>> The first woman to sell a million copies of a song was another trailblazer from Janesville named Carrie Jacobs-Bond. Born in 1862, on a farm just outside of town, she showed an early gift for music. >> She was a child prodigy. From a very young age, it was reported that she could hear a tune once and pick it out even at a pre-school age. >> A touring musician came to town named Blind Tom, who astounded a Janesville audience by instantly memorizing any piece of music he heard. When he finished, someone prodded a young Carrie Jacobs to go up to the piano. >> She was trotted up from the audience and performed. Blind Tom played a tune and she played it back, much to the amazement of everyone. >> She had not only musical ability, but she had what used to be called "a way with words." >> After a failed early marriage, and with few musical opportunities, Carrie Jacobs moved with her son to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with her new husband, Dr. Frank Bond. Dr. Bond was a physician in this iron mining community of Iron River. And in the 1890s, there was a huge financial collapse and the iron mines closed, which left him penniless. >> One winter night, Dr. Bond took a fall on the ice, and was badly injured. When he died five days later, Carrie Jacobs-Bond found herself alone with her son, and only her childhood dream of becoming a songwriter to support them. >> She was 35, he was 12. And that's when she moved to Chicago. >> Jacobs-Bond spent the next seven years in poverty, selling off her furniture, living in one heated room, eating only one meal a day. Battling poor health, she eked out a living painting china, while the pain and tragedy of her life came pouring out in song. All the time of feeling blue... >> She wrote very sentimental music, some of it just oozes sentiment. But this was a period of sentimentality >> She was a composer of poem songs, a composer of heart songs. So many of her early songs are indeed reminiscence of that loss and that sadness that permeated her life at that time. >> At that time, music stores in Janesville, like those in almost every city, sold pianos, organs and sheet music to customers who made their own music. >> Of Course, there was no phonograph, per se. There was no radio. There was no TV. Music making was primarily a domestic activity. It was in the home. >> Peddling sheet music was really a big business, and it was a really serious business. >> Carrie made the tour and the rounds of all the publishers trying to get them interested in her songs, and soon realized, if she was going to be successful as a publisher and get her songs out there, she would have to do it herself. >> Setting up something she called The Bond Shop in her apartment, she sold her sheet music and painted china, and continued to promote her songs. >> She was very persistent. >> As much as she portrayed this poor widow, voice full of tears persona, there was a rod of steel through her. >> A big break came when she approached Jesse Bartlett Davis, the star of the Boston Opera Company, who agreed to help her publish a book called, Seven Songs. I love you truly Truly dear... >> Sales of one of the songs, "I Love You Truly" began to take off. And its popularity as a wedding song would continue for the next 100 years. As her songs started to sell, Jacobs-Bond began touring the country. A sunset in California inspired her to write her biggest-selling song. When you come to the end Of a perfect day... >> For whatever reason, it struck a chord with the public. "End of a Perfect Day" sold 25 million copies. An extraordinary amount for that time. The American success story. Pull yourself up by the bootstraps, succeed against all odds. To do it as a woman, even more remarkable. Truly dear...
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