When John McCormack Sings a Song
Words by William Jerome and E. Ray Goetz
Music by Jean Schwartz
Performed by Nora Bayes
With orchestra conducted by Josef Pasternack
Victor 45105
Recorded October 27, 1916
Nora Bayes sings a sentimental tribute to fellow Victor artist, John McCormack. McCormack was noted for his Irish songs and the lyrics of this song contains many Irish terms and phrases.
\"Acushla,\" a short form of the anglicized \"acushla machree,\" is from \"a chuisle mo chroí,\" \"the pulse of my heart\" or more usually \"My darling, love of my heart\"
\"Erin Mavourneen\" means \"Ireland, my love\"
The Colleen Bawn: A young Irish boy has fallen in love with a poor girl and wants to marry her, but his mother will stop at nothing, including murder, to see that he marries his rich cousin. Thus ends the tragic story of the Colleen Bawn, a story of infinite pathos and stark, unrelieved tragedy.
Nora Bayes (1880 - 1928), born Leonora Goldberg in Joliet, Illinois, moved east as a teenager and had her Broadway debut in 1901. Her first national success came in 1910 with the song \"Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly?\" She was a colorful, tempestuous figure, one of the biggest names in vaudeville and one of the first women to become a star on the American popular stage.
