Lyrics questions :Carter Family's Wildwood flower
Albert Yuan
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!
--
Albert Yue Yuan
2376 North Star Rd. Apt# 1B
Columbus, OH 43221
Phone: 614-488-3836(H)
614-292-1367(O)
FAX: 614-488-3836
"How many years must some people exist,
before they're allowed to be free?"
----Bob Dylan
-----------------------------------------------
Peter D Read
These are the lyrics from Digital Tradition:-
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
I have an earlier song on which it appears the Carters based theirs (published
in Dorothy Horstman's great (imho) book Sing Your Heart Out Country Boy):-
: T'LL TWINE 'MID THE RINGLETS
: by Maud Irving and J.P.webster (dated 1860)
: 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 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 promis'd to love
: Through ill and misfortune, all others above
: Another has won him; ah, misery 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.
>On some versions there are two words that I can't understand: emanita and
>islip. Can anybody explain to me?
emanita appears to be a plant name, but I have seen it written as:-
pale amelyter with eyes look like blue,
but I have yet to see anyone specifically identify the plant in question,
tho' I would concur with the above line that what you hear as islip is
eyes look so blue.
It seems then that the Carters base their song on the earlier
Maud Irving/J.P.webster song, but had difficulty in hearing all the words
and substituted what they thought they heard.
Even with the earlier song I have searched in vain for a plant known as
aronatus.
Now if it was Amanita that would be a whole different matter!
Pete Read
Systems Manager
ESSC (Environmental Systems Science Centre)
The University of Reading
Harry Pitt Building
3 Earley Gate
Whiteknights, PO BOX 238
READING RG6 6AL
U.K.
Tel: +44 (0)118 9875123 Ext 4205
Fax: +44 (0)118 9316413
Home Tel: +44 (0)1264 356492
e-mail p...@mail.nerc-essc.ac.uk (preferred)
or p.d....@reading.ac.uk
http://www.nerc-essc.ac.uk
Moireasdac
>It seems then that the Carters base their song on the earlier
>Maud Irving/J.P.webster song, but had difficulty in hearing all the words
>and substituted what they thought they heard.
>Even with the earlier song I have searched in vain for a plant known as
>aronatus.
>Now if it was Amanita that would be a whole different matter!
>
>Pete Read
>Systems Manager
>ESSC (Environmental Systems
Well, the version I heard growing up not that far from the Carter Family's home
was Amanita and Islip so blue and my Grandpartents sang the Maud Irving/J.P.
Webster song " Amanita and the Islip so blue" also I heard the Irving and
Webster song before I heard the Carter song. My Grandmother told me Islip was
a small blue flower that grew on the mountains, I think she said it was a
clinging vine type of flower, maybe the name has changed over the years, I do
know some of our local names were different than names in other areas.
Kirk
To Preserve liberty it is essential that the whole body of the people always
possess arms and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use
them....Richard Henry Lee A free people ought...to be armed G. Washington
Jack Cullen
Albert Yuan wrote:
>
> Can anybody tell me where to get the original lyrics of Carter Family's
> 1928 original recording of Wildwood Flower?
> islip. Can anybody explain to me?
> --
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
In article <35461A...@aol.com>, DougD...@aol.com wrote:
> Albert Yuan wrote:
> > On some versions there are two words that I can't understand: emanita and
> > islip. Can anybody explain to me?
Last time this thread came up (according to my archive) was exactly a year
ago: an annual phenomenon?
Garry
--
gillard[remove_this]@central.murdoch.edu.au http://hum2mac1.murdoch.edu.au/watersons/