Drunkard's Song (There Is a Tavern in the Town)- Rudy Vallee (VT) 1934 REC
[From Victor recording 24739, Drunkard's Song (There Is a Tavern in the Town) 1934. Part of a bio from Wiki and several other notes from the Mudcat Discussion Forum follow.
This is Rudy Vallee's arrangement of There Is a Tavern in the Town the 1883 composition/arrangement by William H. Hills who used the melody and some text from Butcher Boy/Died for Love songs and other songs.
Vallee made two recordings in 1934, the second is the famous "laughing" version where Vallee breaks out in laughter in the middle of the song (3rd stanza) and sings and laughs his way through to the end without stopping.
R. Matteson 2017]
Hubert Prior "Rudy" Vallée (July 28, 1901 – July 3, 1986) was an American singer, actor, bandleader, author and entertainer.
Rudy Vallée was born Hubert Prior Vallée in Island Pond, Vermont, the son of Charles Alphonse Vallée and Catherine née Lynch. Both of his parents were born and raised in Vermont; however his grandparents were immigrants. The Vallées were francophone Canadians from neighboring Quebec, while the Lynches were from Ireland. Vallée grew up in Westbrook, Maine.
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I'm quite sure it's supposed to be a harp that is hung on the willow—not a heart or a hat or a head—because the whole trope here is an allusion to scripture, Psalm 137 (KJV):
1. By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
2. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.
3. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.
Hanging one's harp on a willow is symbolic of refusal to sing a joyous song, as it is no occasion for joy. The image is a popular one in religious literature and hymns.
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Tavern in the town:Aabout Rudy Vallee's 1934 recording where he breaks into laughter in the middle of this song:
Notes by Pete Milley, radio producer of Hideaway (AU):
As a small boy I remember the unusual red and white label of Rudy's 78 R.P.M. (Columbia) Laughing Record. The story follows: one afternoon the band was attempting to achieve the routinely flawless, neatly dovetailed art recordings which were synonymous with Rudy's progressive Cutting Edge, revolutionary approach to musical Product, Placement and Production. The ubiquitous Long Lunch before the recording session was taking its toll on the normally deeply conservative musicians and as a result some of them were rather worse for wear from hitting the juice. To be recorded that fateful afternoon - two motion picture melodies, "Lydia the Tattooed Lady" and "There is a Tavern in the Town" (Fox Pictures 'We're Going to be Rich') starring Gracie Fields as a South African diamond fields entertainer of the 1890's (check it out).
"Lydia" went off smoothly, however some distance in to "Tavern" the fiddle played would bump Rudy in the nose etc causing him to first giggle a bit and then finally dissolve into paroxysms of uncontrollable mirth (laughing ho ho ho etc.) So although the record was ruined, like the good troopers they were, they played on until the traverse mechanism of the recording lathe ran out of wax. Thus a complete in every way rendition was saved and later to be sold to the public as a happy accident and finally to become a beacon light to humanity.
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Charley Noble: The Rudy Vallee recording you are referring to has been played on our local public radio station a few times. I remember what set off the laughter, too: in one of the choruses, he pronounces "adieu" in strongly accented (but correct) French, and then he pronounces "you" with exactly the same vowel ("yieu"?). This sounded like deliberate but impromptu playfulness on his part, but as you say, it resulted in his (apparently) totally losing his composure. I still find it amazing, first, that both he and the band soldiered on to the end, and secondly, that this version was publicly released. Is it possible the whole thing was planned?
Drunkard's Song (There Is a Tavern in the Town)- sung by Rudy Vallee & His Connecticut Yankees recorded in 1934.
1. There is a tavern in the town, (in the town)
And there my true love sits him down, (sits him down)
And drinks his wine as merry as can be,
And never, never thinks of me.
CHORUS: Fare thee well, but I must leave thee,
Do not let the parting grieve thee,
And the time has come to say goodbye.
Adieu, adieu, kind friends, adieu! (yes, adieu)
Oh I can no longer stay with you. (stay with you)
Oh, oh I'll hang my harp on a weeping willow tree,
Fare-thee-well, fare-thee-well, fare-the-well.
2. He left me for a damsel dark (damsel dark),
Each Friday night they used to spark, (used to spark)
And now my love, who once true to me,
Takes that dark damsel on his knee. [chorus]
3. And now I never see him any more, (any more)
He never knocks upon my door, (on my door);
Oh, woe is me; he pinned a little note,
And these were all the words he wrote:
4. Oh, dig my grave both wide and deep. (wide and deep)
Put tombstones at my head and feet, (head and feet)
And on my breast just carve a turtle dove,
To signify I died of love. [chorus]