"Memories of the South Before the War" (1898)
Words by James O'Dea
Music by Leo Friedman
Supplement to the St. Louis Post Dispatch

SOL BLOOM, Dearborn and Randolf St., CHICAGO.
[Source: photocopy from Scott K. Williams]

1.
'Midst the fields of cane and corn,
In the land where I was born,
Where the sweet magnolia's perfume filled the air;
Where the darkies sang each night
In the moonbeam's mellow light,
And their laughter drove away all thought of care;
There I passed life's sweetest hours
'Midst the sunshine and the flow'rs,
Just as happy as the birds that sang afar,
Little knowing than that I,
In the years to come would sigh
At the mem'ries of the South before the war. 

REFRAIN [sung after each verse]
When the breeze from southern seas
Comes to kiss the waving trees,
Then my soul is in a land where angels are,
And I live o'er again
For my heart is brightened then
With the mem'ries of the South before the war.

2.
It was there I loved a maid,
Fair as heaven's light and shade,
But the darkning hand of war took her away;
Just the same as one whose love
Seemed as if 'twere from above,
For my mother also rests beneath the clay,
And my brothers, young and gay,
Should you ask me, "Where are they?"
I'd reply: "They're sleeping in uncared for graves,
For as soldiers brave they died
To preserve their homes and pride,
And above their forms the fragrant clover waves.