Yes, My Darling Daughter

For the 1939 film, see Yes, My Darling Daughter (film).

"Yes, My Darling Daughter"
Song
Written	1940
Songwriter(s)	Jack Lawrence
Composer(s)	Catterino Cavos

"Yes, My Darling Daughter" is a 1940 song by Jack Lawrence first introduced by Dinah Shore on Eddie Cantor's radio program on October 24, 1940. It was Shore's first solo record, released by Bluebird, and peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard magazine chart. ^[1]

Тhe music

The music used by Lawrence was borrowed from a Ukrainian folk-song "Oi ne khody, Hrytsju", ^[2] which is in turn based on a melody by Catterino Cavos from his vaudeville The Cossack-Poet.; ^{[3] [4] [5] [6]} In its first appearance in the Cavos vaudeville the melody had an entirely different text: "Yes, of course, he is my lover..." ("Так, конечно, он мой милый..."). ^[7] Lawrence's parents were Ukrainian-Jewish immigrants who had immigrated to the United States from Bila Tserkva, Kyiv oblast, Ukraine.

Musical structure

Israeli musicologist Yakov Soroker posited the end of the first melodic phrase of "Oi ne khody Hrytsiu" contains a "signature" melody common in Ukrainian songs in general which he calls the "Hryts sequence" and gives a list of hundreds of Ukrainian folk songs from the Carpathians to the Kuban that contain this particular sequence. His estimation, after studying Z. Lysko's collection of 9,077 Ukrainian melodies was that 6% of Ukrainian folk songs contain the sequence. ^[8]

Other scholars have also addressed the unique character and expressiveness of the Hryts sequence, such as Alexander Serov, who stated that "the refrain exudes a spirit of freedom that transports the listener to the steppes and is mixed with the sorrow of some unexpected tragedy." ^[9]

Soroker notes the Hryts signature was used by composers Joseph Haydn (String Quartet no. 20, op. 9, no. 2; String quartet no. 25, op. 17, no 1; The Saviour's Seven last Words on the Cross, the Rondo of the D major Piano Concerto [composed 1795], Andante and variations for piano [1793]), Luigi Boccherini (duet no. 2), Wolfgang A. Mozart (Symphonia concertante K. 364), L. van Beethoven, J. N. Hummel, Carl Maria von Weber, Franz Liszt (Ballade d'Ukraine), Felix Petyrek, Ivan Khandoshkin, and others. ^[8]

Notable recordings

• The Andrews Sisters recorded a version in 1941.
• Benny Goodman with Helen Forrest - recorded December 20, 1940 for Columbia. ^[10]
• Eydie Gorme reached the No. 10 position in the UK charts in 1962. ^[11]
• Glenn Miller & His Orchestra (vocal by Marion Hutton). This reached No. 9 on the Billboard charts. ^[12]

References

1. Whitburn, Joel (1986). Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories 1890–1954. Wisconsin: Record Research. p.  388. ISBN   0-89820-083-0.
2. Shevchenko, Taras (1 October 2013). Kobzar: The Poetry of Taras Shevchenko. Glagoslav Publications. pp. 106–. ISBN   978-1-909156-56-2 . Retrieved 22 December 2018.
3. "Украинская народная песня «Ой не ходи, Грицю, та й на вечорниці...»". 5 August 2022.
4. "Ruthenia".
5. Ringer, Alexander L. (8 January 2016). Early Romantic Era: Between Revolutions, 1789 and 1848. Springer. pp. 247–. ISBN   978-1-349-11297-5 . Retrieved 22 December 2018.
6. "Suchasnist'" magazine - 2006, Issues 7-12 - Page 138
7. Andrei Sikhra - "Selected Arias from the opera "Cossack-poet" by C.Cavos, St.Petersburg 1827
8. Yakov Soroker Ukrainian Elements in Classical Music, CIUS Press, Edmonton-Toronto, 1995 p. 126
9. Alexander Serov, Muzyka Ukrainskyx pesen. Izbrannii stat'i, Moscow and Leningrad 1950, Volume 1, p. 119
10. "The Online Discographical Project". 78discography.com. Retrieved December 17, 2017.
11. British Hit Singles & Albums. London: Guinness World Records. 2004. p. 216. ISBN   1-904994-00-8.
12. Whitburn, Joel (1986). Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories 1890–1954. Wisconsin: Record Research. p.  311. ISBN   0-89820-083-0.