"The Old Lamp-Lighter" is a popular

song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

. The music was written by Nat Simon, the lyrics by Charles Tobias. The song was published in

1946 1946 (Roman numerals, MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 946th year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th year of the 20th centur ...

Background

The lyrics sentimentalize and memorialize the profession of lamplighters, who walked city streets at dusk turning on the gas-powered streetlamps and turned them off again at dawn.

1946 versions

Several versions of the song made the best-seller charts in 1946-1947. The most popular recording, by Sammy Kaye (vocal by Billy Williams), was released by RCA Victor Records as catalog number 20-1963. It first reached the ''Billboard'' Best Seller chart on November 8, 1946, and lasted 14 weeks on the chart, peaking at number one. A recording by

Kay Kyser James Kern Kyser (June 18, 1905 – July 23, 1985), known as Kay Kyser, was an American bandleader and radio personality of the 1930s and 1940s. Early years Kyser was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, the son of pharmacists Emily Royster Kyser ...

(vocal by

Mike Douglas Michael Delaney Dowd Jr. (August 11, 1920Cook County Birth Certificates, file number 6053268, borAugust 11, 1920/ref>Social Security Death Index, Michael D. Dowd Jr., Birth: 11 Aug 1920, death: 11 Aug 2006 residing in North Palm Beach, FL, acce ...

and Campus Kids) was released by

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

as catalog number 37095. It first reached the ''Billboard'' Best Seller chart on November 22, 1946, and lasted 11 weeks on the chart, peaking at number three. A recording by Hal Derwin was released by

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

as catalog number 288. It first reached the ''Billboard'' Best Seller chart on December 6, 1946, and lasted two weeks on the chart, peaking at number six. This was Derwin's only charted hit.

The Browns version

In 1960, the song was a major country-pop hit for The Browns, released as a single early that year. It went on to become a major top-ten hit, spending 15 weeks on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, peaking at No. 5, while reaching No. 20 on ''Billboard''s Hot C&W Sides, and No. 17 on ''Billboard''s Hot R&B Sides.

Other versions

* Slim Whitman included the song on his album ''Just Call Me Lonesome'' (1961) *The song was performed under the name ''Luktar-Gvendur'', by the Icelandic singer

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct voice, three-octave vocal range, and eccentric public per ...

on the album Gling-Gló, in 1990. On that album Björk teams up with the jazz trio of Guðmundur Ingólfsson: consisting of Guðmundur Ingólfsson on piano, Guðmundur Steingrímsson on drums and Þórður Högnason on bass. The album has become one of the classics of Icelandic contemporary pop music albums.

Use in Movies

*The song was sung by

Gene Autry Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American actor, musician, singer, composer, rodeo performer, and baseball team owner, who largely gained fame by singing in a Crooner ...

in the movie " Twilight on the Rio Grande" which first appeared in theaters on April 1, 1947.

References