これは、永遠の愛のテーマですね。 ロミオとジュリエット、戦争で引き裂かれた愛、身分の違いということで、引き裂かれた愛、Down by the sally gardenのように、男の子のほうがねんねだったために、タイミングが悪く実らなかった愛(これ僕のケース!)、いろいろな実らなかった恋があることでしょう。
赤いExcelsior見ました。 バイオリン、ピッコロ、アコーディオン、など、メロディアスで情緒的な音楽にはぴったりですね。
When you and I were young Maggieとか、リンゴの木の下でなどは、親しみやすい旋律のせいか、ジャズとして歌われてしまって、むしろそのほうが流行っている、ないし、元歌通りに歌われていない、なんてのが何となく、いかんのではないか、という気もしますが、アメリカの土壌の上ではこのように歌が変化してしまうのかもしれません。
同じ歌でもアイルランド人のMaura O'Connellが歌うと、まぁ、歌詞も変えたバージョンとはいえ、もともとアイリッシュソングだったのか、とも思えるような曲になってしまいますね。
で、そのMaura O'Connellが歌うDown By Sally Gardens、私が紹介した方の映像ですが、彼女が歌い始める前に、この歌を紹介するときにおよそ、次のようなことを述べています。
When You and I Were Young, Maggie is a famous folk song, popular song and standard. Its lyrics were written as a poem by the Canadian school teacher George Washington Johnson. Margaret "Maggie" Clark was his pupil. They fell in love and during a period of illness, George walked to a nearby hill, overlooking a mill, and composed the poem. The general tone is perhaps one of melancholy and consolation over lost youth rather than mere sentimentality or a fear of aging. It was published in 1864 in a collection of his poems entitled Maple Leaves. They were married in 1864 but Maggie's health deteriorated and she died on May 12, 1865. James Butterfield set the poem to music and it became popular all over the world. George Washington Johnson died in 1917.
...
I wandered today to the hill, Maggie,
To watch the scene below -
The creek and the creaking old mill, Maggie,
As we used to, long ago.
The green grove is gone from the hill, Maggie,
Where first the daisies sprung;
The creaking old mill is still, Maggie,
Since you and I were young.
Chorus
And now we are agèd and grey, Maggie,
And the trials of life nearly done,
Let us sing of the days that are gone, Maggie,
When you and I were young.
A city so silent and lone, Maggie,
Where the young, and the gay, and the best,
In polished white mansions of stone, Maggie,
Have each found a place of rest,
Is built where the birds used to play, Maggie,
And join in the songs that we sung;
For we sang as lovely as they, Maggie,
When you and I were young.
Chorus
They say that I'm feeble with age, Maggie,
My steps are less sprightly than then,
My face is a well-written page, Maggie,
And time alone was the pen.
They say we are agèd and grey, Maggie,
As sprays by the white breakers flung,
But to me you're as fair as you were, Maggie,
When you and I were young.
Chorus