Description
The Fountain in the Park, also known as While Strolling Through the Park One Day, is a song by Ed Haley published in 1884 by Willis Woodward & Co., a full six years before “The Gay Nineties” (a term once commonly used to describe the carefree, flirtatious and happy feelings surrounding the decade of the 1890s) would start.
The Barbershop Harmony Society suggests that “Ed Haley” is a pseudonym for Robert A. Keiser, to whom the song is dedicated, while according to popular music historian William Studwell, both Haley and Keiser were pseudonyms for Robert A. King (no relation), who composed music using several pseudonyms, including “Mary Earl.”
The song has been featured in numerous films, including Strike Up the Band, in which it was sung by Judy Garland. The song has been used in cartoons featuring Mickey Mouse, Tom and Jerry, Bugs Bunny, The Simpsons, Top Cat, and the Flintstones.
Part of the song was sung on the Moon by NASA Astronauts Harrison Schmitt and Eugene Cernan on the Apollo 17 mission. Schmitt started by singing “I was strolling on the Moon one day,” and Cernan joined in.
This arrangement uses the original melody, slightly different from what has been popularized, and it includes the original scottische dance inserted between the verses.
Key: G Major
Mood: fun, happy, flirtatious
Pedagogy: staccato, chromatic scales, D.C. al Fine, time signature changes, fermata.
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