Won’t you come to me in Canada

AKA Will you come to me in Canada
First Published 1908
Writer/composer S Fortescue-Harrison / John Neat Roud RN13634

Music Hall Performers Kittee Rayburn
Folk performances Collected from the singing of:
Pardon, Walter; England : Norfolk; 1978		 

Across the broad Atlantic, in Canada's domain,
A colonist was working for the lass he longed to gain.
Inside his little cabin, he pictured day by day
The image of his sweetheart, with longing he would say:

Won't you come, come, come to me in Canada
In Canada, in Canada?
Won't you come, come, come to me in Canada
Far away across the foam?
With the church bells ringing on our wedding day
We'll drive away upon the sleigh,
So if you'll be my wife, we'll be happy for life
In my cosy Canadian home 

The girl at home was waiting to be his cherished wife
To share his little cabin, and to cling to him through life 
She knew that he would claim her when with fortune he was blessed 
And often she would fancy he was calling from the West: 

The columnist succeeded, the lass became his own 
And now the little cabin to a larger one has grown 
And as they sit together, beneath the maple tree 
He tells how he called her long ago across the sea:

A song reflecting the pains of emigration which later featured in the repertoire of the great traditional singer Walter Pardon.

It was originally written specifically for Kittee Rayburn (aka Kitty or Kitty Rayburn), a serio comic singer, often billed as The Girl in Black and White. She toured the country with an act featuring the song – described in 1908 as “the chorus song of the season”.

In 1910 the song was recorded as a “Vivaphone Singing Picture” an early attempt at producing movies with sound. It involved synchronising a silent film of the singer with sound from a gramophone record. The material I have found doesn’t make it clear who sang on the Vivaphone recording.

As recorded by Jack Charman in 1908:

Sources: