Love's Old Sweet Song

"Love's Old Sweet Song" is a Victorian parlour song published in 1884 by composer James Lynam Molloy and lyricist Graham Clifton Bingham. The first line of the chorus is "Just a song at twilight", and its title is sometimes misidentified as such. Bingham wrote the lyric of ‘Love’s Old Sweet Song’, after which various composers competed to set it to music. The successful candidate was James Molloy.

It was first sung by Antoinette Sterling at a concert at St. James Hall in London in 1884. James Molloy worked at her house on the melody and accompaniment. The song has been recorded by many artists, including John McCormack and Clara Butt. The song is alluded to in James Joyce's Ulysses as being sung by Molly Bloom.

Arthur Sullivan was accused of using the song’s first two bars for ‘When a merry maiden marries’ in The Gondoliers; he denied it.