Tin Pan Alley and Broadway, 1910s and 1920s (2)

Albert von Tilzer was a contemporary of Joseph E. Howard and an equally successful song writer, known best now for "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."  "Down Where the Swanee Flows" (1916) is typical of a sentimental strain of "Southern songs" that, yes, does go back as far as Stephen Foster in the mid-19th century. Link to the sheet music on the Lester Levy Collection website: link.

The design of the chorus is 32 bars, but what I am tempted to call "through-composed" -- that is, every eight-bar unit is different, so ABCD (most certainly not the stereotypical AABA). The opening defines two spaces, Eb4-Bb4 and Bb4 (here, C5)-Eb5. The lower of the two predominates throughout, which permits reading Bb4 (or ^5) as a focal tone and the progression to the cadence in the final 8-bar unit both clear and simple (second example below).

(Chorus ending)