"Cordelia Malone" is a novelty song written in 1904 by Billy Jerome and Jean Schwartz, and recorded that same year by popular Irish American singer Billy Murray

Billy Murray (singer)

William Thomas "Billy" Murray was one of the most popular singers in the United States in the early decades of the 20th century...

. The lyrics are a stableboy's first-hand account of his courtship of Cordelia Malone, a "smart

Chic (style)

Chic , meaning 'stylish' or 'smart', is an element of fashion.-Etymology:Chic is a French word, established in English since at least the 1870s...

 Irish girl". Over the course of the song, he describes his seemingly successful efforts to woo Cordelia through use of the then newly invented telephone

Telephone

The telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...

, stating that:

"...Young suitors can all nightly flock 'round the door,
since her sister Bedelia won fame,
but her smiles don't you see,
they are only for me,
so they might as well leave her alone,
cause she seems to rejoice at the sound of my voice
when I sing through the Bell telephone:
"Hello, hello, sweet Cordelia"..."

The name given to Cordelia's sister, 'Bedelia', may be in reference to a popular 1903 song, "Bedelia (I Want to Steal Ye, Bedelia, I Love You So)", also written by Billy Jerome and Jean Schwartz.