"In the Good Old Summer Time" is an American

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 1902 with music by George Evans and lyrics by

Ren Shields Ren Shields was an American folk musician born in 1868 in Chicago, Illinois. He died on 25 October 1913 in Massapequa, New York. He co-wrote the song with George "Honey Boy" Evans "In the Good Old Summer Time "In the Good Old Summer Time" is ...

Background

Shields and Evans were at first unsuccessful in trying to sell the song to one of New York's big sheet music publishers. The publishers thought the topic of the song doomed it to be forgotten at the end of the

summer Summer is the hottest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, the earliest sunrise and latest sunset occurs, daylight hours are longest and dark hours are shortest, wit ...

season.

Blanche Ring Blanche Ring (April 24, 1871 – January 13, 1961) was an American singer and actress in Broadway theatre productions, musicals, and Hollywood motion pictures. She was best known for her rendition of "In the Good Old Summer Time." Early l ...

, who had helped Evans arrange the number's piano score, was enthusiastic about it and at her urging it was added to the 1902

musical comedy Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...

show "The Defender" she was appearing in. The song was a hit from the opening night, with the audience often joining in singing the chorus. "In the Good Old Summer Time" was one of the big hits of the era, selling popular sheet music and being recorded by various artists of the day, including

John Philip Sousa John Philip Sousa ( ; November 6, 1854 – March 6, 1932) was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era known primarily for American military marches. He is known as "The March King" or the "American March King", to dist ...

's band in 1903. It has remained a standard often revived in the decades since. The song appeared in many films, including the 1949

Judy Garland Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. While critically acclaimed for many different roles throughout her career, she is widely known for playing the part of Dorothy Gale in '' The ...

film named after it, ''

In the Good Old Summertime ''In the Good Old Summertime'' is a 1949 American Technicolor musical film directed by Robert Z. Leonard. It stars Judy Garland, Van Johnson, S.Z. Sakall, Spring Byington, Clinton Sundberg, and Buster Keaton in his first featured film role at M ...

''. The book ''

Elmer Gantry ''Elmer Gantry'' is a satirical novel written by Sinclair Lewis in 1926 that presents aspects of the religious activity of America in fundamentalist and evangelistic circles and the attitudes of the 1920s public toward it. The novel's protagonis ...

'' opens with the title character drunkenly singing the song in the saloon. It is also prominently featured in "The Picnic", an early

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an animated cartoon Character (arts), character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red sho ...

cartoon from 1930. The chorus is used with a slight twist in the "baby mine" lyric before resuming to the "tootsie-wootsie" lyric in a commercial for

Off! Off! (stylized as OFF!) is an American hardcore punk supergroup, formed in Los Angeles, California in late 2009 by Circle Jerks/ Black Flag singer Keith Morris, Burning Brides frontman Dimitri Coats, Redd Kross bassist Steven Shane McDonald ...

bug spray that aired during the summer of 1975. The song appeared in the episode titled ''Tipping the Scales'' of the hit

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

show

Arthur Arthur is a common male given name of Brittonic languages, Brythonic origin. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. The etymology is disputed. It may derive from the Celtic ''Artos'' meaning “Bear”. An ...

, and featured in the 1930

Laurel and Hardy Laurel and Hardy were a British-American Double act, comedy duo act during the early Classical Hollywood cinema, Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–19 ...

short '' Below Zero'' in ironical terms, sung during a snowstorm. The song was sung during a wedding in the opening chapter of

Upton Sinclair Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. (September 20, 1878 – November 25, 1968) was an American writer, muckraker, political activist and the 1934 Democratic Party nominee for governor of California who wrote nearly 100 books and other works in seve ...

's novel "

The Jungle ''The Jungle'' is a 1906 novel by the American journalist and novelist Upton Sinclair. Sinclair's primary purpose in describing the meat industry and its working conditions was to advance socialism in the United States. However, most readers we ...

". The chorus is used with a slight twist in

Baylor University Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the fir ...

's Alma Mater, "That Good Old Baylor Line." The song appears in the 1978 episode of

The Muppet Show ''The Muppet Show'' is a sketch comedy television series created by Jim Henson and featuring the Muppets. The series originated as two pilot episodes produced by Henson for ABC in 1974 and 1975. While neither episode was moved forward as a ser ...

performed by Pearl Bailey and Floyd Pepper, a member of Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem.

Lyrics

The original publication includes extensive additional lyrics by Ren Shields that are seldom performed.

Notable recordings

J. W. Myers John W. Myers (c. 1864 – c. 1919?), who was usually credited as J. W. Myers, was a Welsh-born baritone singer, who recorded widely in the United States between the early 1890s and early 1917. His recordings, including "Two Little Girls in ...

(1902) *William Redmond (1902) * Haydn Quartet (1903) *Sousa's Band (1903) *

Harry Macdonough John Scantlebury Macdonald (May 30, 1871 – September 26, 1931) was a Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most ...

(1903) *

The Andrews Sisters The Andrews Sisters were an American close harmony singing group of the Swing music, swing and boogie-woogie eras. The group consisted of three sisters: contralto LaVerne Sophia Andrews (July 6, 1911 – May 8, 1967), soprano Maxene Anglyn Andre ...

Dan Dailey Daniel James Dailey Jr. (December 14, 1915 – October 16, 1978) was an American dancer and actor. He is best remembered for a series of popular musicals he made at 20th Century Fox such as '' Mother Wore Tights'' (1947). Biography Early life D ...

(1949) *

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...

(1954) and for his album

Seasons A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

(1977) *

Connie Francis Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero (born December 12, 1937), known professionally as Connie Francis, is an American pop singer, actress, and top-charting female vocalist of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Called the “First Lady of Rock & Roll” ...

for the album ''Sing Along with Connie Francis'' (1961) * Les Paul and Mary Ford (1952) – this reached No 15 in the Billboard charts *

Michael Holliday Norman Alexander Milne, known professionally as Michael Holliday (26 November 1924 – 29 October 1963) was a British singer, who was popular in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He had a number of chart hits in the UK, including two number one si ...

(1959) *

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...

for the album ''

Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer ''Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer'' is a 1963 album by Nat King Cole, arranged by Ralph Carmichael. The album reached #14 on ''Billboards LP chart. Track listing # " Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer" (Hans Carste, Charles Tobias) – 2: ...

'' (1963) *

Kidsongs ''Kidsongs'' is an American children's media franchise that includes Kidsongs Music Video Stories on DVD and video, The Kidsongs TV Show, CDs of favorite children's songs, song books, sheet music, toys and an ecommerce website. It was created by ...

Kids (1997)

Footnotes

External links

Billy Murray's recording
{{authority control 1902 songs Nat King Cole songs