"Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair" is a parlor song by Stephen Foster (1826-1864). It was published by Firth, Pond & Co. of New York in 1854. Foster wrote the song with his wife Jane McDowell in mind.
"Jeanie" was a notorious beneficiary of the ASCAP boycott of 1941. During this period, most modern music could not be played by the major radio broadcasters due to a dispute over licensing fees. The broadcasters used public-domain songs during this period, and according to a 1941 article in Time magazine, "So often had BMI's Jeannie With the Light Brown Hair been played that she was widely reported to have turned grey."
Read more about Jeanie With The Light Brown Hair: Other Versions
Famous quotes containing the words light, brown and/or hair:
“And taken by light in her arms at long and dear last
I may without fail
Suffer the first vision that set fire to the stars.”
—Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)
““Me did he send a love-letter,
He sent it from the town,
Saying no more he loved me,
For that I was so brown.”
—Unknown. The Brown Girl (l. 9–12)
“Fair maid, white and red,
Comb me smooth, and stroke my head;
And every hair a sheave shall be,
And every sheave a golden tree.”
—George Peele (1559–1596)