Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave Flowers, I would have you wear But no single blossom could my love impart So to tell the story that is in my heart of you. Each rose dear, a message is breathing, tender and fond and true. This garland of old-fashioned roses, sweetheart, I bring to you.
Music Swords among the roses, here I first met you. So I bring these flowers, sweetheart, your love to wear. Oh, sweet heart, your love to own.
Let this fragrant garland crown our love today. Sweet is love's old story, that's the blossomed seed. A garland of old-fashioned roses, Sweet heart, I bring to you.
Roses I've gathered in love-land, Dreaming sweet dreams of you. of you. Each rose dear, Mrs.
is breeding, tender and fond and true. This garland of old-fashioned roses, sweetheart, I bring to you.
Transcribed by AI from the recording above. These are noisy hundred-year-old cylinders, so expect misheard words and the occasional invented line — trust your ears over the text.
Audio public domain, courtesy of the UCSB Cylinder Audio Archive. Transcript CC BY 4.0. Free to reuse, including commercially, with credit.
Manuel Romain 1870–1926
An American tenor who spent years as a featured singer with the minstrel companies — Primrose and Dockstader's among them — before moving into vaudeville in 1908. He recorded heavily for Edison across all three cylinder formats. By 1926 his health had failed to the point where recording for Edison was the only professional work he could still do; he died that December.
Written from Wikipedia. Corrections welcome.