"Come Back, Old Pal" | The Canadian Encyclopedia

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"Come Back, Old Pal"

"Come Back, Old Pal" is a waltz ballad, with music and words by Merton Plunkett of the Dumbells. It was sung by Plunkett in the Dumbells' 1922 production Carry On, and was published that year by Leo Feist.

A French-language version, "Reviens, petite amie," prepared by Richard Beaudry, was recorded by the Canadian tenor José Delaquerrière. Two Montreal dance bands, Andy Tipaldi's Melody Kings and the Jazzbo Band, recorded instrumental versions of the song. The American tenors Harold Harvey and Billy Jones recorded it in English. (See listing in Roll Back the Years.) According to Al Plunkett, the Famous Dumbell (New York 1956), the song also enjoyed some currency among English dance bands as late as the 1950s.