"When You Were Sweet Sixteen" is a popular song. It was written by James Thornton. The song was published in 1898. Its chorus:
- I love you as I never lov'd before,
- Since first I met you on the village green.
- Come to me, e'er my dream of love is o'er.
- I love you as I lov'd you
- When you were sweet, when you were sweet sixteen.
The song was inspired by Thornton's wife, Bonnie, when she asked her husband if he still loved her. Thornton replied, "I love you like I did when you were sweet sixteen."
The original sheet music attributed Bonnie Thornton, Raymon Moore, Helene Mora, and others as having sung the song with "great success"; however, the song has been recorded by many artists. One of the best-known versions of the song was made by Al Jolson in 1929. In 1938, it occurred in the movie Little Miss Broadway with a short solo by Shirley Temple. In 1946 it appeared in the film The Jolson Story, where Al Jolson was his own voice-double for actor Larry Parks. The song was changed to a different format and became the version that most people remember. The song was then recorded by Perry Como in 1947 and was a hit.
Famous quotes containing the words sweet and/or sixteen:
“Graceful women, chosen men
Dazzle every mortal:
Their sweet and lofty countenance
His enchanting food.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“From sixteen to twenty, all women, kept in humor by their hopes and by their attractions, appear to be good-natured.”
—Samuel Richardson (1689–1761)