Two comments
"After The Ball"
C: Charles K. Harris, 1891 - singing his song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIXGlQdTDKY
George J. Gaskin (1863-1920) is an Irish Tenor who was one of the first vocalists to make a recording with Edison Records. This is a recording of him singing "After The Ball" in 1893.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soxPknRyH-k
An Aunt & a Uke instead of an Uncle - Kathryn Burke Sings After the Ball
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA4_KG4WosQ
Skagen festival 2012 - The Black Family - After the ball
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxu8TIvv_KY
Wikipedia: After the Ball
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/After_the_Ball_(song)
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5761/
"After the Ball" ~ the lyrics
Verses:
A little maiden climbed an old man’s knees—
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 dancers’ leaving, after the stars are gone,
Many a heart is aching, if you could read them all—
Many the hopes that have vanished after the ball.
Verses:
"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:
After the ball is over, after the break of morn,
After the dancers’ leaving, after the stars are gone,
Many a heart is aching, if you could read them all—
Many the hopes that have vanished after the ball.
Verses:
"Long years have passed, child, I have 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, no home at all—
I broke her heart, pet, after the ball."
Chorus:
After the ball is over, after the break of morn,
After the dancers’ leaving, after the stars are gone,
Many a heart is aching, if you could read them all—
Many the hopes that have vanished after the ball.