"I Dream of Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair" by Stephen Foster (poetry reading)

Steven Foster wrote some famous songs, "Oh! Susanna", "Camptown Races", "Swanee River", "My Old Kentucky Home", "Old Black Joe", "Beautiful Dreamer" and of course this one. You can hear it sung beautifully here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIcieNmwUPA

The title has been a light hearted TV series and used in cartoons.

I read it as a poem is so that you can understand what the words really mean.

He wrote it to his wife when they were separated and it's sadder than most people think. Jeanie left him: he died alcoholic and alone aged 38 with just 38 cents in his pocket.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Jeanie
• Jeannie
• Light
• Brown
• Hair
• Steven
• Foster

[schlusnus]

The days are long gone,wher kindness and understanding and the true caring

that happenned during and after WW11...our kids are spoit..what shall we do.??

[paulmercy]

Stephen Collins Foster wrote incredible pieces. He creates such poignant nostalgic vignettes. My favourite of his is "Hard Times Come Again No More".

Until I listened to this spoken rather than sung, I hadn't noticed the lovely rhetorical choices: blithe, vapour, glade, wither...

[rayunseitig]

Very very good. Thanks.

[asterissima]

thanks for posting!

I became an admire of Foster. How can I find his songs? I'd like to perform it.

[vanderbilt887]

Nicely done! The song is achingly beautiful too. I love Stephen Foster's songs. The best of them are just as good as any Schubert ever wrote imo. Keep up the excellent work!