I guess you’ve heard the words “Pearl Harbor”?
A place? In Hawaii?
Right. But to many of us old guys it’s also an event.
A war?
Yep. World War 2. The Japanese attacked our naval base in Hawaii. On the island of Oahu. Not far from Honolulu. On December 7, 1941. It’s been called by President Roosevelt a “Date That Will Live in Infamy.”
I’ve heard that.
Well, the war had many effects on life in this county. Bur dud you know it also affected the lyrics to a song?
No Tell me..
A single word in an old favorite song was temporarily changed after the Japanese attack. I’ll have to show the entire lyric of the song, “Beyond the Blue Horizon.”
Beyond the blue horizon
Waits an opening day.
Goodbye to things that bore me.
Joy is waiting for me.
I see a new horizon.
My life has only begun.
Beyond the blue horizon
Lies a rising sun.
And?
The song was written and copyrighted in 1930, with music by Richard A. Whiting and W. Franke Harling and with lyrics by Leo Robin.
You can see the intent of the song: The horizon in the east. A rising sun. A new day. New opportunity. Inspiration.
Right.
But the music industry had a problem with that. Because Japan was known as the Land of the Rising Sun. In fact its flag bore the solid red circle of a sun.
And another version of the flag even emphasized the point.
So?
You can question the wisdom of the music industry’s move, but things were very sensitive back then. So they changed “rising” to “setting.’ I heard it sung on the radio that way: “lies a setting sun.” Come again? Setting sun? End of the day? Tired? Time for bed? Sleep? Where’s the inspiration in that?
Not much, I guess.
Only recently I saw online that a reader contacted a Florida newspaper to confirm what the industry had done back then. He had in his hand sheet music that was copyrighted in 1930 but had been printed in 1942 and it read “setting sun.”
And?
I’m wondering if Leo Robin had anything to say about the change in his lyric. It’s not as if he was out of the business then. In fact, in 1949, he wrote the lyrics for the songs in the Broadway show Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
Good.
Well, things are back to normal now. You can search online for videos by a number of singers and they all sing the original “rising sun.” I guess all’s well that ends well.