Published 1910 Language English | Writer(s) Tell Taylor | |
 | ||
"Down by the Old Mill Stream" is a song written by Tell Taylor. It was one of the most popular songs of the early 20th century. The publisher, Forster Music Publisher, Inc., sold 4 million copies.
Contents
The song was written in 1908 while Taylor was sitting on the banks of the Blanchard River in northwest Ohio in the city of Findlay. Reportedly, Taylor's friends persuaded him not to publish the song, believing it did not have commercial value. Two years later in 1910, however, the song was published and introduced to the public with performances by the vaudeville quartet The Orpheus Comedy Four. After the group performed the song at a Woolworth store in Kansas City, it became so popular that the store sold out all one thousand of the copies of its sheet music Taylor had brought with him. Since then, over four million copies of its sheet music have been sold, and it has become a staple for barbershop quartets.
Harry James recorded a version in 1965 on his album Harry James Plays Green Onions & Other Great Hits (Dot DLP 3634 and DLP 25634).
Lyrics
(Verse 1)
My darling I am dreaming of the days gone by,
When you and I were sweethearts beneath the summer sky;
Your hair has turned to silver, the gold has faded too;
But still I will remember, where I first met you.
(Verse 2)
The old mill wheel is silent and has fallen down,
The old oak tree has withered and lies there on the ground;
While you and I are sweethearts the same as days of yore;
Although we've been together, forty years and more.
(Chorus)
Down by the old mill stream where I first met you,
With your eyes of blue, dressed in gingham too,
It was there I knew that you loved me true,
You were sixteen, my village queen, by the old mill stream.
Popular culture
In the middle section of his song "We Will All Go Together When We Go," Tom Lehrer parodied "Down By the Old Mill Stream" with a stride piano, singing the following words in reference to a nuclear holocaust: "Down by the old Mael-strom/ There'll be a storm before the Calm."
Alvin and the Chipmunks covered the song for their 1965 album The Chipmunks Sing with Children. They also performed the song as both the prologue and the epilogue for their 1982 album Chipmunk Rock.
In It's the Pied Piper, Charlie Brown, Snoopy (as the Pied Piper) plays the song on his concertina to lure the Mayor and his city council away from the city hall and they then sing the song.