"Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair" is a 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.
Lyrics
- I dream of Jeanie with the light brown hair,
- Borne, like a vapor, on the 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:
- Oh! 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:
- Oh! I long for Jeanie, and my heart bows low,
- Never more to find her where the bright waters flow.
- I sigh for Jeanie, but her light form strayed
- Far from the fond hearts round her native glade;
- Her smiles have vanished and her sweet songs flown,
- Flitting like the dreams that have cheered us and gone.
- 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.