Almanac Music: Greatest Hits of 1856 – ‘Gentle Annie’ by Stephen Foster

 

 

Almanac Music: Greatest Hits of 1856 – ‘Gentle Annie’ by Stephen Foster

 

Some popular songs stand the test of time extremely well; so much so, that though they constitute part of the zeitgeist of a particular era, they are still performed many, many years later, sometimes in a slightly different form, and remain as compelling as ever. Such a song is ‘Gentle Annie’, written by Stephen Foster, originally published in 1856, and in this historical context a sublime example of antebellum American parlour music with its themes of love, loss and early death, its simple but highly affecting melody and lyrics, and straightforward piano score that can be played by the home amateur in their parlour. As such, without going too far into analysis here, one would have had to possess a parlour and a piano in their home to participate fully in the enjoyment of this kind of music, of course. The heyday of parlour music ‘came in the 19th century, as a result of a steady increase in the number of households with enough surplus cash to purchase musical instruments and instruction in music, and with the leisure time and cultural motivation to engage in recreational music-making.’ (Wikipedia.) Basically, the lyrics of ‘Gentle Annie’, the song under present consideration, focus upon the early death of a beloved young girl (or perhaps teenager): ‘Thou wilt come no more, gentle Annie / Like a flower thy spirit did depart …’ (from Verse 1).

 

Theories abound concerning the influences upon Foster’s writing of ‘Gentle Annie’. Understandably, most centre upon the young girl who features in the song, putting forward such ideas as the girl being based upon the daughter of a grocer Foster knew, or on his cousin. In a different context, the song is sometimes seen as a farewell to his maternal grandmother. We will never really know, of course – all of the females just noted were actually named Annie, but the particular source of inspiration (if there was one) may be none of them.

 

Now is a fitting time to listen to a version of ‘Gentle Annie’ as it would have been performed in Foster’s era

 

 

 

 

This is such a poetic, evocative example of a song produced at a time in which early death was, sadly, a common occurrence, often the result of diseases that can be successfully treated today. I do believe, also, that one can interpret the song more broadly than it being about the death of a child. The first two lines of Verse 2 can be viewed as representing two young people in the throes of first love: ‘We have roamed and loved mid the bowers / When thy downy cheeks were in their bloom …’. In this context, one can see Annie as the tragically lost first love of the young man’s life, and the man is left solitary and bereft: ‘Now I stand alone mid the flowers / While they mingle their perfumes o’er thy tomb …’ (Verse 2, lines 3-4).

 

Next is a quite recent version (1998) of the song, sung by Kate and Anna McGarrigle, and Linda Ronstadt.

 

 

 

 

Note that the tempo here is considerably slower than was the case in the previous version shown, and that the lyrics are slightly different. Also, it is clear that the song can work just as well when sung by more than one singer, and with a female voice (or voices). Indeed, a song’s adaptability can be one way its ability to stand the test of time is indicated.

 

There have been many versions of ‘Gentle Annie’ since the days of Stephen Foster. There is even a distinctively Australian one, a kind of parody, with very different lyrics by Lame Jack Cousens of Springhurst, Victoria. This version appears on a 1971 Martyn Wyndham-Read LP. In this instance, it seems that Foster’s song arrived in the Australian colonies in the second half of the nineteenth century and the new lyrics were written near the close of that century.

 

MAIN REFERENCES

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentle_Annie_(song)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parlour_music

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Foster

https://mainlynorfolk.info/wyndham-read/songs/gentleannie.html

https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=10342

http://ozfolksongaday.blogspot.com/2011/08/gentle-annie.html

 

 

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