The Old Lamplighter a short ramble

I drove through my hometown the other day, and I noticed that they had erected what looked very much like olde tyme gas lampposts on the main street.   I have clear memories of seeing the lamplighter light the gas lamps that  lined those streets when I was a child, even though the street I lived on, on had electric street lights.  I think I asked my Father a million questions about those glowing gas lights, but he would still take me into town to watch the lamplighter light them.

At about that time this song came out.  and you guessed it, there were a million questions I had to ask about the song, for the longest time I thought that it had been written about our towns gas street lights.  I also thought that another song by the Browns, "The three Bells" had been written about a huge sandstone church that was near the center of town.

A few years later the town fathers decided to take down the lights and sell them, though thankfully not for scarp, the lights were sold to another town that has them on their main street to this day.  A fact I learned about on Facebook of all places.    Happy, happy, me!!!!

The Old Lamplighter

~~written by Charles Tobias and Nat Simon

By The Browns

He made the night a little brighter
Wherever he would go
The old lamplighter
Of long, long ago
His snowy hair was so much whiter
Beneath the candle glow
The old lamplighter
Of long, long ago

You'd hear the patter of his feet
As he came toddling down the street
His smile would cheer a lonely heart you see
If there were sweethearts in the park
He'd pass a lamp and leave it dark
Remembering the days that used to be
For he recalled when things were new
He loved someone who loved him too
Who walks with him alone in memories

He made the night a little brighter
Wherever he would go
The old lamplighter
Of long, long ago
His snowy hair was so much whiter
Beneath the candle glow
The old lamplighter
Of long, long ago

Now if you look up in the sky
You'll understand the reason why
The little stars at night are all aglow
He turns them on when night is near
He turns them off when dawn is here
The little man we left so long ago
He made the night a little brighter
Wherever he would go
The old lamplighter of long, long ago