For Me Alone

Our Sepia Saturday theme image this week - having reached the letter v - features a violinist. I'm not sure that we have a violinist in the family archives, the best I can come up with is an uncle that played the piano. I found some of his old sheet music the other day, and by a curious serendipity, it featured a violin accompaniment. That will do!

If, during my lifetime, I had accumulated paper money with the same skill and dexterity that I have accumulated paper ephemera, I would be a rich old man. As it is, I am an old man surrounded by plastic boxes full of old papers of every description, united only in my ability to find a justification for not consigning them to the paper bin. During one for my regular sweeps through my archives of detritus the other day, I came across a copy of the sheet music for the song "For You Alone". I don't play the piano, nor the violin. There is a United Nations Resolution on file somewhere that has banned me from singing within 100 metres of another living person. And even if I had the voice of an angel and the instrumental skills of a Paganini, I would not choose to perform "For You Alone". Its tune is forgettable and its lyrics are best forgotten. The best that could happen to it is to - and here I quote the lyrics - "let it flame before thy shrine".

And yet I keep it, for what it lacks in musicality it makes up for in memories. The song was made famous by Signor Caruso (you can hear him sing it on YouTube, but its hardly worth the WiFi time). More importantly the music was signed by my uncle, Harry Moore. I can have a photo of Uncle Harry at the piano if I want to, but today I choose some of his sheet music. For me, alone.

This is a Sepia Saturday Post. See more interpretations of the tune by visiting the Sepia Saturday Blog