Just as the sun went own

After the din of the battle's roar,
Just at the close of day,
Wounded and bleeding lay upon the field,
Two dying soldiers lay.
One held a ringlet of thin grey hair,
One held a lock of brown,
Bidding each other a last farewell,
Just as the sun went down.

One thought of mother at home, alone,
Feeble, old, and grey,
One of the sweetheart he'd left in town,
Happy, young, and gay.
One kissed the ringlet of thin grey hair,
One kissed the lock of brown,
Bidding farewell to the Stars and Stripes [dear old flag]*
Just as the sun went down.

One knew the joy of a mother's love,
One of a sweetheart fair,
Thinking of home, they lay side by side,
Breathing a farewell prayer,
One for his mother so old and grey,
One for his love in town.
They closed their eyes to the earth and skies,
Just as the sun went down.

[Additional verse written by Harry Wright]*
Then came the news from a comrade's lips'
One who'd survived the fight;
Sweetheart and mother were listening there, 
Oh, what a pitiful site.
Two hearts nigh broken - two noble lives lost,
Fighting, defending the Crown,
Still they were proud of the heroes who died,
Just as the sun went down.

* British version

This sentimental patriotic song has been collected over 20 times from traditional singers all over the English-speaking world, though American versions are by far the most common. It originated in the late 1890s, one of a number of songs written for the short lived Spanish American war of 1898 which were successfully re-marketed by British and American publishers at the time of the second Boer War (1899 to 1902) – see Break the News to Mother.

The original American song was written and composed by Lyn Udall, the pen name of John Henry Keeting (1870-1942) who in a 12 month period wrote several songs which achieved sheet music sales of over a million: I Love to See My Poor Old Mother Work; Just as the Sun Went Down; Just One Girl; Stay in Your Own Back Yard; and Zizzy Zee Zum Zum. He often worked with lyricist Karl Kennet who is sometimes mistakenly credited with writing the words for this song.

The song was re-published in the UK in 1899 by Charles Sheard in slightly amended form and was sung by Nellie Gannon with an additional verse by her husband Harry Wright.

English Traditional singer Mr EC Ryder sings the song as amended by Harry Wright, while Lucy Stewart, the prominent Traditional singer from the Scottish traveller community sings the American version (available at Tobar an Dualchais / Kist o Riches website).

American Traditional singers sing lyrics derived from the original, which remained a popular song in the USA into the late 1920s and beyond – for example it was performed by several barbershop quartets.

A series of Magic Lantern slides produced in 1903 can be viewed as part of the Lucerna Magic Lantern Web Resource.

In the late 1890s and early 1900s the Salvation Army Often Borrowed music hall tunes to use as backing for their evangelical songs. Brigadier JC Addie’s Just as the sun went down appears in One hundred favorite songs and music of the Salvation Army (1899, see archive.org)

Neither song should to be confused with the 1922 hymn of the same name by JT Eley (see hymnary.org). It became a Christian Bluegrass standard, you can hear a version on YouTube by James King)

A number of contemporary recordings were made, here’s one by JW Myers:

Sources:

• Entries in the Roud Indexes at the Vaughn Williams Memorial Library: https://archives.vwml.org/search/all:single[folksong-broadside-books]/0_50/all/score_desc/extended-roudNo_tr%3A4873

• Ballad Index
• Kilgarrif Sing Us
• Lyrics and UK Sheet Music: Udall, L., Gannon, N., Wright, H., & Banks, H. G. (1898). Just as the sun went down : a pathetic incident of war time. Charles Sheard & Co. [Bodleian mediated copying]
• US Sheet Music: Smithsonian

• Lyn Udall:

  • Daniel I. Mcnamara (1948) The Ascap Biographical Dictionary Of Authors And Publishers, archive.org
  • Isidore Witmark (1976), The story of the house of Witmark : from ragtime to swingtime; archive.org
  • Variety (October 1917), p11 at archive.org
  • Levy Collection

• BRITISH NEWSPAPER ARCHIVE (SUBSCRIPTION REQ) London Entracte
•  Lucerna Magic Lantern Web Resource, lucerna.exeter.ac.uk, item 3002401. Accessed 19 January 2025.

should include S552543, S432182