My grandpa played this song on his old record player to me and my cousins when we were about 8 and for some reason we thought it was the funniest thing ever (I think because of the simple rhymes) and sang the chorus over and over again that trip. Good memories.
The lyrics were written by Gus Kahn and the music was by Harry M. Woods in 1927. Here's the interesting bit. Harry M. Woods composed this and many other songs on piano even though he had no fingers on his left hand. If that's not an inspiration to budding musicians then I don't know what is. Source - Wikipedia.
I remember singing this song my mom taught me with my two brothers and sister, as she drive us around, wherever we were going. My father left when I was three (never saw him again), she raised us alone. We were poor and for many years didn't even own a car. Now, sixty-one (61), I reflect on those simple days and take great pride in having had such a mother.
My father, an ex-vaudevillian who had been part of a rapid-fire, precision tap act, taught me the basic steps of the soft shoe, while singing this song -- we didn't have "Victrola." I've never heard a second chorus before. Because I was used as a weapon in my mother's unhappiness with him, these are the only good memories I have of him, though I later became a dancer myself. This recording carries my back 70 years.
Lyrics of 'Side By Side' written by Gus Kahn with music by Henry MacGregor (Harry) Woods 1927
See that sun in the morning peeking over the hill
I'll bet you’re sure it always has, and sure it always will
That's how I feel about someone, how somebody feels about me
We're sure we love each other, that's the way we’ll always be
Oh we ain't got a barrel of money
Maybe we're ragged and funny
But we'll travel along, singing a song, side by side
Don't know what's coming tomorrow
Maybe it's trouble and sorrow
But we'll travel the road sharing our load, side by side
Through all kinds of weather, what if the sky would fall
Just as long, as we're together, it doesn't matter at all
When they've all had their quarrels and parted
We'll be the same as we started
Just traveling along singing a song, side by side
Every time that I started to travel, and when I’m hittin’ the gravel
There’s one pal who’ll be always with me, side by side
Now it isn’t a gal or a fella, but I’m all ready to tell ya
That things are okay just as long as we stray side by side
Other pals may shake me when my money’s all gone
But this pal will make me keep carryin’ on
And when I see trouble a’coming
On my guitar I start strumming
And that’s how we lose all of the blues, side by side
My mother, who I had to place in a nursing home in early 2011 after a terminal cancer diagnosis, made a reference to this song during her ten months of hospice. She passed away on Christmas Eve 2011. Thank you SO MUCH for posting this. RIP Jane Olson, 1927 - 2011.
