The books in this section are usually hardcover and in decent condition, though we'll sometimes offer hard-to-find books in lesser condition at a reduced price. Though we often put images of the book with their original dust jackets, the copies here won't always (or even often) have them. If that is important to you, please call ahead or say so in the order comments!
Here, indeed is a worthy companion to Opal Wheeler's Sing for Christmas (last year named one of the 50 most beautiful books, by the American Institute of Graphic Arts). In this delightful collection Opal Wheeler has captured the very essence of the American folk song. This new volume contains twenty-four of the best-known and best-loved songs of America—folk songs in the truest sense—which have sprung from the land itself and have become part of the fibre of its growth.
As in the earlier collection, there is a story with every song to explain its origin, as well as an exquisite color illustration by Gustaf Tenggren. The music arrangements are simple and placed for the average voice range.
Stephen Foster's Oh, Susannah! is here, and The Old Oaken Bucket, Samuel Woodsworth's song of praise to the cold drinks of water which he drew from the well on his father's farm when he was a boy. Yankee Doodle, the words of which Dr. Shuckburgh of the British Army first set to an old English dance tune, makes room for Git Along Little Dogies, Swing Low Sweet Chariot, and the gifted young actor John Howard Payne's immortal Home Sweet Home.
Certainly in this collection Opal Wheeler has caught all the warmth and color of American music, and wherever our songs are loved and sang, there you will find Sing for America.
—from the dust jacket
Did you find this review helpful?