Peggy O'Neil (song)

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Peggy O'Neil is a pop song that Harry Pease , Ed. G. Nelson and Gilbert Dodge and published in 1921 by Leo Feist .

background

The slow waltz by the songwriting team Pease, Nelson & Dodge was a hit in vaudeville in the early 1920s and popular at family and social gatherings; the nostalgic song refers not only to the eponymous actress of the same name (1898–1960), who was popular at the time , but also to similar songs such as The Sidewalks of New York or Sweet Rosie O'Grady from the 1890s. Music magazine Variety added the song to their Hit Parade of a Half Century list . The song begins with the lines:

Peggy O'Neil, still from the drama The Penny Philanthropist (1917)
Peggy O'Neil is a girl who could steal any heart, anywhere
And I'll put you wise how you'll recognize
That wonderful gal of mine

The refrain is:

If her eyes are blue as skies, that's Peggy O'Neil
If she's smiling all the while, that's Peggy O'Neil .

First recordings and later cover versions

Billy Jones ( Brunswick 2108 and Pathé 20554) and Charles Harrison ( Regal 7709, # 8) were successful with the song in the United States . Frederick Granger (HMV 109) was one of the other musicians who covered the song from 1920. The song made a small comeback in the late 1940s, when Gregg Lawrence & Frankie Carles Orchestra recorded the song for Columbia in 1949. During this time, other versions appeared. a. Jerry Murad's Harmonicats, Jack Smith and The Clark Sisters and Danny O'Neil.

The discographer Tom Lord lists a total of seven (as of 2015) cover versions in the field of jazz , u. a. by Milt Herth (1947), Pete Daily (Capitol, 1951), Big Tiny Little (1959), Les Patching (1968) and Johnny Wiggs (1968). Even Tony Williams , Mitch Miller , Johnny Maddox and Slim Whitman coverten the song.

The song should not be confused with Sweet Peggy O'Neil (1920), written by Joseph P. Redding and Uda Waldrop.

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ a b Cover of the sheet of music
  2. ↑ a b c Don Tyler: Hit Songs, 1900-1955: American Popular Music of the Pre-Rock Era . Jefferson, North Carolina & London, McFarland, 2007, p. 120
  3. ^ That's Peggy O'Neil
  4. ↑ Vitacoustic 7
  5. ↑ Capitol 473
  6. ↑ Majestic Records 7270
  7. ↑ Tom Lord: Jazz discography (online)
  8. ↑ Dot Records 45-15068