Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie

DESCRIPTION: A girl mourns her rained-out Sunday picnic. Her sweetheart comforts her: "Wait till the sun shines, Nellie, and the clouds go drifting by...." She had hoped to "show off her brand new gown"; suddenly the sun comes out; she says he has won her heart
AUTHOR: Words: Andrew B. Sterling / Music: Harry von Tilzer
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (copyright; others list a 1902 copyright)
KEYWORDS: courting clothes
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Spaeth-ReadEmAndWeep, pp. 215-216, "Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Geller-FamousSongsAndTheirStories, pp. 187-190, "Wait 'Till the Sun Shines, Nelly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 254, "Wait Till The Sun Shines, Nellie" (1 text)
Fuld-BookOfWorldFamousMusic, p. 610, "Wait 'till the Sun Shines, Nellie"
DT, SUNELLIE
ADDITIONAL: Robert A. Fremont, editor, _Favorite Songs of the Nineties_, Dover Publications, 1973, pp. 339-342, "Wait 'Till the Sun Shines, Nellie" (1 text, 1 tune, the 1905 sheet music)
RECORDINGS:
Charleston Entertainers, "Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie" (Supertone 9718, 1930)
Judy Cook, "Wait 'Till the Sun Shines, Nellie" (Fragment: Piotr-Archive #331, recorded 11/02/2022; the chorus only, but not the usual chorus)
Nancy Finley, Samuel Finley, "Wait 'Till the Sun Shines, Nellie" (Fragment: Piotr-Archive #623, recorded 08/01/2023; the chorus only)
Byron G. Harlan, "Wait 'Till the Sun Shines, Nellie" (Columbia 3321, 1906) (CYL: Edison 9130, 1905)
Jill MacLaughlin, John MacLaughlin, "Wait 'Till the Sun Shines, Nellie/You Are My Sunshine/Down by the Old Mill Stream" (Piotr-Archive #315, recorded 10/22/2022; the first two are chorus only)
Riley Puckett, "Wait Till The Sun Shines Nellie" (Columbia 15073-D, 1926; rec. 1925.)
NOTES [132 words]: And you thought the chorus was stupid! Aren't you sorry you ever looked up the plot?
For some background on Harry von Tilzer, see the notes to "A Bird in a Gilded Cage."
Andrew B. Sterling is best known for writing the words to "Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis" and this song; also "On the Shores of Havana," "Strike Up the Band (Here Comes a Sailor)," "Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown (What You Goin' to Do When the Rent Comes 'Round?)," and others. - RBW
Edward Foote Gardner, Popular Songs of the Twentieth Century: Volume I -- Chart Detail & Encyclopedia 1900-1949, Paragon House, 2000, p. 271, estimates that this was the second most popular song in America in 1906, peaking at #1 at the start of the year (#1 for the year being Dave Reed and Ernest Ball's "Love Me and the World Is Mine"). - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: SRW215

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