Foster's works feature many dead young women, including his sister Charlotte[3] and "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair".

[2] Helen Lightner writes, "This sentimental ballad is folk-like in character with its repetitious but lovely melody and its basic harmonic accompaniment ...

Beautiful dreamer, wake unto me, Starlight and dewdrops are waiting for thee; Sounds of the rude world, heard in the day, Lull'd by the moonlight have all passed away!

Beautiful dreamer, out on the sea, Mermaids are chanting the wild lorelei; Over the streamlet vapors are borne, Waiting to fade at the bright coming morn.

According to the 1991 DVD, 'Gentleman Jim Reeves - The Story of a Legend', the US singer recorded the song while on tour in South Africa in 1962, sung in Afrikaans under the title "Bolandse Nooientjie".

Gerry Goffin and Jack Keller wrote a doo-wop version for Tony Orlando[8] which took considerable liberties with the original; the opening quatrain, for instance is "Beautiful Dreamer/Wake unto me/Can't you see me, baby/I'm on my bended knee."

[13] The tune is a motif in the 1947 film The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, where Rosalind van Hoorn (Virginia Mayo) plays it at key points.

[citation needed] In Young Frankenstein (1974), the song is referenced, when the ghoulish Igor (Marty Feldman), hears a shrill and anguished female wail from a remote dungeon, he smiles and (almost) sings "Beautiful screamer...".

A cover version of the song with lyrics written by Rafael Jaime and titled Brave Angel is prominently featured in the final scene of the 2024 live-action Mexican independent short film Mi Hermano Lobo (My Brother Wolf).

[15][16][17] It is used as a hopeful and uplifting lullaby and performed by Mowgli (Héctor Mateo García Díaz Infante) to comfort his young protégé Rafael (Jorge Luis Jiménez Avilés).