Here's an early one by Ruth, recorded for Columbia on November 15 of 1927. She still had a girlish air about her and that helps in her delivery of this song (written by Joe Verges in 1916, made popular by Marion Harris in 1917) - she sings the lyric simply and sweetly, allowing the poignancy
to be self-evident. Modern feminists will probably shudder at the lyrics, but keep in mind that this type of song was extremely popular in the years leading up to World War Two - songs such as "My Man" and the original version of "After You've Gone" (including the lyric "you know your leaving
me will bring me to ruin") sold strongly for decades. Ruth's performance here transcends time beautifully. The record from which this was sampled was heavily played in its time, and took some detailed work to tame (not eliminate) the surface noise and groove stress, but it was worth it. Get
out the hankerchief. (For further reading about Ruth Etting, see "Nebraska's Sweetheart", "Jazz Age Sweetheart", and the
tribute site by David Garrick which features some MP3 samples as well as a video clip of her singing "My Mother's Eyes".)
