Author: Fred

Considered the first full-time songwriter in the U.S., Stephen Foster began churning them out in 1844. Here are 187 of his compositions in audio format.

Below are mp3s for the songs in an amazing book from Dover Publications. This book started the sheet music singer project.

The files were made by Werner Tomaschewski of Germany. His website was called Stephen Foster American Dreams. It is no longer online but we present his work here. Most of these songs are also in our long song list.

Look in your Google folder for the Google Drive phone app. It has a document scanner built-in. The icon is a purple camera button. This is free to use.

Snap the sheet music cover in color. Then use the B&W filter to make the music pages clearer. Each page can be reframed and rotated as you go. All these snaps become a pdf which you can share.

Used in “ALEXANDER’S RAGTIME BAND,” 1938 film.
Words and Music by Irving Berlin.
Copyright ©27 Jul 1925.
Sheet Music from the collection of Michael Deatz.

The sheet music:

Lyrics

1. One little kiss, a moment of bliss
   Then hours of deep regret
   One little smile, and after a while
   A longing to forget
   One little heartache, left as a token
   One little plaything carelessly broken

Chorus
Remember the night, the night you said
“I love you”, remember?
Remember you vowed by all the stars
Above you, remember?
Remember we found a lonely spot
And after I learned to care a lot
You promised that you’d forget me not
But you forgot to remember

2. Into my dreams, you wandered it seems
   And then there came a day
   You loved me too, my dreams had come true
   And all the world was May
   But soon the Maytime, turned to December
   You had forgotten, do you remember?

Used in “ALEXANDER’S RAGTIME BAND,” 1938 film.
Words and Music by Irving Berlin.
Copyright ©23 Jul 1918.
Sheet Music from the collection of Michael Deatz.

The sheet music:

Lyrics

1. The other day I chanced to meet
   A soldier friend of mine
   He’d been in camp for sev’ral weeks
   And he was looking fine
   His muscles had developed
   And his cheeks were rosy red
   I asked him how he liked the life
   And this is what he said

Chorus
“Oh! how I hate to get up in the morning
Oh! how I’d love to remain in bed
For the hardest blow of all
Is to hear the bugler call
You’ve got to get up, you’ve got to get up
You’ve got to get up this morning
Some day I’m going to murder the bugler
Some day they’re going to find him dead
I’ll amputate his reveille
And step upon it heavily
And spend the rest of my life in bed”

Chorus
“Oh! how I hate to get up in the morning
Oh! how I’d love to remain in bed
For the hardest blow of all
Is to hear the bugler call
You’ve got to get up, you’ve got to get up
You’ve got to get up this morning
Oh! boy the minute the battle is over
Oh! boy the minute the foe is dead
I’ll put my uniform away
And move to Philadelphia
And spend the rest of my life in bed”

2. A bugler in the army
   Is the luckiest of men
   He wakes the boys at five
   And then goes back to bed again
   He doesn’t have to blow again
   Until the afternoon
   If everything goes well with me
   I’ll be a bugler soon