Beth Slater Whitson: Difference between revisions

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[[File:LetMeCallYouSweethartWF.jpg|thumb|Beth Slater Whitson on the cover of [[Let Me Call You Sweetheart]]]]

'''Beth Slater Whitson''' (December 1, 1879 &ndash; April 26, 1930) was an [[United States|American]] [[lyricist]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Beth Slater Whitson (1879-1930)|url=https://chapter16.org/beth-slater-whitson-1879-1930/|website=chapter16.org|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-05}}</ref> She was born on December 1, 1879, in [[Goodrich, Tennessee]] and died on April 26, 1930.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Music|url=http://1900to1919.weebly.com/music.html|access-date=2021-05-27|website=1910-1919}}</ref> She was the daughter of John H. Whitson and Anna Slater Whitson. She was the daughter of John H. Whitson and Anna Slater Whitson<ref>{{Cite web|title=Music|url=http://1900to1919.weebly.com/music.html|access-date=2021-05-27|website=1910-1919}}</ref>. Her Father was the Co- Editor of the Hickman Pioneer Newspaper. Whitson began her songwriting in Hickman country. In 1913 Whitson and her family moved to Nashville where she and sister Alice continued to write and publish, Beth’s local biographer, Grace Baxter Thompson, remarked at the dedication of a state historical marker to Whitson’s career in 1978: “She gave beauty and color and enjoyment to her community from which those qualities have been far-reaching and long-lasting”<ref>{{Cite web|title=Beth Slater Whitson (1879-1930)|url=https://chapter16.org/beth-slater-whitson-1879-1930/|access-date=2021-05-27|website=chapter16.org|language=en-US}}</ref>. She composed lyrics to over 400 songs,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Beth Slater Whitson|url=https://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entries/beth-slater-whitson/|last=Randal Rust|website=Tennessee Encyclopedia|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-05}}</ref> and is best remembered for the songs "[[Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland]]" (1909) and "[[Let Me Call You Sweetheart]]" (1910),<ref>{{Cite web|title=Beth Slater Whitson|url=https://www.discogs.com/artist/736354-Beth-Slater-Whitson|website=Discogs|language=en|access-date=2020-05-05}}</ref> both becoming one of the largest selling songs in [[sheet music]].Her first major hit [[Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland]] really became known in 1949 when it was featured in the movie [[In the Good Old Summertime]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=Music|url=http://1900to1919.weebly.com/music.html|access-date=2021-05-27|website=1910-1919}}</ref> She wrote the words to her songs but got someone else to write the music.