Say au revoir, but not good-bye

First Published 1893
Writer/composer Harry Kennedy Roud RN38177

Music Hall Performers Julie Mackey, John McCormack, James Norrie
Folk performances Collected from the singing of:
Leta A Seavey, USA : Maine; 1934		 

From US Sheet Music

Say au Revoir, but not Goodbye,
For parting brings a bitter sigh;
The past is gone, tho' memory gives,
One clinging thought, the future lives;

Our duty first, love must not lead,
What might have been, had fate decreed;
'Twere better far, had we not met.
I loved you then. I love you yet.

Say au Revoir, but not Goodbye,
The past is dead, love cannot die
Twere better far, had we not met
I lov'd you then. I love you yet.

The waters glide, the oars lie still
A rippling laugh a word at will
Where angels fear, fools dare to tread
Shall live for years, tho past is dead.

This one goodbye, must be our last
The word is spoke, the die is cast
But still my heart, throbs wild with pain
And tho' we ne'er shall meet again

A staple for early twentieth century commercial ballad singers like John McCormack, this song was a hit in the American vaudeville theatres before being sung in the British Music Halls of the 1890s and 1900s by performers like James Norrie and Julia Mackey.

It was remembered in 1934 by Leta Seavey a correspondent of ‘Songs of Long Ago’, Bangor Daily News (Bangor, Maine) (21 Sep 1934).

Sources: