" SWANEE RIVER " 277 



very sounds in which such emotions spontaneously, 

 instinctively, express themselves. 



Perhaps the only song of the nineteenth century 

 to be mentioned in the same breath with Auld 

 Robin Gray is Swanee River, which has now been 

 banished, but will no doubt return by-and-by, to 

 sound in the ears of all people that on earth do 

 dwell for a second period of sixty-five years, unless 

 the poets and composers of the twentieth century 

 should succeed, in the meantime, in giving us 

 something better. 



I don't know enough to say positively whether or 

 not such perfect examples are as rare as I imagine 

 them to be. Every reader will probably recall some 

 song which, for him, has this character, and if not 

 sure about it, owing to the tricks association plays 

 on all our minds in such matters, he can compare 

 notes with others. But he will do well not to go to 

 musical composers and performers for an opinion on 

 such a subject. They are bad judges, simply because 

 they can't escape the distorting reflex effect on the 

 mind of a life vocation. Music comes first with the 

 musician; when music and poetry are joined, the 

 former must be the predominant partner. Nor can 

 I say whether or not more examples are to be found 

 in the songs of other nations than in our own. I have 

 heard only one Italian song and two of the old Spanish 

 songs of love and grief, in a minor key, which seemed 

 to me perfect in the union of words and music ; only, 

 in all of these three the poetry is less simple, less near 

 to emotional speech, than in our best examples. 



