When You and I Were Young, Maggie
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When You and I Were Young, Maggie is a famous folk song, popular song and standard. Its lyrics were written as a poem by the Canadian school teacher George Washington Johnson. Margaret "Maggie" Clark was his pupil. They fell in love and during a period of illness, George walked to a nearby hill, overlooking a mill, and composed the poem. The general tone is perhaps one of melancholy and consolation over lost youth rather than mere sentimentality or a fear of ageing. It was published in 1864 in a collection of his poems entitled Maple Leaves. They were married in 1864 but Maggie's health deteriorated and she died on May 12, 1865. James Butterfield set the poem to music and it became popular all over the world. George Washington Johnson died in 1917. [1] [2]
[edit] Recordings
The song was first recorded by Corinne Morgan and Frank C. Stanley in 1905 and has been recorded since by many famous artists including opera tenors John McCormack, Jan Peerce and Enrico Caruso, early country singer Fiddlin' John Carson, bluegrass musicians Mac Wiseman, David Grisman, Reno and Smiley and James Alan Shelton, crooners Perry Como and Gene Autry and popular singers such as Henry Burr. Instrumental recordings of Butterfield's melody are also numerous, and date as far back as the 1930s. Notable recordings include those of jazzmen Benny Goodman, Fats Waller, Teddy Wilson and Sidney Bechet and ragtime pianist Johnny Maddox. The song is also considered as a standard of dixieland [3][4]. In 1983 Irish duo Foster & Allen reached number 27 in the UK singles chart with their version. This led many people to think it was an Irish song. It was also recorded by De Dannan on the album "Star-Spangled Molly", and by James Galway and The Chieftains on "In Ireland".
[edit] References
- ^ Rural Roots of Bluegrass: Songs, Stories & History By Wayne Erbsen p166
- ^ http://www.glanbrookheritage.ca/maggie.htm Excerpts from "When You and I Were Young, Maggie", by George Rickard, 1981. Reprinted by Glanbrook Heritage Society, with permission, 2001.
- ^ Encyclopedia of Music in Canada
- ^ The partial list of artists having recorded the song was compiled from the listing of the iTunes Music Store on February 21st 2008.
