This
melancholical song was written in
1907 by
Gus Edwards, and the
lyrics by
Will D. Cobb. It was made popular by
Byron G. Harlan, keeping it as the
number one song for
11 weeks running. School Days was also the
Vaudeville play which first featured this song - with actors
Eddie Cantor and
George Jessel.
The Song:
School days, school days
Dear old golden rule days
Readin' and 'ritin' and 'rithmetic
Taught to the tune of the hickory stick
You were my queen in calico
I was your bashful barefoot beau
And you wrote on my slate
"I love you, so"
When we were a couple of kids
Nothing to do, Nellie Darling
Nothing to do you say
Let's take a trip on memory's ship
Back to the bygone days
Sail to the old village school house
Anchor outside the school door
Look in and see
There's you and there's me
A couple of kids once more
Chorus
'Member the hill, Nellie Darling
And the oak tree
That grew on its brow
They've built forty storeys
Upon that old hill
And the oak's an old chestnut now
'Member the meadows so green, dear
So fragrant with clover and maize
Into new city lots
And preferred business plots
They've cut them up since those days
Chorus