Irish and non~Irish alike will join in singing "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" today. It is one of the most popular Irish songs ever written. The lyrics to the song were written my great Uncle George Graff Jr.
The song writer was born on Manhattan Island, New York on August 5, 1886. Here he is as a child with his sisters, Cecil, Eva (my Grandmother) and Katherine. In those days New York was still farmland. It's hard to believe.
The song was written in 1912, to be sung by a famous singer, Chauncey Olcott, in his show called "Isle of Dreams". Mr. Olcott, came up with the idea of "eyes" being used as a theme for the song. George Graff dashed off the lyrics in less than three hours, this being the fastest song he ever wrote. The ironic thing is, George Graff was of Dutch and German descent, not an Irishman.
He was a charter member of ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers), which protects it's members copyrights and collects royalties.
He was able to live comfortably for the rest of his life from the royalties of this one song, When Irish Eyes are Smiling.
~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~
When Irish eyes are smiling
Sure tis like a morning spring.
In the lilt of Irish laughter,
You can hear the angels
sing. When
Irish hearts are happy,
All the world seems bright and gay.
And when
Irish eyes are smiling,
Sure, they steal your heart away.
There's
a tear in your eye,
and I'm wondering why,
For it never
should be
there at all.
With such power in your smile,
sure a stone
you'd
beguile,
So there's never a teardrop should fall.
When
your sweet
lilting laughter's like some fairy song,
And your eyes twinkle
bright as
can be,
You should laugh all the while and all other times
smile,
And
now smile a smile for me.
Chorus:
When Irish eyes are
smiling
Sure it's like a morning spring.
In the lilt of Irish laughter,
You
can hear the angels sing.
When Irish hearts are happy,
All
the world
seems bright and gay.
And when Irish eyes are smiling,
Sure, they
steal your heart away.
