Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair

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"Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair" is an 1854 song by the American songwriter Stephen Foster. It was written for his wife, Jane McDowall, who would end up leaving him as his life declined in later years.

The song was a notorious beneficiary of the ASCAP strike of 1941. During this period, most modern music could not be played by the major radio broadcasters due to a dispute over licensing fees. The broadcasters turned to public-domain songs during this period, and according to Time Magazine, "So often had BMI's Jeannie With the Light Brown Hair been played that she was widely reported to have turned grey."^[1]

As it turned out, the first line of "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair" inspired the name of the 1960s genie-related sitcom I Dream of Jeannie; incidentally, the title character had blond hair. Additionally, the song was also adapted into an anime series called The Girl in the Wind: Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair.

A version of the song was performed by Stina Nordenstam on her 1998 album People Are Strange.

The song would also be referenced by singer/songwriter Tom Waits in his song, Sins of the Father, and the current NBC show Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, when Harriet Hayes tells costar Jeannie to "Eat 'em up, Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair."

The first line of the song is also repeated countless times in a memorable scene from John Cassavetes' film, Faces.

It is also heard in the comedy 'Musical Comedy Murders of 1940'.

[edit] Lyrics

I dream of Jeanie with the light brown hair,

Warm as a zephyr on the sweet summer air;

I see her tripping where the bright streams play,

Happy as the daisies that dance on her way.

Many were the wild notes her merry voice would pour,

Many were the blithe birds that warbled them o'er:

I dream of Jeanie with the light brown hair,

Floating, like a vapor, on the soft summer air.

I long for Jeanie with the daydawn smile,

Radiant in gladness, warm with winning guile;

I hear her melodies, like joys gone by,

Sighing round my heart o'er the fond hopes that die:

Sighing like the night wind and sobbing like the rain,

Wailing for the lost one that comes not again:

I long for Jeanie, and my heart bows low,

Never more to find her where the bright waters flow.

Now the nodding wild flowers may wither on the shore

While her gentle fingers will cull them no more:

Oh! I sigh for Jeanie with the light brown hair,

Floating, like a vapor, on the soft summer air.