Wikipedia
"(You're the Flower of My Heart,) Sweet Adeline" is a ballad best known as a barbershop standard. It was first published in 1903, with lyrics by Richard H. Gerard to music by Harry Armstrong, from a tune he had written in 1896 at the age of 18. According to a 1928 newspaper story, the lyrics were inspired "by a girl who worked at the music counter of a New York department store." After failing to find a publisher with the initial title, "You're the Flower of My Heart, Sweet Rosalie", according to a story the two decided a new title was in order and were inspired by a poster advertising the farewell tour of opera singer Adelina Patti. It did not become a hit until it was performed in 1904 by the group The Quaker City Four.
John F. Fitzgerald, who served as mayor of Boston, represented Massachusetts in Congress and was the maternal grandfather of President John F. Kennedy, made "Sweet Adeline" his theme song in 1909. Over the next four decades, he personally sang it at countless political and social events and on the radio.
Sweet Adeline is a musical with music by Jerome Kern, book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and original Orchestration by Robert Russell Bennett. It premiered on Broadway in 1929. The story, set in the Gay 90s, concerns a Hoboken, New Jersey girl who, unlucky in love, becomes a Broadway star.
Sweet Adeline may refer to:
- "Sweet Adeline" (song), a 1903 ballad best known as a barbershop standard
- Sweet Adeline (musical), a 1929 Broadway musical by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II
- Sweet Adeline (film), a 1934 Warner Brothers film based on the Broadway musical
- "Sweet Adeline", a song by Elliott Smith from his album XO