Verse 1
A little maiden climbed an old man's knee,
Begged for a story – "Do, Uncle, please.
Why are you single; why live alone?
Have you no babies; have you no home?"
"I had a sweetheart years, years ago;
Where she is now pet, you will soon know.
List to the story, I'll tell it all,
I believed her faithless after the ball."
Refrain
After the ball is over,
After the break of morn –
After the dancers' leaving;
After the stars are gone;
Many a heart is aching,
If you could read them all;
Many the hopes that have vanished
After the ball.
Verse 2
Bright lights were flashing in the grand ballroom,
Softly the music playing sweet tunes.
There came my sweetheart, my love, my own –
"I wish some water; leave me alone."
When I returned dear there stood a man,
Kissing my sweetheart as lovers can.
Down fell the glass pet, broken, that's all,
Just as my heart was after the ball.
Repeat refrain
Verse 3
Long years have passed child, I've never wed.
True to my lost love though she is dead.
She tried to tell me, tried to explain;
I would not listen, pleadings were vain.
One day a letter came from that man,
He was her brother – the letter ran.
That's why I'm lonely, no home at all;
I broke her heart pet, after the ball.
Repeat refrain
After the Ball was written in 1891 by Charles K. Harris and remains a popular tune to this day. A classic waltz in 3/4 time, the song tells the tale of an older man who informs his niece the reasons why he has never married. Years ago, he saw his sweetheart kissing another man at a ball, and he refused to listen to her explanation. Many years later, after the death of his former love, he discovered that the man was her brother.
A little maiden climbed an old man's knee,
Begged for a story – "Do, Uncle, please.
Why are you single; why live alone?
Have you no babies; have you no home?"
"I had a sweetheart years, years ago;
Where she is now pet, you will soon know.
List to the story, I'll tell it all,
I believed her faithless after the ball."
Refrain
After the ball is over,
After the break of morn –
After the dancers' leaving;
After the stars are gone;
Many a heart is aching,
If you could read them all;
Many the hopes that have vanished
After the ball.
Verse 2
Bright lights were flashing in the grand ballroom,
Softly the music playing sweet tunes.
There came my sweetheart, my love, my own –
"I wish some water; leave me alone."
When I returned dear there stood a man,
Kissing my sweetheart as lovers can.
Down fell the glass pet, broken, that's all,
Just as my heart was after the ball.
Repeat refrain
Verse 3
Long years have passed child, I've never wed.
True to my lost love though she is dead.
She tried to tell me, tried to explain;
I would not listen, pleadings were vain.
One day a letter came from that man,
He was her brother – the letter ran.
That's why I'm lonely, no home at all;
I broke her heart pet, after the ball.
Repeat refrain
After the Ball was written in 1891 by Charles K. Harris and remains a popular tune to this day. A classic waltz in 3/4 time, the song tells the tale of an older man who informs his niece the reasons why he has never married. Years ago, he saw his sweetheart kissing another man at a ball, and he refused to listen to her explanation. Many years later, after the death of his former love, he discovered that the man was her brother.
One of the most successful songs of its era, After the Ball, is often employed in
period pieces to convey a sense of the late Nineteenth Century. The tale of an innocent act, misconstrued, is
a theme which is eternally relatable.
I just realized that I already wrote about this song in
December of 2010, but it’s worth repeating since this tune is one of those
which defined the musical fashion of its day.
That, and after over four thousand articles, I’m bound to repeat myself
every so often.
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