑ No Letup. ( Memento from January 4, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) In: Time Magazine. January 27, 1941
  3. ^ Blaine T. Browne, Robert C. Cottrell: Lives and Times: Individuals and Issues in American History: To 1877 . Rowman & Littlefield, 2010, ISBN 978-0-7425-6192-2 , pp. 115 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  4. ↑ Pink Pills and Purple Parents (English)
  5. ↑ Season 4 (English)
  6. ↑ Laura Petrie (English)