Just Awearyin' for You
Encyclopedia
"Just Awearyin' for You" is a parlor song, one of that genre's all-time hits.
The lyrics were written by Frank Lebby Stanton
and published in his Songs of the Soil (1894). The tune was composed by Carrie Jacobs-Bond and published as part of Seven Songs as Unpretentious as the Wild Rose in 1901. Harry T. Burleigh also composed a tune (copyrighted in 1906), but it never approached the popularity of the Jacobs-Bond tune. Although Stanton originally wrote the lyrics in dialect ("Jes' a-wearyin' fer you") for a column in the Atlanta Constitution, the song has generally circulated with the more mainstreamed diction of the Jacobs-Bond version.
Sentimental yet artful, "Just Awearyin' for You" has been recorded by numerous performers, including Elizabeth Spencer
(see inset), Evan Williams
(see inset), Anna Case
, Sophie Braslau
, Eleanor Steber
, Gladys Swarthout
, Thomas Allen (baritone) & Malcolm Martineau
(piano), Johnny Hartman
, John Arwyn Davies, Jane Morgan
, Peggy Balensuela (mezzo soprano) & William Hughes (piano), and, perhaps most famously, Paul Robeson
. In 1934 Jay Wilbur
and his band did a foxtrot rendition. The QRS Records
company produced a "Just Awearyin' for You" piano roll
for Heintzman
player piano
.
Set to the key of C, "Just Awearyin' for You" appears in Mel Bay's Modern Guitar Method Grade 6.
Along with "I Love You Truly
" and "A Perfect Day" (song)
, "Just Awearyin' for You" forms the triumvirate of works for which Jacobs-Bond is remembered. A dedicatory phrase "To F. B." atop the musical score (on p. 3 of the sheet music) refers to her second husband, Frederic Bond.
Prior to publication with her tune, Jacobs-Bond was unaware that the lyrics were written by Stanton; she thought them anonymous as indicated in the Chicago newspaper from which she took them. Once the oversight became apparent, Jacobs-Bond resolved the situation amicably with D. Appleton & Company
, which had published Stanton's Songs of the Soil, thus providing Stanton with a royalty stream that by his own admission brought him more revenue than everything else in Songs of the Soil combined.
The lyrics were written by Frank Lebby Stanton
Frank Lebby Stanton
Frank Lebby Stanton—born February 22, 1857 in Charleston, South Carolina, died January 7, 1927 in Atlanta, Georgia, and frequently credited as Frank L. Stanton, Frank Stanton or F. L...
and published in his Songs of the Soil (1894). The tune was composed by Carrie Jacobs-Bond and published as part of Seven Songs as Unpretentious as the Wild Rose in 1901. Harry T. Burleigh also composed a tune (copyrighted in 1906), but it never approached the popularity of the Jacobs-Bond tune. Although Stanton originally wrote the lyrics in dialect ("Jes' a-wearyin' fer you") for a column in the Atlanta Constitution, the song has generally circulated with the more mainstreamed diction of the Jacobs-Bond version.
Sentimental yet artful, "Just Awearyin' for You" has been recorded by numerous performers, including Elizabeth Spencer
Elizabeth Spencer (soprano)
Elizabeth Spencer was an American singer during the later 19th century and early 20th century.She is primarily remembered as a recording artist for Thomas Alva Edison...
(see inset), Evan Williams
Evan Williams (tenor)
Harry Evan Williams was an oratorio tenor with an exceptionally beautiful and tender voice. He recorded almost one hundred 78-RPM records on the Victor Red Seal label in the United States and His Masters Voice in England...
(see inset), Anna Case
Anna Case
Anna Case was an American soprano. She recorded with Thomas Alva Edison, who used her voice extensively in "tone tests" of whether a live audience could tell the difference between the actual singer and a recording...
, Sophie Braslau
Sophie Braslau
Sophie Braslau was a contralto prominent in United States opera, starting with her debut in New York's Metropolitan Opera in 1913 when she was just 21 years of age....
, Eleanor Steber
Eleanor Steber
Eleanor Steber was an American operatic soprano. Steber is noted as one of the first major opera stars to have achieved the highest success with training and a career based in the United States.-Biography:...
, Gladys Swarthout
Gladys Swarthout
Gladys Swarthout was an American mezzo-soprano opera singer.-Career:...
, Thomas Allen (baritone) & Malcolm Martineau
Malcolm Martineau
Malcolm Martineau is a Scottish pianist.- Biography :Born in Edinburgh, and educated at George Watson's College, Malcolm Martineau read Music at St Catharine's College, Cambridge...
(piano), Johnny Hartman
Johnny Hartman
John Maurice Hartman was an American bass jazz singer who specialized in ballads and earned critical acclaim, though he was never widely known. He recorded a well-known collaboration with the saxophonist John Coltrane in 1963 called John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman, and was briefly a member of...
, John Arwyn Davies, Jane Morgan
Jane Morgan
Jane Morgan is an American popular singer, specializing in traditional pop music. Her first broad fame came in Europe....
, Peggy Balensuela (mezzo soprano) & William Hughes (piano), and, perhaps most famously, Paul Robeson
Paul Robeson
Paul Leroy Robeson was an American concert singer , recording artist, actor, athlete, scholar who was an advocate for the Civil Rights Movement in the first half of the twentieth century...
. In 1934 Jay Wilbur
Jay Wilbur
James Edward Wilbur was a British bandleader and prolifically recorded musician identified with and influential in the Big Band era....
and his band did a foxtrot rendition. The QRS Records
QRS Records
QRS Records was a United States record label, which produced three different groups of records 1928-1930, including some notable jazz and blues recordings....
company produced a "Just Awearyin' for You" piano roll
Piano roll
A piano roll is a music storage medium used to operate a player piano, piano player or reproducing piano. A piano roll is a continuous roll of paper with perforations punched into it. The peforations represent note control data...
for Heintzman
Heintzman & Co.
Heintzman & Co. Ltd was a celebrated Canadian piano manufacturer, based in the Toronto area, whose instruments retain a reputation for quality of workmanship and fineness of tone.- History :...
player piano
Player piano
A player piano is a self-playing piano, containing a pneumatic or electro-mechanical mechanism that operates the piano action via pre-programmed music perforated paper, or in rare instances, metallic rolls. The rise of the player piano grew with the rise of the mass-produced piano for the home in...
.
Set to the key of C, "Just Awearyin' for You" appears in Mel Bay's Modern Guitar Method Grade 6.
Along with "I Love You Truly
I Love You Truly
I Love You Truly, written by Carrie Jacobs Bond, is a parlor song. The song has been used at weddings since its release. It was the first song written by a woman to sell one million copies of sheet music...
" and "A Perfect Day" (song)
A Perfect Day (song)
"A Perfect Day" is a parlor song written by Carrie Jacobs-Bond in 1909 at the Mission Inn, Riverside, California. Jacobs-Bond wrote the lyrics after watching the sun set over Mount Rubidoux from her 4th-floor room. She came up with the tune three months later while touring the Mojave Desert...
, "Just Awearyin' for You" forms the triumvirate of works for which Jacobs-Bond is remembered. A dedicatory phrase "To F. B." atop the musical score (on p. 3 of the sheet music) refers to her second husband, Frederic Bond.
Prior to publication with her tune, Jacobs-Bond was unaware that the lyrics were written by Stanton; she thought them anonymous as indicated in the Chicago newspaper from which she took them. Once the oversight became apparent, Jacobs-Bond resolved the situation amicably with D. Appleton & Company
D. Appleton & Company
D. Appleton & Company was an American company founded by Daniel Appleton , who opened a general store which included books.- Timeline :* 1813 Relocated from Haverhill to Boston and imported books from England...
, which had published Stanton's Songs of the Soil, thus providing Stanton with a royalty stream that by his own admission brought him more revenue than everything else in Songs of the Soil combined.