When you were sweet sixteen I love you as I never loved before.

Never loved before.

Since first I met you on the village green on the village green.

Come to me.

My dream of love is old.

Dream of love is old.

I love you as I love you.

When you were sweet sixteen When you were sweet.

When you were sweet 16.

That songs about 60 years old.

Yet I bet most of you know it or sing it once in a while.

It's one of those real singing songs.

This is the fourth program in a 12 program series dealing with America's popular music from the 90s to the First War, the ragtime era, we call it, because ragtime stamped those years and set them apart from what went before and came after.

In popular music, the ragtime era, the Last Age of American Innocence, you might say, before the sophistication of the 20th century took hold in music and elsewhere in our national life.

This program is about songs, and not too many of them have much ragtime in them.

Their songs we like to sing like them in those pleasant years.

We like them.

Today we're going to see if we can find out why and have the fun of singing a few of them while we're at it.

You know, wherever you live in America, I bet when you get together with friends and you know how sometimes a song fest sort of starts out.

Most of the songs you'll sing will be from the ragtime era.

Oh, you'll hit a few from the 20s and maybe 1 or 2 from before 1890.

But before you're through, I'll bet you'll sing most of these.

Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer.

True.

Come away with me and see.

In my merry Oldsmobile was in the shade of the old apple tree.

Where the love in your eyes I did see.

By the light of the silvery moon.

Oh, you beautiful doll.

You great big, beautiful doll.

Let me put my arms around you.

I don't want to live without you.

Oh, you beautiful doll, you great big, beautiful doll.

If I ever.

Lose ya, my heart will ache.

I want to squeeze you but Im afraid you'll break.

You beautiful doll.

you sing those and a few dozen more from the ragtime era.

America's real singing songs.

How come?

Why is it that most people know all or part of those old songs?

They're not folk music.

Or maybe they are.

I mean, what's in a name?

Folk music, popular music.

Both the words folk and popular really mean of the people.

Oh, some of them are folk music and some of them aren't.

Now, folk music, I guess, by definition, is music that has obscure origins.

No composer whose name is known.

No publisher and no copyright.

The songs just kind of grew with the ragtime era songs.

We know who wrote them, we know when they were published, and the same words as sung in Maine, as in California.

But really, you wonder, what's the difference?

When you and I were young, Maggie?

Folk song, popular song.

Who cares?

I wandered today to the hills Maggie To watch the scene below The creek and the creaking old mill, Maggie As we used to long, long ago Long ago The green growth is gone from the hills, Maggie Where first the daisies sprung The creaking old mill is still, Maggie Since you and I were young And now were aged & gray, Maggie The trials of life are nealry done Let us sing of the days that are gone, Maggie When you and I were young.

Young.

When you and I were young.

When you and I were young.

Maggie.

Now that can't be considered a folk song.

We know that it was written in 1866 by a guy named James Butterfield to a poem by a mr.

George Johnson.

But there was a Maggie.

She was Johnson's wife, and there was a mill was on a creek near Maggie's childhood home.

So the song has a real life background to it, just like most folk songs.

Compare that to Frankie and Johnny.

Now there's a folk songs from the late 19th century.

Musical historians have been trying to track that one down for years, but it's got dozens of different versions.

Matter of fact, Frankie and Johnny even have different names depending on what part of the country you're in.

It's fairly certain that somewhere there was a girl named Frankie.

Johnny was her man.

He did do her wrong and she shot him.

But nobody seems to be able to figure out just when or where the whole thing took place.

Well, what does this all amount to?

Just this.

Certain songs have qualities of great appeal to everybody.

We love them, we sing them, we keep them alive.

It doesn't make any difference whether they're folk songs or popular songs.

They have certain musical qualities simple harmonies, frequent rests, certain repetition of the rhythmic pattern, a certain scale pattern often used.

They have certain lyrical qualities, a definite rhyme scheme and words that ring true.

And these qualities will look at a bit here in this half hour.

But these singing songs have another trait, and I don't think we can very well examine it.

It's it's an intangible something that keeps these songs alive, while others, thousands of them apparently just as good, are forgotten.

I think the main reason that most of the good singing songs come from the ragtime era is this the composers in those days were mostly fellas without much training.

As a matter of fact, a lot of them couldn't even read music.

Now professionalism was coming in popular music, but back in those days, the composers were mostly guys who had a natural sense of melody, of timing, of sentiment & they could Combine these things into a simple song.

As professionalism came in, some of the simplicity was lost.

Now, of course, I don't mean that the professionals didn't turn out good stuff.

Naturally they did.

But from the 20s on, music, popular music more and more was written by professionals.

For professionals, it was still popular in the sense that people listened to it and bought it, but they didn't participate in it.

They didn't sing it as much.

Well, let's take a look at a few of these musical qualities.

Simple harmonies, for instance.

Now, if you saw last week's program, The One about the blues, you'll remember we said there's a certain pattern of chords that's used in the blues and in most music the four chord, the five chord, the one chord.

These chords get their number names from their roots in the scale, the one chord Stax notes on the first step, the four chord, and the fourth step.

The five chord on the fifth step.

And those chords kind of have an affection for each other.

They like to stick together.

Sort of like a family.

Matter of fact, you could you could call the one chord the father chord.

Everything kind of tends toward it rests on it.

The five chord we could call, we could call a mother chord dependent on dad.

And very important also.

And incidentally, it'll give you ladies maybe a mild satisfaction to learn.

The musicians also call the five chord the dominant.

Now the four chord.

Well, we could call junior dependent in a way on mom, the five chord, but also on the one chord.

And this week you will bring in another chord, the chord based on the second step of the scale.

And used in either its major or minor forms in popular music, the two chord, where we'll have to call a child by another marriage of mom's, still very dependent on her.

Now, with these four basic chords, I'll bet we can harmonize a good 50% of the old singing songs.

Watch in the good old summer time, in the good old summer time Strollin' through the shady lane With my baby mine I'll hold her hand and she'll hold mine.

And that's a very good sign.

That she's my tootsie wootsie In the good old summertime Simple harmonies.

One mark of the good singing song.

And incidentally, it's asking a lot of a good barbershop quartet to hold themselves to those chords, even though they are the basic ones.

They kind of like to dress it up with a few ideas their own.

You'll have your chance later on, fellas.

Well, now, another thing about a good singing song has to do with the scale in which it lies, the melody of it.

Now, down through the ages, man's build his music around a number of different scales.

The common ones today are the major scale and the minor scale.

There are a lot of others.

The Greeks had a bunch of them, and as they say, the Greeks had words for them the Phrygian, the Dorian, the Mixolydian.

One of the simplest and earliest scales is called the pentatonic scale pentatonic.

Like pentagon five sides, pentatonic five tones.

Now the pentatonic scale makes use of the one, two, three, five, and six steps of our major scale, and these happen to also be the black notes on the piano.

It's amazing the number of singing songs whose melody lies only on those five notes, maybe slipping out for 1 or 2 others along the way in the good old Summertime does that.

Remember Sweet Rosie O'Grady?

The old favorite old folks at home?

And there's another one.

You don't hear it quite as often, but it's a wonderful tune.

Mighty like a rose.

Sweetest little fellow, everybody knows Don't know what to call him but hes mighty like a rose Looking at his mammy with eyes so shiny blue.

Makes you think that heaven is coming close to you.

So the pentatonic scale.

Another attribute of many of our constant favorites.

And of course, whenever a melody lies in that scale, a harmony is bound to be basic.

Now, another thing about a song.

In order for the average guy to be able to sing it, it ought to have a kind of a narrow range so that the singer doesn't have to strain to hit the high notes or the low ones About about an octave is enough, an octave being the span of our major scale.

Of course, in a lot of the better singing songs, that octave is arranged in such a way that you think you're doing a lot more than you really are.

I cannot for the stars that shine.

I dare not hope you'll ever be mine I only know I love you, love me and the world is mine.

And that old song we all remember that spans just seven notes.

But right there at the end we go for that high note I only know I love you.

Yeah, we reach for that when the average guy thinks he's Enrico Caruso going up for that.

Well, simple harmonies then.

Frequent use of the pentatonic scale, a narrow range.

There are other musical attributes.

Frequent rests kind of holds in the music, where the singers can come in and put in their own harmonic ideas, short phrases with a repeated melodic and rhythmic pattern that makes for easy memorization.

And as I said, words.

They should have a definite rhyme scheme, and the word should be rather unsophisticated with a limited vocabulary.

Now there's a song.

We all know it came out in 1903.

It's kind of a national habit.

It's got many, most of the characteristics that I've talked about, and it's the granddaddy of all the singing songs.

Now, like most of the old tunes we remember today, only the chorus, but all those songs had verses and the verses have been forgotten.

So I'll tell you what, I'll drag out the verse of this one for you and then, as I say, all joined in the chorus.

In evening When I sit alone, dreaming of days gone by.

Love to me so dear.

There's a picture that in fancy oft' appearing Brings back the time, love, when you were near It is then I wonder where you are my darling And if your heart to me is still the same For the sighing wind and nightingale a-singin Are breathing only your own sweet name Sweet Adeline (Sweet Adeline) My Adeline (My Adeline) At night, dear heart (At night, dear heart) For you I pine (For you I pine) In all my dreams.

All my dreams.

Your fair face beams (Your fair face beams) You're the flower of my heart Sweet Adeline (Sweet Adeline) That's real.

Harmonizing, barber shopping.

You know, a good barbershop quartet.

Can take a simple tune like Sweet Adeline and make a harmonic seven course dinner out of it.

The tune itself is just kind of a framework on which they hang their own musical ideas.

Matter of fact, you could kind of compare these songs to the rules of a game, you know, whenever you might meet three people that you don't even know and you sit down and if you all know the rules, you can enjoy a good game of bridge.

Well, it's kind of the same way with the singing songs.

We all know the words and the music to Sweet Adeline and a lot of the other favorites, and we can join with people and sing them and sing them well, even though they're strangers or friends.

There's a unique organization that you might say helps to spread the rules of the game.

The society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America.

Thousands of members and communities all over the world formed and kept alive by men who love to sing, to sing for the fun of it.

It's a wonderful, wonderful organization, and the society has rules that limit the singing of the members of the organization to keep the old ragtime sound.

Now, these men may come from all walks of life.

In our quartet we have a doctor, we have a chemistry teacher, a physicist and an engineer.

None of them are professional musicians.

As a matter of fact, the society has a rule that if more than one of the men in a quartet is a professional musician, they can't compete in the frequent nationwide contest the society sponsors.

Now, as I said, they have rules for the singing to to preserve that old ragtime era sound in competition.

Modern harmonies are taboo, and also the quartets always sing unaccompanied like they did, I guess in those barbershops or on those front porches, like they might have sung back in 1900.

The Bird in a Gilded Cage.

And we're going to show you an illustrated song of The Bird in the Gilded Cage, as it was done in the theaters in 1900.

The bird in the Gilded Cage, with all its sentimental word.

Pictures of a poor girl's tormented life.

The ballroom was filled with fashions throng It shone with a thousand lights And there was a woman who passed along the fairest of all the sights.

A girl to her lover then softly sighed "There's riches at her command."

"But she married for wealth, not love, he cried Though she lives in a mansion grand.

She's only a bird in a gilded cage A beautiful sight to see, to see.

You may think she's happy and free from care.

She's not, though she seems to be seems to be Tis sad when you think of her wasted life For youth cannot mate with age And hr beauty was sold For an old man's gold She's a bird in a gilded cage I stood in a churchyard just at eve When sunset adorned the west And looked at the people who'd come to grieve For loved ones now laid at rest Laid to rest A tall marble monument marked the grave Of one who'd been fashion's queen And I thought, "She is happier at rest” Than to have people say, when see She's only a bird in a gilded cage A beautiful sight to see You may think she's happy and free from care She's not, though she seems to be, seems to be.

'Tis sad when you think of her wasted life For youth cannot mate with age And her beauty was sold For an old man's gold she's a bird in a gilded cage And her beauty was sold For an old man's gold She's a bird in a gilded cage.

Golden cage.

We'll have more of those illustrated songs for you.

And our slides are from original sets, from the personal collection of Mr.

John W Ripley of Topeka, Kansas.

You know, you've heard us say several times, and we'll say again, the ragtime era from the 90s to the first war, this was a time of self entertainment.

And the society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet singing in America is made up of men who believe the idea of self entertainment shouldn't be lost.

I mean, why preserve and encourage these old songs in the knack of singing them?

Companionship?

Relaxation?

Yeah.

Fun?

You bet.

It's fun.

And a certain realization that men and women should always sing.

They should never lose that.

You know, down through the ages, wherever you look in the past, any age, any culture, you find people getting together to sing about the things that really mean something to them their homes, the people they love, their faith.

Nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee E'en though it be a cross that raiseth me still all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to thee; nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee Next week we're going to go back to the 90s again and see what was happening to music in the theater.

They weren't calling a musical comedies yet, but it wouldn't be long.

It's another musical story from the ragtime era.

Everything happened then.

Well, I've been wanting to come out here on the front porch and join you guys.

Maybe you'll let me sing.

Bates.

When first I saw the lovelight in your eyes Lovelight in your eyes I knew the world held not but joy for me Not but joy for me.

And even though we drifted far apart.

I never dreamed.

But what I dream of thee.

I love you as I never loved before.

Never loved before since first I met you on the village green.

on the village green Come to me here my dream of love is oer I love you as I love you.

When you were sweet When you were sweet.

I love you as I never loved before.

never love before.

Since first I met you on the village green Come to me here my dream of love is oer Love is all I love you.

This is national educational television.