Garry Gillard > music > Joan Baez > songs
What follows is a schemozzle. Most of it is from Mudcat - and would probably still be there, but I don't know in which thread.
Wildwood Flower: Carter Family version
Oh I'll twine with my mingles and waving black hair
with the roses so red and the lilies so fair
and the myrtle so bright with the emerald dew
the pale and the leader and eyes look like rue
I will dance I will sing and my life shall be gay
I will charm every heart in its crown I will sway
when I woke from my dreaming my idols was clay
all portion of love had all flown away
Oh he taught me to love him and promised to love
And to cherish me over all others above
How my heart is now wondering no misery can tell
He's left me no warning no words of farewell
Oh he taught me to love him and called me his flower
That's blooming to cheer him through life's dreary hour
Oh I long to see him and regret the dark hour
He's won and neglected this pale wildwood flower
(@ 24 June 1997 this is what GMG thinks Maybelle Carter sings; confirmed 16 May 2004)
============================================================
Wildwood Flower: Joan Baez version
I will twine with my mingles of raven black hair
with the roses so red and the lilies so fair
the myrtle so bright with its emerald hue
and the pale and the leader and eyes look like so blue
I will dance I will sing and my life shall be gay
I will charm every heart in its crown I will sway
I woke from my dream and all idols was clay
and all portions of loving had all flown away
He taught me to love him and promised to love
And cherish me over all others above
My poor heart is wondering no misery can tell
He left me no warning no words of farewell
He taught me to love him and called me his flower
That was blooming to cheer him through life's weary hour
How I long to see him and regret the dark hour
He's gone and neglected his frail wildwood flower
(This is what GMG thinks Joan Baez sings @ 16 May 2004.)
============================================================
I'LL TWINE 'MID THE RINGLETS: "original" version
(Maud Irving and J.P. Webster)
I'll twine 'mid the ringlets of my raven black hair
The lilies so pale and the roses so fair
The myrtle so bright with an emeral hue
And the pale aronatus with eyes of bright blue.
I'll sing and I'll dance, my laugh shall be gay
I'll cease this wild weeping, drive sorrow away.
Tho' my heart is now breaking, he never shall know
That his name made me tremble and my pale cheeks to glow.
I'll think of him never, I'll be wildly gay
I'll charm ev'ry heart, and the crowd I will sway.
I'll live yet to see him regret the dark hour
When he won, then neglected, the frail wildwood flower.
He told me he loved me, and promised to love
Through ill and misfortune, all others above
Another has won him, ah! mis'ry to tell
He left me in silence, no word of farewell.
He taught me to love him, he call'd me his flower
That blossom'd for him all the brighter each hour
But I woke from my dreaming, my idol was clay
My visions of love have all faded away.
Note: Dated 1860. As far as we can tell, this is the original. RG
filename[ WLDWDFL2
play.exe WLDWDFLR
RG
============================================================
WILDWOOD FLOWER
I will twine and will mingle my waving black hair
With the roses so red and the lilies so fair
The myrtle so green of an emerald hue
The pale emanita and violets of blue
Oh he promised to love me, he promised to love
To cherish me always all others above
I woke from my dream and my idol was clay
My passion for loving had vanished away
Oh he taught me to love him, he called me his flower
A blossom to cheer him through life's weary hour
But now he has gone and left him alone
The wild flowers to weep and the wild birds to moan
I'll dance and I'll sing and my life shall be gay
I'll charm every heart in the crowd I survey
Though my heart now is breaking, he shall never know
How his name makes me tremble, my pale cheeks to glow
I'll dance and I'll sing and my life shall be gay
I'll banish this weeping, drive troubles away
I'll live yet to see him, regret this dark hour
When he won and neglected his frail wildwood flower
============================================================
Wildwood Flower
I will twine with my mingles of raven black hair
with the roses so red and the lilies so fair
the myrtle so bright with its emerald hue
the pale amanita and the islip so blue
[The pale and the leader and eyes look so blue*]
he taught me to love him and called me his flower
that was blooming to cheer him through life's weary hour
now my poor heart is wondering no misery can tell
he left me no warning no words of farewell
he taught me to love him and promised to love
and cherish me over all others above
how I long to see him and regret the dark hour
he's gone and neglected his frail wildwood flower
I will dance I will sing and my life shall be gay
I will charm every heart in its crown I will sway
I woke from my dream and all idols was clay
and all portions of loving had all flowed away
*Maybelle Carter sings this, GMG thinks [used to think], on the 1927 recording.
============================================================
WILDWOOD FLOWER
I will twine and will mingle my waving black hair
With the roses so red and the lilies so fair
The myrtle so green of an emerald hue
The pale emanita and violets of blue
Oh he promised to love me, he promised to love
To cherish me always all others above
I woke from my dream and my idol was clay
My passion for loving had vanished away
Oh he taught me to love him, he called me his flower
A blossom to cheer him through life's weary hour
But now he has gone and left him alone
The wild flowers to weep and the wild birds to moan
I'll dance and I'll sing and my life shall be gay
I'll charm every heart in the crowd I survey
Though my heart now is breaking, he shall never know
How his name makes me tremble, my pale cheeks to glow
I'll dance and I'll sing and my life shall be gay
I'll banish this weeping, drive troubles away
I'll live yet to see him, regret this dark hour
When he won and neglected his frail wildwood flower
NOTE: This is, most likely, the winner of the MOST-FOLK-PROCESSED
song award. All it takes is for the original source to mumble a
good tune. RG
@love @plant
filename[ WLDWDFLR
play.exe WLDWDFLR
SF
============================================================
I am posting the following on behalf of Don Duncan, who does not have
Usenet access, but who was the inspiration for this thread.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
FROM: DONALD A. DUNCAN, Cambridge (62726080@eln.attmail.com)
DATE: 22 Apr 97
SUBJECT: The "definitive" WWF (long)
I.
Three cheers for Frank Hamilton, who found "I'll Twine 'Mid the
Ringlets". However, he neglected to include the rest of the note:
"Note: Dated 1860. As far as we can tell, this is the original. RG
(Richard Greenhaus)" I'm going to ask RG for more detail on his source
- e.g. where did he find it, was it published (book or broadside,
location) or collected, and was it American or English?
This may cast some light on "aronatus".
II.
Meanwhile, ck's research is interesting; if the first recording was
the Carter family, did its distribution generate most of the versions
we encounter? The quality of wind-up 78s might account for much of
the variation in the last line of the first verse.
I got to wondering, and leafed through my records. Sure enough, I
have a copy of the original Carter family recording, so I listened to
it myself. If ck had done a little more research, he'd have been less
derogatory toward the "'pale and the leader' version" - that's exactly
what Mother Maybelle sings (or a damn good phonetic approximation)!
So here's my transcription of what the Carter family sang (words which
seem clear but don't seem to make sense are asterisked, underlines
where transcription is questionable) placed against "I'll Twine 'Mid
the Ringlets", with lines rearranged to match (and those not used by
MM at the end):
Mother Maybelle I'll Twine 'Mid the Ringlets
Oh, I'll twine with my mingles I'll twine 'mid the ringlets 1
and waving black hair of my raven black hair
With the roses so red The lilies so pale 1
and the lilies so fair and the roses so fair
And the myrtle so bright The myrtle so bright 1
with the emerald dew with an emerald hue
The _pale an' the leader_ The pale aronatus 1
and _eyes look like rue_. with eyes of bright blue.
Oh I'll dance, I will sing I'll sing and I'll dance, 2
and my *law* shall be gay my laugh shall be gay
I will charm every heart I'll charm every heart, 3
in his *crown* I will sway and the crowd I will sway
When I woke from my dreaming But I woke from my dreaming, 5
my idols was clay my idol was clay
All portion of love My visions of love 5
had all flown away have all faded away.
Oh he taught me to love him He told me he loved me, 4
and promised to love and promised to love
And to cherish me over Through ill and misfortune 4
all others above all others above
How my heart is now wondering Another has won him, 4
no misery can tell ah! mis'ry to tell
He's left me no warning, He's left me in silence, 4
no words of farewell. no word of farewell.
Oh, he taught me to love him He taught me to love him, 5
and called me his flower he call'd me his flower
That was blooming to cheer him That blossom'd for him 5
through life's dreary hour all the brighter each hour
Oh, I long to see him I'll live yet to see him 3
and regret the dark hour regret the dark hour
He's gone and neglected When he won, then neglected 3
this pale wildwood flower. the frail wildwood flower.
3. I'll think of him never,
I'll be wildly gay
2. I'll cease this wild weeping,
drive sorrow away
2. Though my heart is now breaking,
he never shall know
2. That his name made me tremble
and my pale cheeks to glow.
Comments:
1. "pale an' the leader" could be "pale an-the-liter" or something
similar. "An'" is clearly an "n", not an "m", "the" is
definitely "th", and it's definitely an "l" sound and a "t/d" sound.
2. She doesn't sing "blue", she sings "rue" - and the meadow-rues
(whites common, some shading toward purplish brown) and goat's-rue
(yellow) are mountain flowers.
3. "like" might, given her accent and the ending of the previous word
(this is fit in quick), be "black". Normally this wouldn't make
sense, but the purple meadow-rue, identified in the field guide
under brown flowers, might be known as "black rue". This also
opens the possibility that the combination is another word
entirely.
Observations:
1. Mother Maybelle didn't seem to share our preoccupation with the words making sense!
2. It's pretty clear that "Ringlets" is the source of the Carter family version - and it had been folk-processed. Note the phonetic relations between versions: "dew/hue"; "wond'ring/won him"; "gone and/won then"; etc.
3. It's also clear that the Carter family is not the source of all the versions we encounter. Here's the same exercise with the one from "Folksinger's Wordbook":
Folksinger's Wordbook I'll Twine 'Mid the Ringlets
I will twine and will mingle, I'll twine 'mid the ringlets 1
my waving black hair, of my raven black hair
With the roses so red The lilies so pale 1
and the lily so fair. and the roses so fair
The myrtle so green The myrtle so bright 1
of an emerald hue, with an emerald hue
The pale emanita, And the pale aronatus 1
and eyes look like blue. with eyes of bright blue.
Oh he promised to love me, He told me he loved me, 4
he promised to love, and promised to love
To cherish me always, Through ill and misfortune 4
all others above. all others above
I woke from my dream But I woke from my dreaming, 5
and my idol was clay, my idol was clay
My passion for loving My visions of love 5
had vanished away. have all faded away.
Oh, he taught me to love him, He taught me to love him, 5
he called me his flower, he call'd me his flower
A blossom to cheer him That blossom'd for him 5
through life's weary hour. all the brighter each hour
But now he has gone
and left me alone,
The wild flowers to weep,
and the wild birds to moan.
I'll dance and I'll sing, I'll sing and I'll dance, 2
and my life shall be gay my laugh shall be gay
I'll charm every heart I'll charm ev'ry heart 3
in the crowd I survey; and the crowd I will sway
Though my heart now is breaking, Tho' my heart is now breaking 2
he never shall know he never shall know
How his name makes me tremble, That his name made me tremble 2
my pale cheeks to glow. and my pale cheeks to glow.
I'll dance and I'll sing, I'll sing and I'll dance, 2 rpt
and my heart will be gay, my laugh shall be gay
I'll banish this weeping, I'll cease this wild weeping 2
drive troubles away; drive sorrow away
I'll live yet to see him, I'll live yet to see him 3
regret this dark hour, regret the dark hour
When he won and neglected, When he won, then neglected, 3
this frail wildwood flower. the frail wildwood flower.
3. I'll think of him never,
I'll be wildly gay.
4. Another has won him,
ah! mis'ry to tell
4. He left me in silence,
no word of farewell.
So I'm satisfied that we have the original, and I think much of the variation in the first stanza/last line is other people trying to find a substitute for "aronatus" from the things they knew. If that's the case, anything from "amanita" to "islip" could have been used - and are all irrelevant; we might as well continue the tradition and pick what *we're* familiar with.
I'm willing to assume the authors of "Ringlets" knew what they were talking about; I'd suggest the most probable explanation is that "aronatus" fell afoul of reclassification, and is no longer used - a fairly common fate, particularly among plant classifications of that era. If "Ringlets" is British, I haven't a clue, but if it's American, I reason like this: I have never encountered a pale flower with a bright blue center, so I propose we are misinterpreting this - that the *plant* is pale (perhaps only in comparison to the 'emerald' myrtle), and the blue flowers are the "eyes".
I can't help thinking of the "Blue-eyed grasses" - their leaves look like grass, but they have beautiful small dark blue flowers; they are tiny members of the iris family, which is far from obvious (which could make them a candidate for reclassification, but that's piling supposition on supposition).
Or how about this:
BLUE-EYED MARY Snapdragon family Collinsia verna
Note the /bicolored/ flowers (upper lobes white, lower bright blue
[sic]). Rich woods, slopes. S. Wisconsin and e. Iowa east to w.
New York and south to Arkansas, Kentucky, w. Virginia.
---
MYRTLE, if American, usually refers to the periwinkle (which may have a resemblance to the European myrtle). It is a ground cover, spreading by runners (like strawberries), with small (1-2") glossy darkish green ('emerald' isn't a bad description) ovate leaves growing from the stems and in sprays of 4 at the tips (note that the original is "bright", not redundantly "green"). The way it grows makes it particularly good for weaving garlands, and quite attractive. Its flowers are flat 5-petaled, light gray-blue, with a 5-pointed star- shaped cup in the center - which appears darker because it's shaded.
Oddly, "The pale and the leader, with eyes of light/bright blue" can make perfect sense if it is considered to be a *continuing description of the myrtle*! "Pale" as a noun is a stake or picket driven into the ground, used to make enclosures. I have a vague sense that fenceposts are called "pales". Periwinkle (myrtle) has a generic resemblance to a fence in the way it grows. The "pale" would be the node of the periwinkle which sends down roots, the "leader" is a common enough term for the runners, and the "eyes" would be the flowers themselves - grey-blue "disks" with darker centers!
AMARYLLIS scans nicely, and the daffodil family is Amaryllidaceae. However, the flower most commonly called "amaryllis", I think, is the so-called "resurrection plant"; the one in our dining room at the moment has flowers big enough to wear for a hat! AMARANTH is unlikely: "Amaranth Family (Amaranthaceae) - Weedy plants, often with clusters or spikes of inconspicuous flowers subtended by greenish bracts or bractlets that may obscure them." ACONITE is pronounced 'ACK-uh-'night, and doesn't scan; it's also questionable to use a plant whose root, easily confused with horseradish, produces nasty and violent death.
If I were to sing flowers, I'd vote for amaryllis and violets; however, my inclination is to go with the original, and assume that sooner or later we'll learn what "aronatus" refers to.
-DAD
--- Joe Fineman jcf@world.std.com
============================================================
WILDWOOD FLOWER
I will twine and will mingle my waving black hair
With the roses so red and the lilies so fair
The myrtle so green of an emerald hue
The pale emanita and violets of blue
Oh he promised to love me, he promised to love
To cherish me always all others above
I woke from my dream and my idol was clay
My passion for loving had vanished away
Oh he taught me to love him, he called me his flower
A blossom to cheer him through life's weary hour
But now he has gone and left him alone
The wild flowers to weep and the wild birds to moan
I'll dance and I'll sing and my life shall be gay
I'll charm every heart in the crowd I survey
Though my heart now is breaking, he shall never know
How his name makes me tremble, my pale cheeks to glow
I'll dance and I'll sing and my life shall be gay
I'll banish this weeping, drive troubles away
I'll live yet to see him, regret this dark hour
When he won and neglected his frail wildwood flower
NOTE: This is, most likely, the winner of the MOST-FOLK-PROCESSED
song award. All it takes is for the original source to mumble a
good tune. RG
@love @plant
filename[ WLDWDFLR
play.exe WLDWDFLR
SF
The Digital Tradition
The Mudcat Café
============================================================
From: Christin Keck <shecrab@concentric.net>
Newsgroups: rec.music.folk
Subject: Wildwood Flower
Date: Sat, 26 Apr 1997 23:23:01 -0400
Organization: Concentric Internet Services
>>Meanwhile, ck's research is interesting; if the first recording was
>>the Carter family, did its distribution generate most of the versions
>>we encounter?
Yes, it did. Or at least that is what I have so far uncovered.
>> The quality of wind-up 78s might account for much of
>>the variation in the last line of the first verse.
Absolutely! Recordings were not precise, by any means. I think most of
the written versions of the song have been transcribed from one or more
recorded versions. But, uh, 78's didn't wind up--we played ours on an
electric record player.
>>If ck had done a little more research,... he'd.... have been less
>>derogatory toward the "'pale and the leader' version" - that's exactly
>>what Mother Maybelle sings (or a damn good phonetic approximation)!
By the same token, if you had read my "from" line instead of my
initials, you would have seen that my name is Christin--which is of
feminine gender ;-) ! But seriously, I couldn't FIND any more on the
song. I know that Mother Maybelle sounds like she is singing "pale and
the leader", but I don't think she IS. I think she's saying "pale
anthelita" or something like it--no matter how much something SOUNDS
like something else, I don't believe that even Mother M. would have
continued to sing words that made no sense! Of course, I could be
wrong. I had an elderly female relative who INSISTED that an ancester of
hers had had SCRUPULA. She meant scrofula, a type of TB of the lymph
glands in the neck. She also insisted that it was the result of
inbreeding, (a patent absurdity) because another name for scrofula was
"king's evil". Nothing could talk her out of this belief; some people
will hang on to their misconceptions and mispronunciations until they
die, which certainly may be the case with this song, the flowers
mentioned and especially with Mother M.'s version.
All that aside, I think that the very nature of folk music, and
orally passed songs, encourage such differences. And that's fine!
Maybe in another 20 years we'll be singing "...the paid enchilada and
rice is taboo..." or some other such idiotic phrase, and we'll all be
wondering why some poor heartbroken girl is weaving Mexican food into
her hair!
Think how many flower names are only known locally--and how many have
come down thru the ages as something other than how they started:
Dandelion, for instance, comes from Dent de lion (lion's tooth);
jerusalem [artichoke] from 'girasole' (Italian=sunflower) so named
because the plant is a member of the sunflower family. Do you remember
chewing 'sourgrass' as a child? That's what we called sorrel. Others
call it dock. Still others call it yellow clover.
I wouldn't worry about that line in the song. I sing what I think
sounds sensible--others may sing what they wish.
Oh, and by the way: the FIRST line of the Carter version has been
more popularly written down as: "I will twine with my mingles of raven
black hair." Now just what is a 'mingle'? (THIS IS ONLY A RHETORICAL
QUESTION....PLEASE DO NOT ANSWER IT!)
--Ms. Christin k
============================================================
From: dgreen@netaxis.com (belvoir)
Newsgroups: rec.music.folk
Subject: Wildwood Flower (or did you ever try to twine a mushroom?)
Date: 26 Apr 1997 22:09:31 -0400
Organization: Netaxis - Your link to the Internet
all right; you folks are driving me to scholarship. Vance Randolph, in
his masterful collection Ozark Folksongs, dates it at 1860, written by
Maude Irving (words) and J.P. Webster (music). It was recorded by lots of
artists (Stella Buchanan, Harrison Burnette, Anna Pearcy, Jerry and Ethel
Mercer, Gladys McChristian,ohn Mullins, Ollie Gilbert and Ed Stilley, in
addition to the Carter Family, who recorded it four times on four labels,
and made it popular to those who had victrolas and cactus or steel
needles.
In the version Randolph collected,
"I'll twine 'mid the ringlets of my raven black hair
The lilies so pale and the roses so fair
The myrtle so bright with an emerald hue
And the pale arrownetta with eyes of bright blue."
It might be more productive, if less fun, to find out what folks in the
southeast were calling indigenous flowers, than to shift our collective
speculators into overdrive. OR, if someone has some time (sadly, I don't,
because I'm rying to put the finishing touches on the new Digital
Tradition (6500 songs; 3600 tunes) one can always contact the L of C; with
a title, date and credits, they should be able to dig up original words.
============================================================
From: raredance@aol.com (RAREDANCE)
Newsgroups: rec.music.folk
Subject: Re: Query: "Wildwood Flower", stanza 1
Date: 27 Apr 1997 17:27:45 GMT
Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com
This extensive discussion of the flora behind "Wildwood Flower" has been
very interesting. Since nothing, except personal preferences has been
resolved, I will throw a few more petals into the pot. The folk process
can eventually sort this out, and that process does often lead to lyrics
that include nonsense words, with the original long gone. I won't say
which of the previous suggestions or the ones here I prefer, although
some deserve more cosideration than others. The very unusual text cited
previously (copy right Lewis Music), I really do not care for. I have it
in "The Best Bluegrass Songbook -Yet!" (c 1978, Lewis Music) but no
credit is given to the revisionist author. It avoids all the uncommon
plant references by leaving them out.
myrtle - (Vinca minor) was described before as being blue, not green.
That is true for the flowers. However it's primary use is as a viney
ground cover with a deep green color (emerald?), the flowers are
secondary. Since it is viney, it would be quite suitable for braiding
into a a garland or headdress containing other flowers.
Regarding the blue flower, no one has yet mentioned "iris", which sounds
something like islip, maybe. But it is a real flower and carries the
doulbe meaning as part of the eye. Two beautiful little species of iris
grow wild in the mountains and piedmont of the eastern U.S. , the dwarf
iris (Iris verna) and the crested dwarf iris (Iris cristata).
NOw on to the "pale" one. I see amaryllis has just been suggested. The
bulb we are most familiar with is not a wildflower in this country. Here
are some wildflowers that could be fit into the text if one wished to
replace the mushroom. I do not promise that they are equally poetic
a. "pale corydalis" (Corydalis sempervirens) - has pale jpink
flowers and grows in rocky places in eastern woodlands.
b. "pale Amelanchier" (Amelanchier species) - flowers are white to
pale pink. This is a shrub commonly known as shadbush, serviceberry,
sarviceberry, or juneberry.
c. "frail Arethusa" (Arethusa bulbosa - is a pink flowered member of
the orchid family. It is commonly callled, dragon's mouth or swamp pink.
d. "Panax quinquefolius" - OK so it's a mouthful and the odds of
"folk" using such a Latin name are very slim. However, you can fit it in,
and it has one other property that could make it part of the song. A
previous post wondered whether one of the plants had abortion inducing
properties. This plant commonly known as "ginseng" has been coveted for
its supposed aphrodisiac properties and has become rare in the wild due to
over harvesting.
It sure is fun to ponder the unknowable
rich r
============================================================
> Regarding the blue flower, no one has yet mentioned "iris", which sounds
> something like islip, maybe.
Hey--I mentioned it in one of my first posts! Made sense to me.
I have another suggestion, also: "the paling althea and iris so blue"
(or iris of blue).
ALTHEA is another name for Rose of Sharon, a common shrub in this part
of the country (member of the hibiscus family). Flowers are lovely, in
shades of pinksis lavender, and fade as they age to a lighter lavender.
So the 'paling althea' could definitely work! It also sounds a lot like
"the pale and the leader".
Anyhow, I've found the lyric I like for this and probably will sing from
now on. The rest of you are on your own from now on! ;-)
Thanks to everyone who posted--this has been really interesting.
--ck
============================================================
FROM: DONALD A. DUNCAN, Cambridge (62726080@eln.attmail.com)
DATE: 28 Apr 97
SUBJECT: Re: Wildwood Flower
Joe: would you post this? Thanks.
Christin Keck:
> I don't believe that even Mother M. would have continued to sing
> words that made no sense!
> the FIRST line of the Carter version has been more popularly written
> down as: "I will twine with my mingles of raven black hair."
No comment! ;-{) Well, just a little one - on the CF recording I
checked, it's definitely "and waving", not "of raven".
dgreen:
> It might be more productive, if less fun, to find out what folks in
> the southeast were calling indigenous flowers, than to shift our
> collective speculators into overdrive.
Or it might not! Maybe they tried to be true to their sources, too
(especially if the source was someone in the family), at the expense
of making sense. How many thousands of people have sung "pale emanita
and islip so blue", assuming it made sense even though they didn't
recognize the names?
And maybe no one even cared if it made sense to them, as long as it
sounded good - or if it made sense at all! Child himself was
irritated because the majority of his collected versions of "The Two
Sisters" contained the obvious inconsistency of the younger sister
being pushed into the sea, then fetching up at a milldam! And how did
the song evolve, in so many versions, from pipes made from a tree
growing from the grave, which pipes then produced dolorous notes or
words, to opportunistic passers-by performing an impromptu autopsy on
the bloated corpse of a nubile young lady in order to construct
fantastic instruments from her excavated skeleton and hair, which they
then rushed to play for her father? Necromusica to the max!!!
Folk song collecting is paved with missing and borrowed verses,
garbled stories, two songs patched into one (e.g. "Jamie Douglas"),
etc., even to cases like "Broom of the Cowdenknowes", now widely known
as a lyric plaint virtually unrelated to the original(?) complex
ballad!
But just to fill out the listing of possibles: Our local used book
store has had for some time a two-volume index to the flora of North
America - fancy covers, and a contents consisting of hundreds of pages
of typed lists of every known species name, by Order, Family, Genus,
etc. I only checked Vol. II, but it listed "Aranella" in the index,
cross-referenced to "Utricularia", the bladderworts (a dozen species
in Northeast/North Central US): "The small yellow flowers suggest the
snapdragon-like flowers of Butter-and-eggs (Linaria)...."
ck:
> Maybe in another 20 years we'll be singing "...the paid enchilada
> and rice is taboo..."
Cute! How about "The paleomosquito implies Lipton brew"? It would be
an intriguing exercise to phonetically morph an entire verse, then see
if anyone notices when you sing it!!! THAT would puzzle positing
posterititians!
ck:
> Think how many flower names are only known locally [snip] Do you
> remember chewing 'sourgrass' as a child? That's what we called
> sorrel. Others call it dock. Still others call it yellow clover.
And the mint ground-cover with its tiny purple orchid-like flowers;
the field guide identifies it as Gill-O'er-the-Ground, but we knew it
as Creepin' Charlie! For decades I thought my parents made that up,
but last week I was helping a neighbor with her gardening, and she
identified it by the same name (she grew up in Forest Hills & Buffalo,
NY, but has no idea where she picked it up). That would make a nice
obscure reference in a song!
-DAD
============================================================
Albert Yuan wrote:
>
> Can anybody tell me where to get the original lyrics of Carter Family's
> 1928 original recording of Wildwood Flower?
> On some versions there are two words that I can't understand: emanita and
> islip. Can anybody explain to me?
> Thank you very much!
> --
===================================================
For what it's worth, I have in front of me here, a book of sheet music
titled "The Original Carter Family" published by Peer International
Corp. in 1980. (Peer International, of course, is the company Ralph
Peer -- who originally recorded The Carter Family, as well as so many
other early country greats, back in 1927 -- started.)
According to this book, the first verse of Wildwood Flower is:
"Oh, I'll twine with my mingles and waving black hair,
With the roses so red and the lilies so fair,
And the Myrtles so bright with emerald dew,
The pale and the leader and eyes look like blue."
This doesn't seem, on the surface anyway, to really fit together very
well or make sense -- but I'm a city boy. I suspect that someone who
has studied the regional dialects of Appalachia in the first half of the
20th century might be able to provide alternative meanings for "... the
pale and the leader" that would make sense here.
Personally, I always thought the words were ... pale amilita (or some
such local name for a common plant).
In volume 3 of the Reprints from Sing Out! the same lines are written:
"I will twine and will mingle my waving black hair,
With the roses so red and the lilies so fair.
The myrtle so green of an emerald hue,
The pale emanita and eyes look so blue."
Probably the only persons who could really answer this question are June
Carter Cash or one of the other sisters who actually sang with A.P.,
Sarah and Maybelle.
There are many pathways in the folk process.
--
Jack Cullen
West Chatham, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA
Please Reply-To: JJoeJack "at" aol "dot" com
Garry Gillard | New: 19 July, 2021 | Now: 19 July, 2021