America fell in love to this ‘Irish’ melody
Tom Westendorf was normally a happy man. He and his wife were
deeply in love but a sense of foreboding had been nibbling at his
mind for months.
America fell in love to this ‘Irish’ melody
Tom Westendorf was normally a happy man. He and his wife were deeply in love but a sense of foreboding had been nibbling at his mind for months.
Jean had seemed distant lately, and several times he had found her weeping. When he inquired, she just smiled brightly and shook her head. Westendorf suspected that she was homesick for her native country but hardly knew what to do. His salary did not allow for a trip abroad.
She was visiting her mother in New York and Westendorf busied himself with a program for the Plainfield, Illinois school where he taught music. On the day she was to return he awoke with a tune running through his head. He put it down on paper along with the lyrics and his pen could hardly keep up with his mind.
Later that morning when Jean walked through the door he made her sit down. As he played and sang, she cried openly because the song was more than an affirmation of his love for her, it was a promise. “You’re the woman of the song, darling,” he said, “but your name didn’t fit so I used another.”
Several evenings later at the musical program Westendorf played it in public for the first time. Upon its completion, students, faculty member and parents sat hushed for a moment, then rose with thunderous ovation. They made him play it again and again, while Jean joined in the applause.
“I’ll Take Thee Home Again, Kathleen” was the hit of 1875. It swept the nation and was translated into many languages. Music stores could not keep up with the demand for the sheet music.
For years afterwards, thousands of baby girls were named Kathleen. The Irish especially liked the song, and prominent Irish singers like Chauncey Olcott made it part of their repertoire.
Royalties enabled Westendorf to keep his promise and he took Jean on an extended visit to her homeland. Although they tried to keep a low profile, the press and members of the public enthralled by “Kathleen” constantly sought them out.
An anecdote of that time concerns Westendorf playing his song at a St. Patrick’s day function. When he finished, a burly man approached him and said in an Irish brogue, “I understand that you’re the lad who wrote that grand tune. May I have the honor of knowing your name?”
Westendorf told him and the man frowned. “That doesn’t sound Irish.” The composer explained that his parents had come from Germany.
The other brightened. “Then the colleen who inspired it is surely Irish?” Westendorf smiled. “No, she was born in Germany, too.”
The man’s face turned a brick red, and he said, “I’m going to leave you now for the black-hearted liar that you are because no one but an Irish girl could have inspired that tune,” before he stalked off in disgust.
For years afterwards whenever Westendorf and Jean heard their song, they smiled secretively at each other with love in their eyes.
