Come with me into the realm of dreams

Come with me into the realm of dreams is the German text for the American song Meet me tonight in dreamland , the words of which the Hickman County, Tennessee- born poet Beth Slater Whitson (1879–1930) wrote. The New York composer Leo Friedman (1869–1927) set the text to music. The resulting song was published in Chicago in 1909 by Will Rossiter, the city's largest music publisher at the time. Although it was hugely popular and commercially successful in its time and beyond, the two authors did not receive any royalties.

history

The song, held at a slow waltz, made known the vaudeville artist Reine Davies, who is celebrated in the USA as “The New American Beauty” . The sheet music title originally featured a picture by an unknown artist. Rossiter replaced it with a photograph of the popular vaudeville star Reine Davies. As a result, sales of the song soared to over two million copies in the first year alone. Following the success, numerous other dream songs were created in the USA . The song is wrongly associated with the opening of the amusement park " Dreamland " on Coney Island , which took place in 1904.

English refrain

Meet me tonight in dreamland,
under the silvery moon;
Meet me tonight in dreamland,
where love's sweet roses bloom.
Come with the love-light gleaming
in your dear eyes of blue;
Meet me in dreamland,
sweet dreamy dreamland;
There let my dreams come true.

- (Beth Slater Whitson 1909)

In Germany, the couplet and hit poet Harry Senger wrote the text “Come with me into the realm of dreams” on Friedmann's melody.

In the dark of night,
when no one is awake,
I think of you with longing.
A pair of eyes
So longingly clear
Holds me in love.
Your look tells me that you love me.
Your dream of me is the greatest happiness:

Come with me into the realm of dreams,
where the moon only sees us.
Come with me into the realm of dreams,
where the fragrant rose blooms.
Lower your eyes, the hot
beam into my heart.
Land of sweet dreams,
land of sweet foams,
I'll be happy there.

- (Harry Senger)

reception

Judy Garland sang the song in the 1949 color film musical In the good old summer time .

1959 recording of Bing Crosby in a duet with Rosemary Clooney .

1965 “Arranged & Conducted by Ernie Freeman”, sung about by Pat Boone .

1993 presented by the vocal group Swingin 'Girls with a new text by Bernd van Kampen and in an arrangement by Heinz Kretzschmar on CD.

Henry Miller quotes the song at the beginning of his 1949 novel “Sexus”, where it is sung occasionally at a dinner to celebrate a raise.

It is featured in the seventh episode of Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later , a satirical television comedy series directed by David Wain .

Tara Altebrando quotes the song in her 2011 souvenir novel Dreamland Social Club .
Marilyn Hering quotes the song in her novel A Woman Possessed .
Monte Schulz quotes it in Crossing Eden (2016).
Loretta Ellsworth also quotes it in her novel Stars Over Clear Lake .
The therapist Heidrun Streit-Gallo called her book on meditation and fantasy journeys for children, slightly modified, “Come with me to the land of dreams”.
At the latest since the interpretation of the title by Eddie Condon and the vocal quartet The Mills Brothers , it began to develop into a jazz standard that both big bands like Meredith Willson's or the Casa Loma Orchestra of saxophonist Glen Gray and traditional jazz bands like the Swedish one Red Wing Ragtime Band , the Dutch Basin Street Jazz Band and the Riverside Jazz Band from Mülheim an der Ruhr .

Sheet music editions

Meet me to-night in dreamland , by Beth Slater Whitson and Leo Friedman. Now being popularized by Reine Davies. Will Rossiter, Music Publishers, Chicago / Ill., 1909.
Come with me into the realm of dreams (Meet me to-night in dreamland). Editions for big band / dance orchestra / combo (Friedman / arr. Steffen) Bosworth & Co., Vienna. Order no.BOSO 6283.

Siegfried Bethmann, R. Conradi (Ed.): Lachende Musik . An album of the most popular and contemporary operettas, dances, songs and marches in original editions - a supplement to the ideal music album "Sang und Klang", piano reduction with text. With e. Preface by Heinrich Binder. Berlin: Neufeld & Henius Berlin, undated [1919?]

Sound documents (examples)

United States

Elizabeth Wheeler and Harry Anthony sang "Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland" as a duet in late 1909 on Edison Standard Record # 10290. The Cylinder recording was published in January 1910.
Walter van Brunt sang the song in 1910 on Indestructible Cylinder Record # 1426
Henry Burr recorded the song in 1910 on Columbia A 905 (Matr. 4658).
John Young sang the song with orchestral accompaniment on Victor 16 833 (Mat. B-9533) on Oct. 10, 1910 in Camden, NJ

Denmark

In Copenhagen in 1913 Lauritz Melchior made a recording for Odeon with orchestra accompaniment.

Germany

The song with Harry Senger's text “Come with me into the realm of dreams”:

Erich Schröter on Odeon A 43 443. 1913.
Max Kuttner with orchestra under the direction of Friedrich Kark on Beka 15 567, later B. 3601 (Matr. 15 567). in March 1914.
Max Kuttner with orchestral accompaniment on Dacapo lyrophon 14 078 (mat. 30 192)
Berthold Adler with a Schrammel orchestra on Kalliope 4993-I (Matr. 07069).
The concert singer Erich Schröter recorded the song as "Erich Berger", accompanied by Friedrich Kark on piano and Otto Rathke on cornet, on February 15, 1919 in Berlin on Beka 30 192. The die was later sold under the number B. 3589. The tenor Fritz Körting-Ritter made another recording on Beka 31 652 on March 31, 1922.
In 1931, Harry Steier and his quartet, accompanied by the Otto Dobrindt Orchestra, sang the song in an arrangement by Fritz Henschke on a Beka record.
In 1931 the tenor Franz Völker from the Vienna State Opera sang it with orchestral accompaniment on gramophone 23 917 / B 43383 (matrix number: 2625 BH-VI), the conductor was Alois Melichar .
It was played as a cornet solo with orchestra by Karl Woll [as “Paul Wiggert”], Kgl. Chamber musician, Berlin, on record “Zonophon” 17 055 / 525.027 (die number: 13970 L), to be added. June 26, 1912.
Alfred Matthes, Berlin, played the 'American Waltz Song' as a cornet solo with orchestra on Gramophone Concert Record 12 434 / 945.026 (die number: 13937 L).

Web links

Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland in the DNB music catalog (names 9 recordings).
Sheet music for "Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland" at barbershop.org (PDF).

literature

Ronald Herder: 500 Best-Loved Song Lyrics. Dover Books on Music. Editor Ronald Herder. Courier Corporation, 2013, ISBN 978-0-486-17152-4 , pp. 220f.
Edo McCullough: Good Old Coney Island. A Sentimental Journey Into the Past, The Most Rambunctious, Scandalous, Rapscallion, Splendiferous, Pugnacious, Spectacular, Illustrious, Prodigious, Frolicsome Island on Earth. Fordham Univ. Press, 1957, ISBN 978-0-8232-1997-1 , p. 195 and 230
Don Tyler: Hit Songs, 1900–1955: American Popular Music of the Pre-Rock Era. McFarland, 2007, ISBN 978-0-7864-2946-2 , pp. 50, 361, 393, 526.
Ian Whitcomb: After the Ball. Pop Music from Rag to Rock. Faber & Faber, 2013, ISBN 978-0-571-29933-1 , Sp. 1915.
Christian Zwarg: PARLOPHON Matrix Numbers - 30173 to 34999: German. Discography compiled by Christian Zwarg for GHT Wien ( discography.phonomuseum.at PDF).
Christian Zwarg: PARLOPHON Matrix Numbers - 133000 to 133999: German. Discography compiled by Christian Zwarg for GHT Wien ( discography.phonomuseum.at PDF).

Individual evidence

↑ to be found at perfessorbill.com

↑ “ she composed the lyrics to approximately fourhundred songs and wrote poetry and short stories, many of which were published in popular magazines of the early twentieth century ”, bethslaterwithson.com

↑ was a student of Emil Liebling in Chicago and of Yetlitzki at the Musikhochschule in Berlin, imdb.com .

↑ Sheet music title with picture by Reine Davies.

↑ “ not exactly a big hit ” writes barbershop.org

^ Tyler, Hit Songs, p. 50: “ The publisher, Will Rossiter, bought the song for a trifle and refused to pay royalties. So Rossiter reaped all the rewards. ”

↑ Yagoda, The B side, p. 35

↑ Matthew St.Pierre p. 123 gives 1904 as the date the song was composed, cf. also Parascandola p. 325, Tyler p. 50.

↑ title shown. on ebay.ie , to be heard in the film clip on youtube

↑ youtube

↑ Swingin 'Girls, Vol. 2 - BRM (Bosworth Recorded Music) AAD 83.064, track 6, cf. amazon.com

↑ "The series consists of eight episodes, and was released on August 4, 2017"

↑ buecher.de

↑ Eddie Condon & his Windy City Seven on COMMODORE 505-A (mx. 22831-1)

↑ youtube.com

↑ Decca 2804-A, Brunswick 03704, youtube

↑ Edison, World's Greatest Songs, p. 24: "First written as a sentimental waltz in 1909 this became a jazz standard after Dixielanders got hold of it, put it in 4/4 time and added some syncopation and bluesy harmony."