Cover of 1903 sheet music, with inset photo of singer Pearl Redding
"(You're the Flower of My Heart,) Sweet Adeline" is a ballad best known as a barbershop standard. It was first published in 1903, with lyrics by Richard Husch Gerard to music by Harry Armstrong, from a tune he had written in 1896 at the age of 18. According to a 1928 newspaper story, the lyrics were inspired "by a girl who worked at the music counter of a New York department store."[1] After failing to find a publisher with the initial title, "You're the Flower of My Heart, Sweet Rosalie", according to a story the two decided a new title was in order and were inspired by a poster advertising the farewell tour of opera singer Adelina Patti.[2] It did not become a hit until it was performed in 1904 by the group The Haydn Quartet. The Haydn Quartet's version was #1 for 10 weeks in 1904, and the Peerless Quartet also hit #1 with their version in 1904, for three weeks, according to Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories.
John F. Fitzgerald, who served as mayor of Boston, represented Massachusetts in Congress and was the maternal grandfather of President John F. Kennedy, made "Sweet Adeline" his theme song in 1909. Over the next four decades, he personally sang it at countless political and social events and on the radio.
In Charlie Chaplin's 1922 silent short film, Pay Day, four men sing "Sweet Adeline" outside of a bar, according to an intertitle.
the 1924 Disney short, Alice's Wild West Show, features a quartet singing the song, followed by the crowd throwing rotten vegetables and vases at them.
In June 1926, Max Fleischer and Red Seal Pictures released an animated version of "Sweet Adeline", made in the sound-on-film Phonofilm process, as part of his series Song Car-Tunes, featuring "follow the bouncing ball".
The 1929 western Hell's Heroes, one of the main characters establishes the time period of the film by telling his harmonica-playing friend, "Play one of the new songs! Play 'Sweet Adeline'!"
The song was featured in a 1952 episode of the TV show I Love Lucy entitled "Lucy's Show Biz Swan Song", in which Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz) performs the song in a barbershop quartet at the Tropicana Night Club as part of a Gay Nineties revue. The clip was also part of a flashback in the I Love Lucy Christmas Special.
The song was featured in the Disneyland attraction America Sings, performed by a goose named Blossom-Nosed Murphy.
In 2017, Alt-J wrote and referenced "Sweet Adeline" in a different fashion with their track "Adeline" on the album, Relaxer. The band described the song as a love ballad from a shark's point of view, singing about its fascination, Adeline, a human girl.
The song was performed by the characters Ed, Ted, Ned and Fred in an episode of the animated web series CartoonMania.
The song was covered by jam band Phish in several live performances.
The Alcoholics Anonymous conference-approved book, Living Sober, references "Sweet Adeline" in the section, 'Letting go of old ideas'.[4]
