Hello Central, Give Me Heaven is a popular
Tin Pan Alley
Tin Pan Alley was a collection of music publishers and songwriters in New York City that dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It originally referred to a specific place: West 28th Street ...
song first published in 1901, with lyrics and music by
Charles K. Harris
Charles Kassel Harris (May 1, 1867 – December 22, 1930) was a well regarded American songwriter of popular music. During his long career, he advanced the relatively new genre, publishing more than 300 songs, often deemed by admirers as ...
, and was among Harris's most popular songs. It was first recorded by
Byron G. Harlan
Byron George Harlan (August 29, 1861 – September 11, 1936) was an American singer from Kansas, a comic minstrel singer and balladeer who often recorded with Arthur Collins. The two together were often billed as "Collins & Harlan".
Solo reco ...
and released in July 1901.
The song relates a young girl wishing to use the telephone ("Hello Central" refers to the operator) to call her dead mother.
[Steffen, David J]
From Edison to Marconi: The First Thirty Years of Recorded Music
p. 94-95 (2005) It was inspired by a newspaper story relating the attempt of the seven-year-old daughter of a widower to make such a call.
[Janter, Kenneth Aaron]
The Jews on Tin Pan Alley: the Jewish contribution to American popular music, 1830-1940
p. 105 (1982) Postcards were printed after the song's publication with the "kind permission" of Harris showing young girls using the telephone to call their dead mothers.
[Levinson, Paul]
Cellphone: The Story of the World's Most Mobile Medium and How It Has Transformed Everything
p. 2 (2004)
The song's popularity led to several "telephone songs" in the following years,
[Holloway, Diane]
American History in Song: Lyrics from 1900 To 1945
p. 9 (2001) and a one-reel film of the same title was released in 1913.
It has been estimated that the sheet music sold approximately one million copies.
[Nicholls, David (ed.]
The Cambridge History of American Music
p. 183 (1998)
The
Carter Family
Carter Family was a traditional American folk music group that recorded between 1927 and 1956. Their music had a profound impact on bluegrass, country, Southern Gospel, pop and rock musicians as well as on the U.S. folk revival of the 1960s. ...
also recorded a version of the song.
Lyrics
Film
A one-reel film of the same title was released in 1913. Prints and/or fragments were found in the
Dawson Film Find
The Dawson Film Find (DFF) was the accidental discovery in 1978 of 372 film titles preserved in 533 reels of silent-era nitrate films in the Klondike Gold Rush town of Dawson City, Yukon, Canada. The reels had been buried under an abandoned hoc ...
in 1978.
See also
*
The telephone in United States history
The telephone played a major communications role in History of the United States, American history from the 1876 publication of its first patent by Alexander Graham Bell onward. In the 20th century, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT ...
References
External links
Byron G. Harlan recording U.S. Library of Congress
1901 sheet music
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1901 songs
Songs written by Charles K. Harris
Songs about telephone calls
Songs about death
Songs about mothers