After The Ball

T he granddaddy of all smash hits, "After the Ball" failed at its premiere in 1892 because the singer forgot the words. Even so, Milwaukeean Charles K. Harris paid to have his song interpolated in the show A Trip to Chinatown. Though it bore no relation to the plot, it brought down the house. Soon a Boston music shop ordered 75,000 copies, and by year's end, Harris was using every available printing press in Milwaukee to satisfy the demand. Within a few years, 5 million copies had been sold, and in later life, Harris claimed to have made $10 million from the song.

The following E-mail message recently sent to the Ol'Kunnel poignantly brings home the melancholy of this grand old waltz:

My grandmother sang this song to me, many many years ago. She knew all the stanzas, I only could sing the chorus. It is a story about a young woman who had a sweetheart, but never heard from him again. He saw her kissing another man and was very jealous! He never contacted her; she never contacted him--if only he had known, she gave her brother an affectionate kiss because she was having a wonderful time. (How is that for long term memory?)

I tried to remember this song to sing to my grand daughter, after her first dance. She found it astounding that communications, in the Victorian era were not casual, not freely expressing feelings and concerns.

Ah, what a different age we live in!!!!

How I would love to give her this music AND THE WORDS.

Best wishes,

Carol Goodwin Goroff

A little maiden climbed an old man's knee,
Begged for a story, "Do, uncle, please!
Why are you single; why live alone?
Have you no babies, have you no home?
"I had a sweetheart, years, years ago;
Where she is now, pet, you will soon know.
List to the story, I'll tell it all,
I believed her faithless, After The Ball."

(Chorus)
After The Ball is over,
After the break of morn,
After the dancer's leaving;
After the stars are gone;
Many a heart is aching,
If you could read them all;
Many the hopes that have vanish'd
After The Ball.

"Bright lights were flashing in the grand ballroom.
Softly the music, playing sweet tunes,
There came my sweetheart, my love, my own,
"I wish some water; leave me alone."
When I returned, dear, there stood a man,
Kissing my sweetheart, as lovers can.
Down fell the glass, pet, broken that's all,
Just as my heart was, After the Ball."

(Chorus)

"Long years have passed, child. I've never wed,
True to my lost love, though she is dead.
She tried to tell me, tried to explain;
I would not listen, pleadings were vain.
One day a letter came from that man;
He was her brother, the letter ran.
That's why I'm lonely, not home at all;
I broke her heart After The Ball."

(Chorus)

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