[Novelty Songs – World War I – Thomas Edison] Brennan, James A.; Caddigan, Jack

Mister Edison Is Working On It Now. [Sheet Music]

Boston, Massachusetts: Daly Music Publisher Inc., 1917. Four-page sheet music measuring 10 ½ x 13 ½ inches. Worn especially at edges, wrinkled and with a few areas of tape or tape residue covering tears; good. Item #List38101

Sheet music for lyricist Jack Caddigan and composer James Brennan’s 1917 novelty song “Mister Edison Is Working On It Now.” The song expresses that Americans are unworried about the new technology involved in fighting the First World War because “They’re the product of American brains”, and that Edison would soon invent a device to “fool the German submarine.” It also mentions, somewhat incongruously, that Edison has “got a plan / To help the married man / That he’s found how to keep a woman still.” Edison himself was an advocate of preparedness, and had stated that new technology developed for war would soon be destructive beyond imagining.[1] We find six copies in OCLC across different entries. 

[1] “Thomas Edison in World War I,” Thomas Edison National Historical Park, New Jersey, National Park Service, February 26, 2015, https://www.nps.gov/edis/learn/historyculture/thomas-edison-in-world-war-i.htm.

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Price: $125.00