When Ives published this song in the collection of 114 Songs he dated it 1921, though records indicate that first work on the song goes back to 1911, when Ives seemed on the verge of possible discovery by conductor Gustav Mahler, who took the score of Ives' Third Symphony back to Europe with him on his final trip home.

"The Last Leader" is a setting of words by Oliver Wendell Holmes. It is one of Ives' visionary pieces. Specifically, it pictures the writer sitting beneath a tree and stirring memories by reviewing his own works. The author's child soothes the sadness of unfulfilled ambitions by resting his head on his father's "careworn cheek."

The tempo of the song is slow. It begins with the vocal line being placed between a stream of open fifths in the treble and a held open fifth pedal in the bass, a mysterious and ancient-sounding texture. The harmonies thicken and wander among possible tonalities as the poet's thoughts become more negative.. When the child comes to soothe his father the harmonies remain equally mysterious. All this time, the rhythms have been flexible. Now, the bass line turns into arpeggios and the pulse of the piece speeds up and slows down from nine, to twelve, to ten, to eight, and finally to six beats in measures of equal duration.

This accompaniment is consistently dreamy and the loudness level of the song never rises above piano. It finally dies away like a banished care.

© All Music Guide