A Bird in a Gilded Cage
"A Bird in a Gilded Cage" is a song composed by Arthur J. Lamb and Harry Von Tilzer. It was a sentimental ballad (or tear-jerker) that became one of the most popular songs of 1900,[1] reportedly selling more than two million copies in sheet music.[2][3] Jere Mahoney (Edison) and Steve Porter (Columbia) recorded two early popular versions of this song.[3]
According to Von Tilzer, he was approached in 1899 by Lamb with the lyrics for a song. Although Von Tilzer liked it, he asked Lamb to change some of the words to make it clear that the woman in the song was married and not a mistress. Later that evening, as he worked out a melody at a piano in a public house with some friends, he noticed that many of the girls nearby were crying, which convinced him the song could be a hit.[1] Later, Von Tilzer would claim that this song was "the key that opened the door of wealth and fame" for him.[3] Its success signalled the dominance of ballads in American popular music through 1914.
The songs describes the sad life of a beautiful woman who has married for money instead of love. Its lyrics are as follows:[4]
- The ballroom was filled with fashion's throng,
- It shone with a thousand lights,
- And there was a woman who passed along,
- The fairest of all the sights,
- A girl to her lover then softly sighed,
- There's riches at her command;
- But she married for wealth, not for love, he cried,
- Though she lives in a mansion grand.
- CHORUS
- She's only a bird in a gilded cage,
- A beautiful sight to see,
- You may think she's happy and free from care,
- She's not, though she seems to be,
- 'Tis sad when you think of her wasted life,
- For youth cannot mate with age,
- And her beauty was sold,
- For an old man's gold,
- She's a bird in a gilded cage.
- I stood in a churchyard just at eve',
- When sunset adorned the west,
- And looked at the people who'd come to grieve,
- For loved ones now laid at rest,
- A tall marble monument marked the grave,
- Of one who'd been fashion's queen,
- And I thought she is happier here at rest,
- Than to have people say when seen.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Ruhlmann, Wiliam. Breaking Records (One Hundred Years of Hits), New York & London: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2004, p.8
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
