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Peg O' My Heart
Words & Music by Alfred Bryan & Fred FisherRecorded by The Harmonicats, 1947 (#1)
G G6 GM7 G6 G Em Peg o' my heart, I love you; A7 Em A7 Em A7 Em A We'll never part for I love you. Am7 D7 Am7 D7 Dear little girl, sweet little girl, G G/F# Em Bm7 Sweeter than the Rose of Erin, Am7 Gdim Am7 Cdim It's the shamrock we'll be sharing. G G6 GM7 G6 G Em Peg o' my heart, your glan - ces A7 Em A7 Em A7 Em A My I - rish heart en - tran - ces; Am7 D9 Am7 D7 Am7 G Come be my own, come make your home in my heart.
*Though The Harmonicats are now most closely associated with this song, two other versions besides theirs reached number one on 1947. Buddy Clark and The Three Suns also scored with it. And obviously, these lyrics do not come from The Harmonicats' instrumental. Finally, I'm not sure if it is merely a case of faulty memory, but until I saw the lyrics in printed form, I had always thought the next-to-last line was 'Make my heart say, "How's chances?"'
As a visitor from McLean, Virginia, recently pointed out to me, these lyrics aren't even the original. The original words -- or at least the original words as of a 1919 recording -- include an two verses and a slightly different refrain...all of which, as he correctly noted, "were soon forgotten." Here they are:
Oh! my heart's in a whirl over one little girl,
I love her, I love her, yes, I do,
Altho' her heart is far away,
I hope to make her mine some day,
Ev'ry beautiful rose, ev'ry violet knows,
I love her, I love her fond and true,
And her heart fondly sighs, as I sing to her eyes,
Her eyes of blue,
Sweet eyes of blue, my darling!
Peg O' My Heart, I love you,
We'll never part, I love you,
Dear little girl, sweet little girl,
Sweeter than the rose of Erin,
Are your winning smiles endearin',
Peg O' My Heart, your glances
With Irish art entrance me,
Come, be my own, come, make your home in my heart.
When your heart's full of fears,
And your eyes full of tears,
I'll kiss them, I'll kiss them all away;
For, like the gold that's in your hair,
Is all the love for you I bear,
O, believe in me, do,
I'm as lonesome as you,
I miss you, I miss you all the day,
Let the light of live shine from your eyes into mine,
And shine for aye,
Sweetheart for aye, my darling!