The sentimental balladeer Manuel Romain sings, from 1909,
What Might Have Been.
What Might Have Been
Company
Edison's National Phonograph Company
Cylinder #
10098
Category
Sentimental song
Title
What Might Have Been
Performed by
Manuel Romain
Circa
April 1909
Announcement
None
Manuel Romain, for a time the standard-bearer of sentimental songs in Edison's catalogs,
had a powerful, leather-lunged capacity, which he lets loose in this fine song
of a love lost.
A brief note about announcements:
Apparently the word was given at Edison's National Phonograph Company that the traditional
introductory announcement would be omitted from recordings beginning with the January 1909 records
(Columbia Phonograph Company cylinders had dropped most announcements years earlier).
Although there were exceptions, by March 1909 most Edison records no longer carried an announcement.
10098 What Might Have Been
Manuel Romain
A sentimental reverie for high voice, sung in Mr. Romain's characteristic easy manner.
The slow waltz refrain is especially pleasing.
Orchestra accompaniment.
Music, Albert Gumble; words, Dave J. Clark; publishers, Jerome H. Remick & Co., New York.
— February 1909 Edison Phonograph Monthly [announcing the April records]
— This cylinder of the month is from the collection of Stan Stanford —
