Rosabelle

One of my favorite things about Harry Houdini was how much he hated spiritualness

He busted 'em every chance he got

And he made a promise to the world

If there were a life after death

If people could come back from the dead he, Harry Houdini, would do it

He would come back to his wife Bess and he would call her Rosabelle

Rosabelle was Harry's pet name for Bess

From this song they sang the first time they appeared on stage together

There was a maiden sweet Rosabelle, the fairest of all that I know

All the beauties of heaven and the riches here below cannot compare with this innocent

Angel of home I shall tell

List to the tale of my first love, sweet Rosabelle

Rosie, sweet Rosabelle

I love her more than now I can tell

For me she casts a spell

My charming black-eyed sweet Rosabelle

Most biographies of Harry Houdini will tell you that Harry called Bess Rosabelle

They'll also tell you that it's from a song but that's about all they know

A friend of ours, Theresa, decided to find out what song it was

She went through the Smithsonian, the Library of Congress, digging around for days and finally in a box marked 1890's she found a piece of sheet music - Rosabelle

She faxed it to the 'Penn and Teller' office in Las Vegas and Teller and I got all excited

We could use this in a show

We read the first verse - a love song and then we read the second verse

't was on a cold winter's evening

I heard a fate cry at my door

Just a well, just a something that I never heard before

There on the steps lay a baby

My heart at once seemed to swell

I took it in and I named it sweet Rosabelle

Rosie, sweet Rosabelle

I love her more than now I can tell

For me she casts a spell

My charming black-eyed sweet Rosabelle

Ok, so it's not a traditional love song

It's a lovesong to an adopted child

That's okay, that's fine

We could use that, we could use that

Harry called Bess Rosabelle from this song

What does mean that the song had to be interpreted literally

It's just many adults call their lovers baby and the song was popular and they'd sung it together on stage and that's fine and and we looked it over and turned the page

And then we read the third verse

And well, we decided that we just couldn't use it

Often we speak of the incident that cold winter's night long ago when I first loved the baby

I know how it seemed to grow

I loved the child in the littleness

I then loved the woman, as well

She gave her hand, soon I'll marry, sweet Rosabelle

Rosie, sweet Rosabelle

I love her more than now I can tell

For me she casts a spell

My charming black-eyed sweet Rosabelle