Peg o' My Heart

Sheet music cover, 1913

"Peg o' My Heart" is a popular song written by Alfred Bryan and Fred Fisher. It was published on March 15, 1913 and it featured in the 1913 musical Ziegfeld Follies.

The song was first performed publicly by Irving Kaufman in 1912 at The College Inn in New York City after he had stumbled across a draft of sheet music on a shelf at the Leo Feist offices.

The song was inspired by the main character in the very successful musical comedy of the time Peg O’ My Heart starring Laurette Taylor in the title role. Taylor appeared on the cover of early published sheet music.

The song, performed by Max Harris and his Novelty Trio (based on a version by The Harmonicats), was used as the theme of the BBC miniseries The Singing Detective (1986). When recording engineer Bill Putnam recorded The Harmonicats version of the song, he became the first person to use artificial reverberation creatively on a pop recording, with the use of the first reverb chamber, which had been set up in the studio's bathroom.

Celtic punk band Dropkick Murphys covered the song on their 2011 album, Going Out In Style. Their version features a guest appearance by Bruce Springsteen.^[1]

Notable recordings

Notable recordings of the song include:

• Charles W. Harrison
  • Label: Victor 17412 (matrix: 13628-2)
  • Recorded: July 24, 1913

• Henry Burr
  • Label: Columbia A-1404 (matrix: 38980-2)
  • Recorded: August 1, 1913

• Walter Van Brunt
  • Edison, Blue Amberol 2036
  • Released: September 1913

• Bunny Berigan & his Orchestra
  • Label: Victor 27258 (matrix: 043925)
  • Recorded: New York City November 28, 1939

• Lester Young Trio
  • Label: Clef MGC 135 (matrix: 353-1)
  • Released: 1953
  • Recorded: Hollywood April 1946

• The Harmonicats
  • Label: Vitacoustic 1
  • Released: March 1947
  • First entered the Billboard magazine chart on April 18, on charts 21 weeks, peaking at #1

• Buddy Clark with orchestra directed by Mitchell Ayres
  • Label: Columbia 37392 (matrix: CO 37671)
  • Recorded: New York City April 25, 1947
  • First entered the Billboard magazine chart on June 27, on charts 7 weeks, peaking at #4

• Art Lund with orchestra conducted by Johnny Thompson
  • Label: MGM 10037 (matrix: 47-S-3077-3)
  • Recorded: in Los Angeles, California May 12, 1947
  • First entered the Billboard magazine chart on June 20, on charts 10 weeks, peaking at #6

• Clark Dennis
  • Label: Capitol 346
  • First entered the Billboard magazine chart on July 4, 1947, on charts 1 week, at #10

• The Three Suns
  • Label: RCA Victor 20-2272
  • First entered the Billboard magazine chart on June 20, 1947, on charts 16 weeks, peaking at #2

• Joe Loss and his Orchestra
  • Label: His Master's Voice BD 5987
  • Recorded: London on October 13, 1947

• Andy Williams
  • Album: The Shadow of Your Smile (1966)

• Dropkick Murphys featuring Bruce Springsteen
  • Label: Born & Bred Records
  • Recorded: in Boston, Massachusetts 2010/2011

In other media

In the 2010 ITV drama Downton Abbey, episode 4 season 1 features William, the second footman, playing "Peg o' My Heart" on the piano in the servants' hall.

References