Beautiful Dreamer, Stephen Foster, America’s First Folk Song Writer

“Nice dreamer” It was written by Stephen Foster shortly before his death in 1864 at age 37. The song became one of the most famous and popular. However, as with the 200 or so songs that Foster wrote during his short life, he did not receive the recognition or financial reward he deserved.

Stephen Foster was America’s first great songwriter, yet he died with 38 cents on a leather poke and a scrap of paper on which he had written a piece of song lyrics, “dear friends and gentle hearts.”

Stephen collins foster He was born near Pittsburgh on July 4, 1826, the same day that Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died. Foster died in 1864 when he fell at home when he was weak from fever. The fall opened his head and he died at Bellevue Hospital in New York shortly thereafter. Foster had been suffering from alcoholism for years before his accidental death.

Young Stephen was able to play melodies on the guitar at age two, and at age ten he performed popular comic songs with local children. At 18 he wrote black-faced minstrel songs that were popular folk music of the time. At age 21 he composed the minstrel song, “Oh! Susanna,” which became a hit, resounding, repeating, and whistling across the country. In fact, it became the unofficial anthem of the California Gold Rush two years later.

Music publishing was in its infancy in those days and there was not even music recording. Stephen Foster received no royalties or fees for the many publications or arrangements of “Oh! Susanna” over the next several years. In fact, he ceded the rights to the song and never received a penny for it.

During the next ten years, Foster wrote many songs, such as “The Swanee River (Old Folks at Home)”, “Camptown Races”, “Jeannie With the Light Brown Hair”, “Old Black Joe”, “Nelly Bly”, ” Old Dog Tray “and” My Old Kentucky Home. ” Stephen Foster made quite a bit of money selling his songs outright, some for as little as a dollar. His composition has been said to have earned him around $ 20,000 during the 15 years or more of his career as a songwriter.

In 1935, Florida adopted “The Swanee River” as the official state song, although Stephen Foster never visited Florida or saw the river. He chose “Swanee” because the two syllables fit the music he had written. Foster sold EPChristy of “Christy Minstrels,” a black-faced minstrel show company, the copyright to “The Swanee River,” an unfortunate decision.

The song became an international popular tune and is credited with starting Florida’s tourism industry. Starting in the 1880s, millions of people traveled to Florida to see the famous North Florida River.

In 1928, Kentucky adopted “My Old Kentucky Home”. as their official state song. In 1986, Kentucky changed the second line of the song, “‘It’s summer, brunettes are gay”; to “It’s summer, people are gay”; for obvious reasons.

Due to the popularity of “My Old Kentucky Home” and “The Swanee River”, many people are under the impression that Stephen Foster was a southern gentleman. However, he visited the South only once, a steamboat trip to New Orleans in 1852.

Stephen Foster spent his life mainly in Pennsylvania and New York. His father, William Foster Sr., spent many years in politics, working for President Harrison and winning the two-term mayoral election of Allegheny, Pennsylvania.

Before the Civil War, Stephen Foster helped James Buchanan become president by becoming the music director for the Buchanan Glee Club and writing musical pieces for the campaign effort.

During the Civil War Stephen Foster wrote around 70 songs, mostly patriotic war songs that sold poorly. During the war, Foster’s alcoholism deteriorated his health until his poverty-stricken death in 1864.

Two months after his death, Stephen Foster’s “Beautiful Dreamer” was published in New York.

Pretty dreamer by Stephen Foster

Beautiful dreamer, wake up to me

Starlight and dewdrops await you;

Sounds of the rough world that are heard in the day

Lulled by the moonlight, they all passed by!

Dreamy beauty, queen of my song,

Listen as I woo you with soft melody;

Gone are the worries of life’s busy crowd,

Beautiful dreamer, wake up to me!

Beautiful dreamer, in the sea

Mermaids sing the wild lorelie;

Vapors rise above the streams,

Hoping to fade into the bright morning to come.

Beautiful dreamer, shine in my heart

Even like the morning in the stream and the sea;

Then all the clouds of pain will part,

Beautiful dreamer, wake up to me!