> ... it won't be long before anyone will really have an inkling what they
> were talking about. The music is only half of it!

I agree with Craig's comments about the lack of song lyrics on many newer
piano rolls.  Granted, many of the lyrics are not great poetry, and some
are downright absurd, but there is still something missing.  Two of my
favorite old gems are "Say, Young Fella, Where'd You Get That Girl?" and
"My Barney Lies Over the Ocean" (no, not the purple dinosaur).

A piece of our culture is overlooked when the lyrics are omitted.
Song lyrics reflect social and cultural attitudes of the time in the
colloquialisms and slang used.  Old song lyrics also reflect our changing
attitudes.  Do we really feel comfortable singing the original lyrics
to songs such as "Black Bottom" which contain language that would be
considered racist by today's standards?  Fortunately, not all lyrics
contain offensive words.

 [ Many of "those words" weren't offensive _then_, though.  Acceptable
 [ stage_show lyrics varied with the region.  -- Robbie

Lyrics should be included whenever possible.  It would be a shame to lose
a piece of history and culture for convenience's sake.

Happy Holidays,  Joyce Brite

 [ Editors comment:
 [
 [ I don't think it's considered an inconvenience -- it's a big _expense_
 [ for a music roll company.  The machines to make the stencil and mark
 [ the roll are a capital investment of a few thousand dollars.  Although
 [ it takes only a few seconds to ink the paper with the stencil, the ink
 [ must dry before the paper can be wound onto the spool.  This requires
 [ time and space.  I believe that John Malone at PlayRite usually
 [ stenciled the words only on the rolls which he felt would sell at least
 [ 50 copies at competitive prices.  Shorter production runs and "custom
 [ recuts" with words become very expensive.
 [
 [ Robbie Rhodes