"Peg o' My Heart" is a popular song written by
Alfred Bryan (words) and
Fred Fisher
Fred Fisher (born Alfred Breitenbach, September 30, 1875 – January 14, 1942) was a German-born American songwriter and Tin Pan Alley music publisher.
Biography
Fisher was born in Cologne, Germany. His parents were Max and Theodora Breitenba ...
(music). It was published on March 15, 1913 and it featured in the 1913 musical ''
Ziegfeld Follies
The ''Ziegfeld Follies'' was a series of elaborate theatrical revue productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 to 1931, with renewals in 1934 and 1936. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as ''The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air ...
''.
The song was first performed publicly by
Irving Kaufman in 1912 at The College Inn in New York City after he had stumbled across a draft of sheet music on a shelf at the Leo Feist offices.
The song was inspired by the main character in the very successful Broadway play of the time, ''Peg o' My Heart'', that debuted December 20, 1912 at the
Cort Theatre
The James Earl Jones Theatre, originally the Cort Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 138 West 48th Street, between Seventh Avenue and Sixth Avenue, in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States. It was built in ...
in NYC. The play was written by
J. Hartley Manners
John Hartley Manners (10 August 1870 – 19 December 1928) was a London-born playwright of Irish extraction who wrote ''Peg o' My Heart'', which starred his wife, Laurette Taylor, on Broadway in one of her greatest stage triumphs.
Biography
...
and starred
Laurette Taylor
Laurette Taylor (born Loretta Helen Cooney; April 1, 1883Source Citation: Year: 1900; Census Place: Manhattan, New York, New York; Roll: 1119; Page: 3A; Enumeration District: 859; FHL microfilm: 1241119. Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1900 Un ...
in the title role. Taylor appeared on the cover of early published sheet music.
Notable recordings
Notable recordings of the song include:
*
Charles W. Harrison
Charles William Harrison (September 11, 1878 – February 2, 1965) was an American tenor ballad singer. He recorded under the pseudonyms: Hugh Donovan, Billy Burton, Charles Hilton, and Norman Terrell.
Biography
He was born on September 11, ...
**Label:
Victor
The name Victor or Viktor may refer to:
* Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname
Arts and entertainment
Film
* ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film
* ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...
17412 (matrix: 13628-2)
**Recorded: July 24, 1913
*
Henry Burr
Henry Burr (January 15, 1882 – April 6, 1941) was a Canadian singer, radio performer and producer. He was born Harry Haley McClaskey and used Henry Burr as one of his many pseudonyms, in addition to Irving Gillette, Henry Gillette, Alfred Alex ...
**Label:
Columbia A-1404 (matrix: 38980-2)
**Recorded: August 1, 1913
*
Walter Van Brunt
Walter Van Brunt (22 April 1892 – 11 April 1971) was an American tenor known initially for his recordings on Thomas Alva Edison's Blue Amberol Records and later for his role in a scandal involving a stage name and case of adultery.
Biogr ...
**
Edison,
Blue Amberol
Blue Amberol Records was the trademark name for cylinder records manufactured by Thomas A. Edison, Inc. in the US from 1912 to 1929. They replaced the 4-minute black wax Amberol cylinders introduced in 1908, which had replaced the 2-minute wa ...
2036
**Released: September 1913
*
Bunny Berigan
Roland Bernard "Bunny" Berigan (November 2, 1908 – June 2, 1942) was an American jazz trumpeter and bandleader who rose to fame during the swing era. His career and influence were shortened by alcoholism, and ended with his early demise at the ...
& his Orchestra
**Label:
Victor
The name Victor or Viktor may refer to:
* Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname
Arts and entertainment
Film
* ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film
* ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...
27258 (matrix: 043925)
**Recorded:
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
November 28, 1939
*
Lester Young Trio
''The Lester Young Trio'' and ''The Lester Young Trio No. 2'' are jazz trio albums by Lester Young with Nat King Cole and Buddy Rich, recorded in Hollywood, California, in March–April 1946, with the first four tracks being released in 1951.
Re ...
**Label:
Clef
A clef (from French: 'key') is a Musical notation, musical symbol used to indicate which Musical note, notes are represented by the lines and spaces on a musical staff (music), stave. Placing a clef on a stave assigns a particular pitch to ...
MGC 135 (matrix: 353-1)
**Released: 1953
**Recorded:
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood, ...
April 1946
*
The Harmonicats
Jerry Murad's Harmonicats were an American harmonica-based group.
Background
The band was founded in 1947. Originally they were named The Harmonica Madcaps and the group consisted of Jerry Murad ( chromatic lead harmonica), Bob Hadamik (bass har ...
**Label: Vitacoustic Records 1
**Released: March 1947
**First entered the ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' magazine chart on April 18, on charts 21 weeks, peaking at #1
*
Buddy Clark
Buddy Clark (born Samuel Goldberg, July 26, 1912 – October 1, 1949) was an American popular singer of the Big Band era. He had some success in the 1930s, but his career truly blossomed in the late 1940s, after his return from service in Worl ...
with orchestra directed by
Mitchell Ayres
Mitchell Ayres (December 24, 1909 – September 5, 1969) was an orchestra leader, music arranger, composer and performer. He is best known for his many years of work with Perry Como on radio, records, and television and as the musical condu ...
**Label:
Columbia 37392 (matrix: CO 37671)
**Recorded: New York City April 25, 1947
**First entered the ''Billboard'' magazine chart on June 27, on charts 7 weeks, peaking at #4
*
Art Lund
Arthur Lund (April 1, 1915 – May 31, 1990) was an American baritone singer, initially with bandleaders Benny Goodman and Harry James, and was also a television and stage actor.
Biography
Arthur Lund was a graduate of Eastern Kentucky Uni ...
with orchestra conducted by Johnny Thompson
**Label:
MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...
10037 (matrix: 47-S-3077-3)
**Recorded: in
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
May 12, 1947
**First entered the ''Billboard'' magazine chart on June 20, on charts 10 weeks, peaking at #6
*Clark Dennis
**Label:
Capitol
A capitol, named after the Capitoline Hill in Rome, is usually a legislative building where a legislature meets and makes laws for its respective political entity.
Specific capitols include:
* United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.
* Numerous ...
346
**First entered the ''Billboard'' magazine chart on July 4, 1947, on charts 1 week, at #10
*
The Three Suns
The Three Suns was an American pop group, most popular during the 1940s and 1950s.
Career history
The group was formed in 1939 by brothers Al Nevins (guitar) and Morty Nevins (accordion) and their cousin, radio and vaudeville veteran Artie Dunn ( ...
**Label:
RCA Victor
RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...
20-2272
**First entered the ''Billboard'' magazine chart on June 20, 1947, on charts 16 weeks, peaking at #2
*
Joe Loss
Sir Joshua Alexander "Joe" Loss (22 June 1909 – 6 June 1990) was a British dance band leader and musician who founded his own eponymous orchestra.
Life
Loss was born in Spitalfields, London, the youngest of four children. His parents, Israe ...
and his Orchestra
**Label:
His Master's Voice
His Master's Voice (HMV) was the name of a major British record label created in 1901 by The Gramophone Co. Ltd. The phrase was coined in the late 1890s from the title of a painting by English artist Francis Barraud, which depicted a Jack Russ ...
BD 5987
**Recorded: London on October 13, 1947
*
Gene Vincent
Vincent Eugene Craddock (February 11, 1935 – October 12, 1971), known as Gene Vincent, was an American musician who pioneered the styles of rockabilly and rock and roll. His 1956 top ten hit with his backing band the Blue Caps, " Be-Bop-a-Lula ...
and His Bluecaps
**Album: ''
Bluejean Bop!
''Bluejean Bop!'' is the debut studio album by American rockabilly singer and his backing band Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps, featuring rock and roll music as well as covers of pop standards. It was released in 1956 on the Capitol Records, Capi ...
''
**Label:
Capitol Records
Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...
**Released: 13 August 1956
*
Robert Maxwell
Ian Robert Maxwell (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991) was a Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor, member of parliament (MP), suspected spy, and fraudster.
Early in his life, Maxwell escaped from N ...
His Harp and Orchestra
**Released 1964: #64 on the US,
Hot 100
The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...
*
Andy Williams
Howard Andrew Williams (December 3, 1927 – September 25, 2012) was an American singer. He recorded 43 albums in his career, of which 15 have been gold certified and three platinum certified. He was also nominated for six Grammy Awards. He hos ...
**Album: ''
The Shadow of Your Smile
"The Shadow of Your Smile", also known as "Love Theme from ''The Sandpiper''", is a popular song. The music was written by Johnny Mandel with the lyrics written by Paul Francis Webster. The song was introduced in the 1965 film ''The Sandpiper'' ...
'' (1966)
*
Celtic punk
Celtic punk is punk rock mixed with traditional Celtic music.
Celtic punk bands often play traditional Irish, Welsh or Scottish folk and political songs, as well as original compositions.P. Buckley, ''The Rough Guide to Rock'' (London: Rough Gu ...
band
Dropkick Murphys
Dropkick Murphys are an American Celtic punk band formed in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1996. Singer and bassist Ken Casey has been the band's only constant member. Other current members include drummer Matt Kelly (1997– ), singer Al Barr (199 ...
covered the song on their 2011 album,
Going Out in Style
''Going Out in Style'' is the seventh studio album by the Dropkick Murphys and was released on March 1, 2011. It was the band's second studio release on their Born & Bred Records label. The album is the band's highest charting to date making its ...
. Their version features a guest appearance by
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...
.
In other media
"Peg o' My Heart" featured in the 1959 film ''
Oh, You Beautiful Doll
"Oh, You Beautiful Doll" is a ragtime love song published in 1911 with words by Seymour Brown and music by Nat D. Ayer. The song was one of the first with a twelve-bar opening.
The tune has been recorded hundreds of times by many artists from ...
'', a fictionalized biography of Fred Fisher, a German-born American writer of Tin Pan Alley songs. (
Mark Stevens) turns serious composer Fred Breitenbach (
S. Z. Sakall
Szőke Szakáll (born Jakab Grünwald, akas: Gärtner Sándor and Gerő Jenő; February 2, 1883 February 12, 1955), known in the English-speaking world as S. Z. Sakall, was a Hungarian-American stage and film character actor. He appeared in ...
) into songwriter Fred Fisher. Fred Fisher is his assumed name in real life and Breitenbach is his birth surname. In the film, many Fisher songs were given a symphonic arrangement that was performed at Aeolian Hall. Among the other Fisher songs heard were "
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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," "
Dardanella
"Dardanella" is a popular song published in 1919 by McCarthy & Fisher, Inc., a firm owned by Fred Fisher, lyricist, for music composed by Felix Bernard and Johnny S. Black.
Bandleader Ben Selvin (1898–1980) recorded "Dardanella" for several ...
," and "Who Paid the Rent for Mrs. Rip Van Winkle". Mark Stevens (dubbed by
Bill Shirley
William Jesse Shirley (July 6, 1921 – August 27, 1989) was an American actor and tenor/lyric baritone singer who later became a Broadway theatre producer. He is perhaps best known as the speaking and singing voice of Prince Phillip in Walt Disn ...
) and
June Haver
June Haver (born Beverly June Stovenour, June 10, 1926 – July 4, 2005) was an American film actress, singer, and dancer. Once groomed by 20th Century Fox to be "the next Betty Grable", Haver appeared in a string of musicals, but she never achie ...
(dubbed by Bonnie Lou Williams) sing "Peg o' My Heart" as a duet. The film was released on November 11, 1949.
The song, performed by
Max Harris and his Novelty Trio (based on the Harmonicats' 1947 version), was used as the theme of the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
'' (1986). When recording engineer
and became the first person to use artificial reverberation creatively on a pop recording.
'', episode 4 season 1 features William, the second footman, playing "Peg o' My Heart" on the piano in the servants' hall.