ROLF HARRIS
Two Little Boys
(Theodore Morse - Edward Madden - Arr. Alan Braden)
UK 1969
#1 UK #2 Sydney #2 Melbourne #2 Brisbane #16 Adelaide #2 Perth

Single on Columbia by ever cheerful Aussie singer, songwriter, artist and TV entertainer, long resident in the UK, initially famous for Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport.

Rolf Harris heard the song from Ted Egan, Australian singer and writer, who was appointed Administrator of the Northern Territory in 2003. See Richard Skeen's Rolf Harris pages for the lyrics and background to Rolf's recording.

Buy At Sanity.com.au



Thanks to Terry Stacey & family for suggestion.
HEARTS AND FLOWERS
Two Little Boys
(Theodore Morse - Edward Madden)
USA 1968

On the Capitol album Of Horses, Kids and Forgotten Women, the second by Southern Californian folk-rock-country band formed by Larry Murray in the early 60s. By this time Hearts & Flowers' line-up included Bernie Leadon, later with The Eagles.

References, further reading: 1. Hearts And Flowers at All Music Guide. 2. BernieLeadonOnline.com. 3. Album review at mp3 blog The Rising Storm.

Version alert from Darryl Tannock.
THE BRANDYWINE SINGERS
Two Little Boys
(Theodore Morse - Edward Madden)
USA 1962
#26 Melbourne

Charted in Melbourne February-March 1964.

Folk group active 1962-1965, re-formed in 1992 (not to be confused with the Pennsylvania choir formed 1993). Van Dyke Parks was a Brandywine Singer, briefly.

Further reading: 1. Brandywine Singers at All Music Guide. 2. Website of the Brandywine singers' Shaw brothers.
 
THE COUNTRY GENTLEMEN
Two Little Boys
(Theodore Morse - Edward Madden)
USA 1962

On the album Bluegrass at Carnegie Hall on the Starday label.
THE DIXON BROTHERS
Two Little Boys
(Theodore Morse - Edward Madden)
USA 1937

Folk singers Dorsey & Howard Dixon. See Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index.
BILLY MURRAY
When We Were Two Little Boys
(Theodore Morse - Edward Madden)
USA 1903
Original version

Recording on Victor label. Billy Murray (1877-1954) was a prolific recording star who first recorded in 1897 and became (as Wikepedia's entry puts it) probably the best selling recording artist of the first quarter of the 20th century.

See the Songwriters Hall of Fame for biographies and works of composer Theodore Morse (1873-1924) and lyricist Edward Madden (1878-1952).

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Two Little Boys is often associated with the American Civil War of 1861-1865, although it wasn't published until 1903 and the writers were both born in the 1870s.

Of course, it may well be set in the Civil War, but I can't find any evidence of it being based on a song from the Civil War-era.

The FAQ page at Poetry and Music of the War Between the States is even stronger on this point: Whatever else can or can't be said about the song, it's fairly safe to assume that it did not originate during and was not written about the War Between the States.

'Brett' points out, though (via the Contact page), that the ranks so blue mentioned in Two Little Boys and the focus on horses both suggest a Civil War setting because blue uniforms (the Union army) and cavalry both figured prominently in that war.

The lyrics are probably vague enough on detail to be adaptable in people's minds to different settings, however erroneously. Some have associated the song with World War I - even though that was 11 years after the song was published - or with the Boer War.
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A version by British entertainer Harry Lauder is mentioned in some places but I cannot find any details.

Thanks to Joop Jansen and honeydhont through The Originals Problemsolving Forum, and to 'Brett'.

Corrections or comments? Contact the writer.