Harry Macdonough & Haydn Quartet - Neath The Old Acorn Tree, Sweet Estelle (1907)
- anteayer
Harry Macdonough & Haydn Quartet "Neath The Old Acorn Tree, Sweet Estelle" Victor 5319, recorded on November 4, 1907.
Lyrics are by C. M. Denison.
Music is by J. Fred Helf.
'Tis twilight and the toil of day is over,
The cattle from the fields are coming home,
The moon will soon be shining on the clover,
As down a quiet lane alone I roam,
The old mill wheel is silent all seems lonely,
A dear girl's waiting in the twilights glow,
I whisper that I love her, love her only,
We parted where the water lillies grow.
'Neath the old acorn tree, sweet Estelle
I'll return, love's old story to tell,
When the gold of day turns to gray,
And you list to the old village bell,
Let my love in your heart ever dwell,
You may know little girl all is well,
With a heart ever true,
I'll return dear to you,
'Neath the old acorn tree sweet Estelle.
Out in the golden West tonight I'm dreaming,
The moon shines o'er the mountains still and cold,
I'm going East where candle lights are gleaming,
Again to wander through the scenes of old,
The moonlight on the old mill wheel is falling,
No loving face is waiting there for me,
In fancy I can hear a sweet voice calling,
"Dear heart I'm waiting 'neath the acorn tree."
Harry Macdonough was born on March 30, 1871, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, as John Scantlebury Macdonald. During the two decades he was active as a recording artist, the tenor was perhaps the most popular ballad singer to make records aside from Henry Burr, also a tenor from Canada.
Determining who made more records before 1920 would be a challenge since both Macdonough and Burr worked regularly as solo artists and also within duos, trios, quartets, and larger ensembles.
He first made cylinders for the Michigan Electric Company in Detroit. In a letter written to Jim Walsh dated February 9, 1931, he states that these cylinders "were not sold but merely used in their `Phonograph Parlor' on the slot machines in use at that time." The June 1920 issue of Talking Machine World states he "spent his early business life in Detroit."
John Kaiser, who recorded "Casey" monologues and later served as a U.S. Phonograph Company executive, helped Macdonald enter the record business on the East Coast. After Macdonald made a test record in October 1898 at the New York studio of Harms, Kaiser & Hagen, Kaiser himself played the test record for Walter H. Miller, then Edison's recording manager. As a result, Macdonald began making commercial recordings at the Edison laboratories in West Orange, New Jersey, on October 17, 1898.
He wrote to Walsh, "At my first session I made twelve selections, for which I received $9.00. The regular rate was at that time $1.00 per song but being a beginner I was supposed to be satisfied with anything they chose to pay me and, as a matter of fact, I was. That $9.00 seemed pretty big pay for the afternoon and I had no complaint...shortly after that they paid me the regular rate of $1.00 per 'round' as it was described in those days.
Lyrics are by C. M. Denison.
Music is by J. Fred Helf.
'Tis twilight and the toil of day is over,
The cattle from the fields are coming home,
The moon will soon be shining on the clover,
As down a quiet lane alone I roam,
The old mill wheel is silent all seems lonely,
A dear girl's waiting in the twilights glow,
I whisper that I love her, love her only,
We parted where the water lillies grow.
'Neath the old acorn tree, sweet Estelle
I'll return, love's old story to tell,
When the gold of day turns to gray,
And you list to the old village bell,
Let my love in your heart ever dwell,
You may know little girl all is well,
With a heart ever true,
I'll return dear to you,
'Neath the old acorn tree sweet Estelle.
Out in the golden West tonight I'm dreaming,
The moon shines o'er the mountains still and cold,
I'm going East where candle lights are gleaming,
Again to wander through the scenes of old,
The moonlight on the old mill wheel is falling,
No loving face is waiting there for me,
In fancy I can hear a sweet voice calling,
"Dear heart I'm waiting 'neath the acorn tree."
Harry Macdonough was born on March 30, 1871, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, as John Scantlebury Macdonald. During the two decades he was active as a recording artist, the tenor was perhaps the most popular ballad singer to make records aside from Henry Burr, also a tenor from Canada.
Determining who made more records before 1920 would be a challenge since both Macdonough and Burr worked regularly as solo artists and also within duos, trios, quartets, and larger ensembles.
He first made cylinders for the Michigan Electric Company in Detroit. In a letter written to Jim Walsh dated February 9, 1931, he states that these cylinders "were not sold but merely used in their `Phonograph Parlor' on the slot machines in use at that time." The June 1920 issue of Talking Machine World states he "spent his early business life in Detroit."
John Kaiser, who recorded "Casey" monologues and later served as a U.S. Phonograph Company executive, helped Macdonald enter the record business on the East Coast. After Macdonald made a test record in October 1898 at the New York studio of Harms, Kaiser & Hagen, Kaiser himself played the test record for Walter H. Miller, then Edison's recording manager. As a result, Macdonald began making commercial recordings at the Edison laboratories in West Orange, New Jersey, on October 17, 1898.
He wrote to Walsh, "At my first session I made twelve selections, for which I received $9.00. The regular rate was at that time $1.00 per song but being a beginner I was supposed to be satisfied with anything they chose to pay me and, as a matter of fact, I was. That $9.00 seemed pretty big pay for the afternoon and I had no complaint...shortly after that they paid me the regular rate of $1.00 per 'round' as it was described in those days.