Dedicated to the Memory of My Mother.
"The Old Songs My Dear Mother Sung" (1885)
Song and Chorus
Words by Mathew P. Brady, Esq.
of the Chicago Bar.
Music by Thomas Martin Towne, 1835-1912

1.
O, sweet were the songs of the light hearted maid,
Who with me sang of love long ago,
In summer's soft nights as together we stray'd
Where the moonlighted river did flow;
And sweet even now is the echo of strains
That in boyhood loves spell o'er me flung,
But the sweetest of melodies mem'ry retains
Are the songs my dear mother sung!

CHORUS
Oh, soft grows my heart when those old songs I hear,
They recall the days when I was young;
Fair days of delight when my mother was near,
And the old songs she lov'd sweetly sung (sweetly sung).

2.
How musical, cheery and hopeful her voice
As she sang o'er her work thro' the day,
The birds in their cages were wont to rejoice,
Gaily joining her heart's gladsome lay!
And at night in the hearthfire's roseate glow,
O'er the baby that on her breast hung,
How soft, sweet and tender the musical flow
Of the old songs my dear mother sung!

(CHORUS)

3.
Ah, never again shall that singer so dear
The old homestead with gladness relume;
No more her sweet music shall soothe or shall cheer
The fond hearts that now garland her tomb!
But mem'ry recalling the hallowed past,
Bright and happy as when I was young,
Renews the sweet charm that o'er childhood was cast
By the old songs my dear mother sung!

(CHORUS)

REFRAIN for the last verse only
Sweetly sung, (Sweetly sung,)
Sweetly sung, (Sweetly sung,)
sweetly sung, (sweetly sung,)
sweetly sung, (sweetly sung,)
Fair days of delight when my mother was near
And the old songs she lov'd sweetly sung (sweetly sung).