Bring Me a Letter from My Old Home Town

"Bring Me a Letter from My Old Home Town" is a World War I era ballad song released in 1918. A.G. Delamater wrote the lyrics and Will R. Anderson composed the music. It was written for both voice and piano.[1]

"Bring Me a Letter from My Old Home Town"
Song
Published1918 (1918) by M. Witmark & Sons
GenreWar-time song
Composer(s)Will R. Anderson
Lyricist(s)A.G. Delamater

The song was published by M. Witmark & Sons in New York City. On the sheet music cover is a group of "greater Vitagraph players" sitting around a table, writing letters. Behind them is a service flag with a red border and one blue star.[2][3]

The song opens with a wounded soldier laying on a cot. He tells a nurse that the only thing that will cure his homesickness is hearing from his "old home town". The chorus is as follows:[4]

Bring me a letter from my old home town,
One with jokes from my old pal, Jim Brown.
Bring me a letter from that girl of mine,
Saying that she's longing for me all the time
Bring me a letter from my proud old dad,
Who knows that we are winning, and I'll bet he's glad.
But more than any other,
A line from my old mother;
Bring me a letter from my home town.

Sheet music

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The sheet music can be found at Pritzker Military Museum & Library.[5]

Performers

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The song was performed by Billy Jones for Edison Blue Amberol[6] and by Will R. Anderson for Columbia.[7]

References

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  1. ^ "Bring me a letter from my old home town". Library of Congress. Retrieved January 12, 2016.
  2. ^ Parker, Bernard S. (2007). World War I Sheet Music. Vol. 1. Jefferson: McFarland & Company. p. 62. ISBN 978-0-7864-2798-7.
  3. ^ Paas, John Roger (2014). America Sings of War: American Sheet Music from World War I. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. p. 344. ISBN 9783447102780.
  4. ^ Vogel, Frederick G. (1995). World War I Songs: A History and Dictionary of Popular American Patriotic Tunes, with Over 300 Complete Lyrics. Jefferson: McFarland & Company. pp. 301–302. ISBN 0-89950-952-5.
  5. ^ Bring me a letter from my old home town. OCLC Worldcat. OCLC 40784462. Retrieved January 12, 2016.
  6. ^ "Bring me a letter from my old home town - Alexandria Digital Research Library - Alexandria Digital Research Library". www.alexandria.ucsb.edu.
  7. ^ Brooks, Tim; Rust, Brian (1999). The Columbia Master Book Discography: Principal U.S. matrix series. 1910-1924. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 536. ISBN 0313308225.