Love Me and the World Is Mine is an American ballad published in 1906 with music by Ernest R. Ball, and lyrics by Dave Reed Jr. The original recordings from the 1900s by various singers are now in the public domain (United States) per the Music Modernization Act.
This ballad was first introduced at Proctor's 5th Avenue (New York City) in 1906 during a Vaudeville performance. Featuring Ernest Ball's second wife Maude Lambert as the singer, the song was a huge success, and went on to sell a million record copies. M. Witmark & Sons took note of the song's popularity and decided to elevate Ball under a twenty-year contract as staff composer. It was further popularized from recordings by leading singers/groups of the time later that same year (1906). Canadian singer Henry Burr had a hit recording of the song, Albert Campbell's version topped the charts for 8 weeks, and Harry Anthony's for a week. The song was later revived by the Haydn Quartet in 1908. Love Me and the World Is Mine has since been used in several movie musicals which include San Francisco (1936), The Strawberry Blonde (1941), Irish Eyes Are Smiling (1944), and The Eddie Cantor Story (1953).. Variety magazine, in a fifty-year commemorative issue, selected Love Me and the World Is Mine for its "Hit Parade of a Half-Century (1905âÂÂ1955)" list for 1906. The song has also "become a favorite" among the quartets of the Barbershop Harmony Society.
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Love Me and the World Is Mine uses common verses while the "unusually short" chorus is set to time. The lyrics used are described by author Don Tyler as "rather antiquated" and gives twould", "Yet lo' dear heart", tis only thee" and "be mine for aye" as examples of this in the song.