Half Way 'Round the World

Bob Nolan
Original copyright: March 19, 1947

This vagrant breeze it came from who knows where?
I whisper, Darling, are you really there?
And then your fingers brush my hair
From halfway ‘round the world.

This flower I found upon a lonely vine
It’s velvet touch compares with only thine
And so your lips are pressed to mine
From halfway ‘round the world.

I promise you the joys we knew will still come true again, Dear.
I promise you and heaven, too, I’ll be with you, till then, Dear,

Each night a prayer I’ll send through open space,
In ev’ry dream I dream - behold your face,
Forever, Dear, in your embrace

Martha Mears introduced Bob Nolan's lovely "Half Way 'Round the World" in her 10-2-4 Ranch radio program on St. Patrick’s Day, 1944. The word "vagrant" in her arrangement (and in the 1st line of the original lead sheet) became "fragrant" on the Sons of the Pioneers’ 1966 RCA recording. Shorthand notes of the original song transcription confirm that "vagrant" was the word Bob intended. He was partial to the word. Indeed, he was partial to the idea. Bob dedicated the song to his brother, Earl, a US Marine Captain who was also half way 'round the world at the time, fighting in the Pacific theatre. (Prairie Prattler Vol 1 No 4 Feb.-April 1944)

Ken Griffis, in his book Hear My Song: The Story of the Celebrated Sons of the Pioneers told us how the song affected Lloyd:

"Needless to say, the song made a lasting impression on both of them and Lloyd was to include it years later in an album of Nolan songs. He would have recorded it sooner, but as he recalled, 'Every time I started to do the song, my voice would break as it reminded me so much of those years I spent apart from my family.'"
(Hear My Song, 1994, p. 35)

Tim Spencer also wrote a song for Lloyd, "The Little Guy Who Looks Like You", when little Wayne Lloyd Perryman was born on October 18, 1944

Lloyd eventually included it in an album of Nolan songs, The Sons of the Pioneers Sing the Songs of Bob Nolan RCA Victor LPM/LSP 3554, 1966 01 19. In 1979 Bob Nolan to Stuart Hamblen in an interview sponsored by KLAC, explained the origin of the song. "O-ho boy! Well, that was written – where I was at that time it was written was just exactly half way around the world from Los Angeles to Michenau, Burma."

The song was registered for copyright on March 19, 1947. No comericial sheet music has been discovered yet.

Half Way ‘Round the World (hand-written sheet music)

SONS OF THE PIONEERS TRANSCRIPTION RECORDINGS

10-2-4 Time radio show, (05) March 17, 1944

Lucky U Ranch radio show (courtesy of Larry Hopper)
- Transcription disc TR-620/621 (December 25, 1952)