The song that Irene Dunne introduced in the film was, "The Folks Who Live On The Hill." The song has a melancholy and sentimental sensibility which tells the story of two people, Darby and Joan, a committed couple passing through time, growing from newlyweds, to a family with children, to grandparents, and once again alone, but still having each other and their local identity as "The Folks Who Live On The Hill." To me the song represents grace as it paints a picture of a loving couple in a much simpler time (the 1850's). Jerome Kern's music is appropriately simple and wistful, and Hammerstein's lyric is filled with the kind of rural charm that he would further develop six years later for the stage show Oklahoma. Even though the film takes place in the 1850's the ballad echoed the sentiments of many Americans slowly emerging out of the depths of the Great Depression. The song proved to be very popular with many jazz artists of the day. The song is still popular to this day.
The song that Irene Dunne introduced in the film was, "The Folks Who Live On The Hill." The song has a melancholy and sentimental sensibility which tells the story of two people, Darby and Joan, a committed couple passing through time, growing from newlyweds, to a family with children, to grandparents, and once again alone, but still having each other and their local identity as "The Folks Who Live On The Hill." To me the song represents grace as it paints a picture of a loving couple in a much simpler time (the 1850's).
Jerome Kern's music is appropriately simple and wistful, and Hammerstein's lyric is filled with the kind of rural charm that he would further develop six years later for the stage show Oklahoma. Even though the film takes place in the 1850's the ballad echoed the sentiments of many Americans slowly emerging out of the depths of the Great Depression. The song proved to be very popular with many jazz artists of the day. The song is still popular to this day.