Two little girls in blue

AKA
First Published 1892
Lyrics Charles Graham Music Charles Graham Roud RN2793

Music Hall Performers Lily Burnard (1865-?)
Marie Kendall (1873-1964)
James Norrie (?-1915)
Horace Wheatley (1850-1923)
Folk performances Selected Source Singers (before 1940: all; after 1940 UK only)
Norton, Alma 1928 USA : Pennsylvania
Barnett, Mrs. Lottie 1929 USA
Purvis, Lorraine 1931 USA : Iowa
Gailey, Mrs. J.W. 1931 USA : Iowa
Schroeder, Herman 1931 USA : Iowa
Fleming, Mrs. Joe 1931 USA : Iowa
Kincaid, Bradley 1931 USA : Kentucky
Thatcher, Mrs. Pearl 1938 USA : Tennessee
Morgan, E.C. 1938 USA : Tennessee
Murray, Tom 1936/38 Ireland : Co. Roscommon
Poacher, Cyril 1964-65 England : Suffolk
Hinchliffe, Frank 1970 England : Yorkshire
Baker, Arthur 1971 England : Hampshire :
Nesling, Harkie 1971 England : Suffolk
Green, Charles 1971 England : Yorkshire
Marsden, Stanley 1971 England : Yorkshire
Pardon, Walter 1974 England : Norfolk
Spicer, George 1974 England : West Sussex
Payne, Ernie 1979 England : Avon
Messenger, Alice 1975-80 England : Suffolk
Ryder, Mr. E.C. 1982 England : Hampshire

Modern performances
June Tabor

 

An old man gazed on a photograph
In a locket he'd worn for years
His Nephew then asked him the reason why
That picture had cost him tears
'Come listen' said he, 'and I'll tell you lad
A story that's strange but true
Your Father and I, at the school one day
Met two little girls in blue,'

Two little girls in blue, lad
Two little girls in blue
They were sisters, we were brothers
And learned to love the two
And one little girl in blue, lad,
Who won your Father's heart
Became your Mother, I married the other
But now we have drifted apart.

'That picture is one of those girls' he said
'And to me she once was a wife
I thought her unfaithful, we quarrelled, lad
And parted that night for life
My fancy of jealousy wronged a heart
A heart that was good and true
For two better girls never lived than they
Those two little girls in blue,

An immensely popular sentimental song from the 1890s by New Yorker Charles Graham, written when he was a member and stage manager of the Al G Field Minstrels. Many have noted its similarity in musical style and content to that other great sentimental hit of the 1890s After the Ball, published in the same year. Two Little Girls in Blue was in the repertoire of the Moore and Burgess Minstrels who may have been the first to perform it in Britain. But whoever gave the song its British debut, in the Halls it was Lily Burnard who first made it a hit. Her management were quick to post notices in The Era boasting of her “grand success” with the song- though they suggested the song was written by a Mr Glenroy of New York – prompting the response below:

The Era, Saturday,  Mar. 17, 1894

The song was widely performed by other Music Hall artistes, classical singers and amateurs throughout the 1890s. It was popular amongst traditional singers in the USA in the first half of the 20th century, but if it was sung by traditional singers of the British Isles in that period it was ignored by the folksong collectors. In the second half of the 20th century, when folksong collectors in the British Isles tended to collect everything sung by traditional singers, it appeared to be equally popular on this side of the Atlantic.

Sources:

Bradley Kincaid sings it: