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Footprints in the Snow/ Harry Wright
Minstrel/Bluegrass Song. The song has been composed many times! It was first composed by J. Henry Whittemore; words by J. B. Murphy [1866]; then words and music by Harry Wright in 1880's; then Jackson (words) and Bennett (Music) 1886; and lastly words and music by James W. Morse published in Jersey City, 1899.The bluegrass versions are slightly different too!
ARTIST: Words and music by Harry Wright in 1880's;
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes DATE: 1866 (1931- First Recorded)
RECORDING INFO: Earnest Branch and His West Virginia ramblers 1931; Red Foley recorded it circa March 1934 and Cliff Carlisle in July 1939. Monroe recorded it in February 1945. Columbia CS 1065, Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys - "16 All-Time Greatest Hits" (1). Folkways FA 2355, Clint Howard & Fred Price - "Old-Time Music at Clarence Ashley's" (1961). Old Homestead OHCS 141, Bernice Coleman & the West Virginia Ramblers - "West Virginia Hills: Early Recordings from West Virginia" (1982. Reissue). Old Homestead OHCS 314, "Bradley Kincaid, Vol. 1" (1984. Reissue). Vanguard 107/8, Doc Watson, Clint Howard & Fred Price - "Old Timey Concert" (1987).
OTHER NAMES: Little Foot Prints; Related Melody- "Little Stream of Whiskey."
SOURCES:Mudcat Discussion Forum; Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc; Country Music Sources;
NOTES: "Words and Music by Harry Wright in 1880's; Jackson (words) and Bennett (Music) 1886" (Meade). "Footprints in the Snow" was popularized by mandolin player Bill Monroe and band (1945 recording). It has been a bluegrass standard for years. Christopher C. King, in his notes to "Old-Time Music in West Virginia, Vol 2" (County CD 3519), reports that the first recording of "Footprints in the Snow" was under the title "Little Foot Prints," by the West Virginia Ramblers in June, 1931 (the Ramblers were guitarist Roy Harvey, fiddler Jess Johnson, fiddler Bernice Coleman, and banjo player and singer Ernest Branch). Cliff Carlisle covered the song in 1939, and finally Bill Monroe recorded it with the altered title "Footprints in the Snow." The tune is similar, especially in the beginning, to "Little Stream of Whiskey." (Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc).
LYRICS:
FOOTPRINTS IN THE SNOW (Harry Wright- 1880s)
Some lovers like the summertime, when they can stroll about,
Spooning in the meadows may be grand without a doubt,
But give to me the wintertime, for the girl I have made mine,
Was captured while the snow was on the ground.
Chorus:
I traced her little footprints in the snow,
I traced her little footprints in the snow,
I bless that winter's day, when Nellie lost her way,
And I traced her little footprints in the snow.
I called to see the girl I loved one winter's afternoon,
But she had gone out walking, they informed me very soon,
They said she'd strolled away, but where they could not say,
So I started off to find her in the snow.
Chorus.
I saw her little footprint just outside the cottage door,
I traced it down a country lane, I traced it to the moor,
I found she'd lost her way; there she stood in blank dismay,
Not knowing where to steer for in the snow.
Chorus.
I called her, she saw me, and as we were walking home,
She promised me that never more without me she would roam,
I'm happy now for life, for her I've made my wife,
Whose footprints I traced plainly in the snow.
Chorus:
I traced her little footprints in the snow,
I traced her little footprints in the snow,
I bless that winter's day, when Nellie lost her way,
And I traced her little footprints in the snow.
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