Silver Threads Among the Gold
Encyclopedia
"Silver Threads Among the Gold", first copyrighted in 1873, was an extremely popular song in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Today it is a standard of barbershop quartet singing. The lyrics are by Eben E. Rexford
, and the music by Hart Pease Danks
.
In 1930, an Associated Press story published in the New York Times
gave some background on the writing of these lyrics. We quote the article:
When Rexford spoke about the song, he explained that he worked his way through college by writing, and it was when he was in college that Danks sent him a request for lyrics, offering to pay three dollars for each song. Rexford submitted nine songs and received $18.00, but no accounting of which six had been accepted or which three had been rejected. In telling the story of the song, Rexford said that he didn't know whether he had been paid $3.00 for it or nothing, since he didn't know if it had been among the six accepted or the three rejected. Rexford first heard the song when a company of Oneida Indians
gave a concert in Shiocton
, Wisconsin and sang it there.
The sheer popularity of the song can be illustrated, among other ways, by news stories which continued to reference it for many years. For example, in 1932, it won a poll of WABC (AM)
(New York) listeners asked to name their favorite songs, despite it already being 60 years old.
in 1903.
Later 20th century recordings of the song include those of John McCormack, Bing Crosby
(1948), Jerry Lee Lewis
(1956 and 1973), Georg Ots
(in Estonian language
and Finnish language
, 1958), Tapio Rautavaara
(in Finnish, 1967) and Jo Stafford
with Paul Weston
's Orchestra and the Gaslight Singers (1969).
Recordings at the Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project
Recordings at the Internet Archive
YouTube Videos
Scandinavian lyrics
Eben E. Rexford
Eben Eugene Rexford was an American writer and poet, and author of lyrics to popular and gospel songs.Born in Johnsburg, New York, he moved with his family to Ellington, Wisconsin in 1855. His first poems were published in the New York Ledger when Rexford was 14...
, and the music by Hart Pease Danks
Hart Pease Danks
Hart Pease Danks was a musician who specialized in composing, singing and leading choral groups. He is best known for his 1873 composition, Silver Threads Among the Gold.-Biography:...
.
Background
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
gave some background on the writing of these lyrics. We quote the article:
"Silver Threads Song Traced to Poet’s ‘Re-Hash’ on Order"
Shiockton, Wis. (AP).—The love ballad, “Silver Threads Among the Gold,” which has stirred the hearts of more than one generation, was not the inspiration of an aging poet but a “re-hash” produced on order.
The story developed after the unveiling of a monument here in honor of the author of the words, Eben E. RexfordEben E. RexfordEben Eugene Rexford was an American writer and poet, and author of lyrics to popular and gospel songs.Born in Johnsburg, New York, he moved with his family to Ellington, Wisconsin in 1855. His first poems were published in the New York Ledger when Rexford was 14...
, who died in 1916.
Rexford made a living by writing verse and flower and garden articles for magazines. When he was 18, he wrote and sold for $3 some verses entitled “Growing Old.”
Later, H. P. DanksHart Pease DanksHart Pease Danks was a musician who specialized in composing, singing and leading choral groups. He is best known for his 1873 composition, Silver Threads Among the Gold.-Biography:...
, composer of the music for “Silver Threads,” wrote to him requesting words for a song. Rexford dug into his scrapbook and revised “Growing Old.”
When Rexford spoke about the song, he explained that he worked his way through college by writing, and it was when he was in college that Danks sent him a request for lyrics, offering to pay three dollars for each song. Rexford submitted nine songs and received $18.00, but no accounting of which six had been accepted or which three had been rejected. In telling the story of the song, Rexford said that he didn't know whether he had been paid $3.00 for it or nothing, since he didn't know if it had been among the six accepted or the three rejected. Rexford first heard the song when a company of Oneida Indians
Oneida tribe
The Oneida are a Native American/First Nations people and are one of the five founding nations of the Iroquois Confederacy in the area of upstate New York...
gave a concert in Shiocton
Shiocton, Wisconsin
Shiocton is a village in Outagamie County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 921 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Shiocton is located at ....
, Wisconsin and sang it there.
The sheer popularity of the song can be illustrated, among other ways, by news stories which continued to reference it for many years. For example, in 1932, it won a poll of WABC (AM)
WABC (AM)
WABC , known as "NewsTalkRadio 77 WABC" is a radio station in New York City. Owned by the broadcasting division of Cumulus Media, the station broadcasts on a clear channel and is the flagship station of Cumulus Media Networks...
(New York) listeners asked to name their favorite songs, despite it already being 60 years old.
Recordings
The song was the most frequently recorded song of the acoustic recording era, starting with its first known recording by Richard JoseRichard Jose
Richard J. Jose was an American countertenor.-Life:He immigrated to Nevada after his uncle.He sang in saloons for charity, and in 1881 with Thatcher's Minstrels....
in 1903.
Later 20th century recordings of the song include those of John McCormack, Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
(1948), Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...
(1956 and 1973), Georg Ots
Georg Ots
Georg Ots, People's Artist of the USSR was an Estonian opera singer...
(in Estonian language
Estonian language
Estonian is the official language of Estonia, spoken by about 1.1 million people in Estonia and tens of thousands in various émigré communities...
and Finnish language
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
, 1958), Tapio Rautavaara
Tapio Rautavaara
Kaj Tapio Rautavaara was a Finnish athlete, singer and movie actor.-Early life:...
(in Finnish, 1967) and Jo Stafford
Jo Stafford
Jo Elizabeth Stafford was an American singer of traditional pop music and jazz standards and occasional actress whose career ran from the late 1930s to the early 1960s...
with Paul Weston
Paul Weston
Paul Weston was an American pianist, arranger, composer and conductor. Weston was born Paul Wetstein in Springfield, Massachusetts...
's Orchestra and the Gaslight Singers (1969).
Lyrics
The lyrics are as follows:- Darling, I am growing old,
- Silver threads among the gold,
- Shine upon my brow today,
- Life is fading fast away.
- But, my darling, you will be,
- Always young and fair to me,
- Yes, my darling, you will be
- Always young and fair to me.
- Chorus:
- Darling, I am growing old,
- Silver threads among the gold,
- Shine upon my brow today;
- Life is fading fast away.
- When your hair is silver white,
- And your cheeks no longer bright,
- With the roses of the May,
- I will kiss your lips and say,
- Oh! My darling, mine alone, alone,
- You have never older grown!
- Yes, my darling, mine alone,
- You have never older grown!
- chorus
- Love can never more grow old,
- Locks may lose their brown and gold;
- Cheeks may fade and hollow grow,
- But the hearts that love will know,
- Never, never winter’s frost and chill;
- Summer warmth is in them still;
- Never winter’s frost and chill,
- Summer warmth is in them still.
- chorus
Related to the song
- In the late 19th century Eben RexfordEben E. RexfordEben Eugene Rexford was an American writer and poet, and author of lyrics to popular and gospel songs.Born in Johnsburg, New York, he moved with his family to Ellington, Wisconsin in 1855. His first poems were published in the New York Ledger when Rexford was 14...
wrote a number of stories published in the magazine Girls of Today, a Beadle and AdamsDime novelDime novel, though it has a specific meaning, has also become a catch-all term for several different forms of late 19th-century and early 20th-century U.S...
publication. In 1876, three years after the publication of the song, Mattie Dyers Britts published a story in Girls of Today titled “Silver Threads Among the Gold.”
- The metaphor of “silver threads” was also used in an Italian song of the time, “Threads of Silver,” but the theme of that song is quite different from the theme of “Silver Threads Among the Gold.” The Italian song sings, “Each thread of silver is a love once vainly plighted, . . . Each an illusion blighted, . . . Fated dreams undone.”
- Swedish journalist and revue producer Emil NorlanderEmil NorlanderEmil Norlander was a Swedish journalist, author and producer. Originally a dentist, by the late 1890s he was working as a columnist on a Stockholm newspaper. He also contributed to the humor magazine Nya Nisse, eventually becoming its chief editor...
(1865 – 1935) wrote Swedish lyrics to Danks' melody in the early 20th century. Norlander's version has no contextual similarity to that of Rexford and is instead an appeal for peacePeacePeace is a state of harmony characterized by the lack of violent conflict. Commonly understood as the absence of hostility, peace also suggests the existence of healthy or newly healed interpersonal or international relationships, prosperity in matters of social or economic welfare, the...
. It is titled Varför skola mänskor strida? (Why should people fight?) and has remained popular in Sweden to the present, having been recorded by several well-known artists.
- There were also Norwegian versions of the Rexford - Danks song that were popular in Norway and America. In 1919 Carsten WollCarsten WollThe singer and composer Carsten Thorvald Woll was born in Oslo, Norway. He took his student exams in 1903 and subsequently studied music and voice in Denmark and Germany....
recorded a translation called Sommersol til siste stund. About twenty-five years later Ernest and Clarence IversonErnest and Clarence Iverson-Norwegian-American entertainers:Ernest and Clarence Iverson were popular radio personalities in the Midwest during the 1930s and 1940s. Ernest was known as Slim Jim. His brother Clarence was the Vagabond Kid...
recorded Ungdoms mynder, which had the same melody but lyrics unrelated to the original song.
- The song was parodied as "In the Boarding House":
- In the boarding house where I live,
- Ev'rything is growing old,
- Silver threads are on the butter,
- All the bread is growing mould;
- When the dog died,
- We had hotdogs,
- When the cat died,
- Catnip tea,
- When the landlord died I left there,
- Spareribs were too much for me.
- chorus [as above]
External links
- "Silver Threads Among the Gold" - Sheet music at Duke UniversityDuke UniversityDuke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
. - "Silver Threads Among the Gold" - Lead sheet at wikifonia.org.
Recordings at the Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project
Recordings at the Internet Archive
YouTube Videos
- Silvertrådar i ditt gyllne hår: Swedish translation by Harry Iseborg.
- Varför skola mänskor strida: Swedish adaptation by Emil NorlanderEmil NorlanderEmil Norlander was a Swedish journalist, author and producer. Originally a dentist, by the late 1890s he was working as a columnist on a Stockholm newspaper. He also contributed to the humor magazine Nya Nisse, eventually becoming its chief editor...
.
Scandinavian lyrics
- Sommersol til siste stund.
- Varför skola mänskor strida.