Global InformationTwo Little Boys information
| "Two Little Boys" | |
|---|---|
| Song | |
| Songwriter(s) | Edward Madden |
| Composer(s) | Theodore F. Morse |
"Two Little Boys" is a sentimental song about two friends who grow up to be soldiers. Recorded as early as 1903 in the United States, it became an international hit for Australian Rolf Harris 66 years later. It was published in 1903[1] by American composer Theodore F. Morse and lyricist Edward Madden.
The first of numerous recordings was by American singer Billy Murray who released it in the United States in 1903 with the title "When We Were Two Little Boys".[2][3] It became a popular music hall song of the time. Sheet music published in the United States in 1903 has a photograph of vaudeville singer and recording artist Dan W. Quinn, with the words "Successfully sung by Dan W. Quinn".[4]
The song parallels a childhood incident, the two boys playing soldier with wooden horses, and a dramatic battlefield rescue when they have grown up to be soldiers. The war is not identified. The song is similar to an 1884 story by Juliana Horatia Ewing, an English writer of children's stories, who set the tale in the Napoleonic Wars.
The American song lyric reference to "the ranks of the boys in blue" could refer to the American Civil War, using a common phrase for the Union troops. The United States forces in the Spanish American War of 1898 also wore blue uniforms.
The song may have inspired others, such as "Two Little Sailor Boys", also by Madden, 1906,[5] and The Four Virginians' "Two Little Lads", which used the same melody to tell a different story, as well as lesser lyric changes, such as the bluegrass band The Country Gentlemen referring to the fallen soldier as the other's "brother" instead of "comrade" in their 1962 version.
In 1969, the song became a No. 1 single in the United Kingdom for Australian entertainer Rolf Harris, and some believed the song had Crimean War or Boer War origins.
There is some indication that the song also shares a similarity to an incident in the Boer War, in March or April 1900, described in a book written about the war by two members of an English volunteer regiment[6] published in 1902. The incident is described on page 60, and involved members of the Australian contingent:
It was during one of these patrols that the Boers, lying in wait for the Australians, fired into them, killing one of their horses; the dismounted man sprang up behind a comrade and galloped away pursued by the Boers. Suddenly in front appeared a strong barbed wire boundary fence, five or six strands high. The Boers made sure of their prey; but the Australians, riding without hesitation at the wire, cleared it, every one of them, the horse carrying two men as gallantly as the rest. Needless to say, these were no Cape ponies or Argentines, but fine Australian horses; indeed it was impossible not to be filled with admiration at the way this contingent was mounted, many of the horses in the ranks being high-class steeplechase animals of bone and substance, and of a very fine stamp.
- ^ "Catalog of Title Entries of Books Etc. July-Sept 1903 Third Quarter 1903, Library of Congress, Copyright Office". archive.org. 12 April 2012. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
- ^ "When We Were Two Little Boys by Billy Murray Victor (2468) (release date, label shot and audio)". Internet Archive. 20 September 2012. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
- ^ Morse, Theodore F.; Madden, Edward (1903). "When We Were Two Little Boys". www.originals.be. Archived from the original on 5 February 2023. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
- ^ "Images of sheet music, When we were two little boys, 1903". Library of Congress. 5 February 2023. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
- ^ "150.085 - Two Little Sailor Boys. Song. | Levy Music Collection".
- ^ The Record of the Mounted Infantry of the City Imperial Volunteers by Guy H Guillum Scott and Geoffrey L McDonell, published in London in 1902 by E.& F.N. Spon, Limited, 125 Strand