I have a fully functional 1903 Victrola record player that once belonged to my grandfather. Family lore has it that he found it in an old barn in upstate New York and refurbished it himself. In many ways the interest in keeping old things is a relatively new phenomena so it was probably no great feat for him to acquire it in the 1950s, which is when I think he got it.
Along with the Victrola came boxes and boxes of old 78s. I don’t think any of them are worth much, but they certainly are interesting.
I was going through them this morning and discovered the Arthur Fields recording of “How Ya Gonna Keep ‘Em Down on the Farm (After They’ve Seen Paree)?” It’s a famous song, of course, but I still knew little about it but that it was a post-WWI favourite.
The magical Wiki confirms that the song was published in 1919 and rose to prominence after the end of WWI. The meaning of the lyrics are fairly obvious.
As for the recording history:
In 1919, an early jazz band, Jim Europe’s 369th Infantry Band, recorded it for Pathé Records and it became a hit for that year. Also, Nora Bayes recorded it for Columbia that same year. Victor released its recording, featuring the singer Arthur Fields (the one featured below), on February 27, 1919.
And although I did not know this, it appears that the song is featured in the 2014 Lego Movie. The music is by Walter Donaldson. Lyrics are by Joe Young and Sam M. Lewis.