"Come Josephine In My Flying Machine" is a

popular song Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Funk ...

with music by

Fred Fisher Fred Fisher (born Alfred Breitenbach, September 30, 1875 – January 14, 1942) was a German-born American songwriter and Tin Pan Alley music publisher. Biography Fisher was born in Cologne, Germany. His parents were Max and Theodora Breitenb ...

and lyrics by Alfred Bryan.

History

First published in 1910, the composition was originally recorded by Blanche Ring and was, for a time, her

signature song A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a Handwriting, handwritten (and often Stylization, stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and ...

Ada Jones Ada Jane Jones (June 1, 1873 – May 2, 1922) was an English-American popular singer who made her first recordings in 1893 on Edison cylinders. She is among the earliest female singers to be recorded. Biography She was born in Lancashire, UK, ...

and Billy Murray recorded a

duet A duet is a musical composition for two performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a harmony, as the performers take turns performing a solo ...

in November 1910, which was released the following year. There have been many subsequent recordings of the

pop standard Traditional pop (also known as classic pop and pre-rock and roll pop) is Western pop music that generally pre-dates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The most popular and enduring songs from this era of music are known as pop standards ...

. Written in the early days of aviation, it tells of a young man courting his girlfriend by "flying machine" and expresses the technological optimism of the era: "Whoa, dear! Don't hit the moon! No, dear . . . Not yet, but soon!" (It would take until 1969 for man to reach the moon.) It allegedly was based upon Josephine Sarah Magner (April 22, 1883 – July 15, 1966), who was perhaps the first woman parachutist in America with her initial jump in 1905. She was married to early aviation pioneer Leslie Burt Haddock (April 10, 1878 – July 4, 1919), made hundreds of jumps, and assisted Haddock in the building of the first U.S. Army dirigible ( Signal Corps Dirigible Number 1) designed by her uncle

Thomas Scott Baldwin Thomas Scott Baldwin (June 30, 1854 – May 17, 1923) was a pioneer balloonist and U.S. Army major during World War I. He was the first American to descend from a balloon by parachute. Early career Thomas Scott Baldwin was born on June 30, 1 ...

In popular culture

*The 1912

Mack Sennett Mack Sennett (born Michael Sinnott; January 17, 1880 – November 5, 1960) was a Canadian-American film actor, director, and producer, and studio head, known as the 'King of Comedy'. Born in Danville, Quebec, in 1880, he started in films in th ...

comedy '' A Dash Through the Clouds'' features an aviation-obsessed woman named "Josephine", played by

Mabel Normand Amabel Ethelreid Normand (November 9, 1893 – February 23, 1930), better known as Mabel Normand, was an American silent film actress, screenwriter, director, and producer. She was a popular star and collaborator of Mack Sennett in their K ...

, taking flight with real-life aviation pilot Philip Parmelee. *The song is performed in the feature film '' The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle'' (1939). *It remained popular enough into the 1940s to be featured in a "Follow the Bouncing Ball" sing-along cartoon and parodied by

Spike Jones Lindley Armstrong "Spike" Jones (December 14, 1911 – May 1, 1965) was an American musician and bandleader specializing in spoof arrangements of popular songs and classical music. Ballads receiving the Jones treatment were punctuated with gun ...

& His City Slickers. *The song was also recorded by

Benay Venuta Benay Venuta (born Benvenuta Rose Crooke, January 27, 1910 – September 1, 1995) was an American actress, singer and dancer. Early life Born in San Francisco, Venuta was a graduate of Hollywood High School. She attended finishing school in G ...

for the Broadway musical cast recording of ''

Hazel Flagg ''Hazel Flagg'' is a 1953 musical, book by Ben Hecht, based on a story by James H. Street. The lyrics are by Bob Hilliard, and music by Jule Styne. The musical is based on the 1937 screwball comedy film '' Nothing Sacred'', the primary screenwrit ...

'' (1953). *It was sung in a Season 8 episode of ''

The Waltons ''The Waltons'' is an American historical drama television series about a family in rural Virginia during the Great Depression and World War II. It was created by Earl Hamner Jr., based on his 1961 book '' Spencer's Mountain'' and the 1963 fil ...

,'' "The Silver Wings" (1979). *Fragments of the song are sung '' a cappella'' in the movie ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, Unite ...

'' (1997), early on by the character Jack ( Leonardo DiCaprio) to Rose and later, while awaiting rescue, by Rose (

Kate Winslet Kate Elizabeth Winslet (; born 5 October 1975) is an English actress. Known for her work in independent films, particularly period dramas, and for her portrayals of headstrong and complicated women, she has received numerous accolades, incl ...

); it is also featured in the deleted scene where the characters come back from the Irish party in third class, and whispered to Rose during the "I'm flying" scene.Archived a
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and th
Wayback Machine
*

Moya Brennan Moya Brennan (born Máire Philomena Ní Bhraonáin on 4 August 1952), also known as Máire Brennan, is an Irish folk singer, songwriter, harpist, and philanthropist. She is the sister of the musical artist known as Enya. She began performing pr ...

recorded the song for the film's second soundtrack, ''

Back to Titanic ''Back to Titanic'' is the second soundtrack album released for the film, which contains a mixture of previously unreleased recordings and newly recorded performances of some of the songs heard in the film. After the success of the first soundt ...

'' (1998). *It was included as a

karaoke Karaoke (; ; , clipped compound of Japanese ''kara'' "empty" and ''ōkesutora'' "orchestra") is a type of interactive entertainment usually offered in clubs and bars, where people sing along to recorded music using a microphone. The music i ...

piece in ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...

'' episode, ''

The Man in the Blue Flannel Pants "The Man in the Blue Flannel Pants" is the seventh episode of the twenty-third season of the American animated television series '' The Simpsons''. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 27, 2011, and was seen by ar ...

'' (2011), when in an attempt to stop his boss, Mr. Montgomery Burns, from ruining his party,

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the '' Iliad'' and the '' Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of ...

asks the DJ to play the oldest song he has. Coincidentally, the song officially became 100 years old at the time of the episode's release. *Fragments of the song were used in ''a cappella'' form in the television series ''

Peaky Blinders The Peaky Blinders were a street gang based in Birmingham, England, which operated from the 1880s until the 1910s. The group consisted largely of young criminals from lower- to middle-class backgrounds. They engaged in robbery, violence, racket ...

'' (2013), season one episode two. *The lyrics of the song were used as chapter names, and a mantra and common theme through Clive Cussler's book The Race *In the season 3 episode 5 of

Disenchantment In social science, disenchantment (german: Entzauberung) is the cultural rationalization and devaluation of religion apparent in modern society. The term was borrowed from Friedrich Schiller by Max Weber to describe the character of a modern ...

, a quartet sings the chorus to Bean.

References

External links

"Come Josephine In My Flying Machine" sheet music
{{authority control 1910 songs Songs with lyrics by Alfred Bryan Songs written by Fred Fisher Songs about aviators Male–female vocal duets