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Bury Me Beneath The Willow/ Weeping Willow Tree
Traditional Old-Time Bluegrass Song; Widely Know
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes.
ARTIST: Richard Matteson/Bluegrass Messengers C 2008; See Bluegrass Messengers live on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAUCTLXbm5U
Learn on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tshjEAGnMWY
TAB for Youtube video:
DATE: 1800’s. 1909 Collected by Belden as "Under the Willow Tree" (2 texts)
OTHER NAMES: "Weeping Willow Tree;" "Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow"
RECORDING INFO:
Burnett & Rutherford, "Weeping Willow Tree" (Columbia 15113-D, 1926; on BurnRuth01)
Carter Family, "Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow" (Victor 21074, 1927; Bluebird B-6053, 1935)
Jim Cole & his Tennessee Mountaineers, "Bury Me Beneath the Willow" (Crown 3122, 1931)
Delmore Brothers, "Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow" (Bluebird B-7741, 1938)
Red Foley & the Andrews Sisters (!), "Bury Me Beneath the Willow" (Decca 29222, 1947)
Kelly Harrell, "Beneath the Weeping Willow Tree" (Victor 20535, 1925; on KHarrell01)
Asa Martin, "Bury Me 'neath the Weeping Willow" (Royal [Canada] 91402, 1932)
Lester McFarland & Robert Gardner, "Weeping Willow Tree" (Brunswick 199, 1928; rec. 1927)
Monroe Brothers, "Weeping Willow Tree" (Bluebird B-7093, 1937)
Holland Puckett, "Weeping Willow Tree" (Champion 15334/Supertone 9243, 1928)
Riley Puckett, "Bury Me 'Neath the Willow Tree" (Bluebird B-6348, 1936)
Red Fox Chasers, "Weeping Willow Tree" (Supertone 9322, 1929)
Lookout Mountain Revelers, "Bury Me Beneath the Willow" (Paramount 3143, 1928)
Almeda Riddle, "Bury Me Beneath the Willow" (on LomaxCD1707)
Shelton & Fox, "Bury Me Beneath the Willow" (Decca 5184, 1936)
Ernest V. Stoneman, "Bury Me Beneath the Weeping Willow" (CYL: Edison [BA] 5187, n.d.) (Edison 51909, 1927)
Ernest Thompson, "Weeping Willow Tree" (Columbia 15001-D, 1924)
Henry Whitter, "The Weeping Willow Tree" (OKeh 40187, 1924) (OKeh 45046 [as "Go Bury Me Beneath the Weeping Willow"], 1926)
SAME TUNE: Carter Family, "Answer to Weeping Willow" (Decca 5234, 1936)
SOURCES: Lyrics from Belden; Carter Family; Mudcat Discussion Forum; Folk Index
NOTES: Bury Me Beneath the Willow origin
Old-time and bluegrass song. Date: [Henry Marvin Belden (1865-1954) was a native of Connecticut, received his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University, studied a year at the University of Strassburg, and taught a year at the University of Nebraska. In the fall of 1895, he came to the University of Missouri in Columbia as an assistant professor of English. In January of 1903, a club was organized on campus (later called the English Club) which marked the organizational beginning of the Missouri Folklore Society. Belden attended these meetings and was an active member. One of the activities of this club was to collect folksongs and ballads of Missouri, and these first efforts were published by Belden in his 1906 article, "Old country ballads in Missouri," in the Journal of American Folk-Lore, (July-September, 1906).]
Meade's earliest printed citation for this is Sandburg's 'American Songbag' (1927), the same year as the Carter Family's recording and 4 years after the first recording by Henry Whitter in 1923. Other recordings earlier than the Carters were: Ernest Thompson (1924), George Reneau (1925), Kelly Harrell (1926), Ernest Stoneman (1926), Burnett & Rutherford (1926) and Holland Puckett (1927). [Info from Meade et alia 'Country Music Sources' p 197.
From the song notes by Charles K. Wolfe in the book included with the Bear Family Box Set: Bury Me Under The Weeping Willow was a song both Sara and Maybelle had known since childhood. Like many mountain songs, it was probably based on a 19th century parlor song though nobody has yet been able to identify an exact source.
During a 1970's interview, Charles K. Wolfe asked Mother Maybelle Carter about the song, "Bury Me Beneath The Willow." She replied, " That was a song we had sang all our lives. We first heard the song at a family get-together and decided to learn it. We did learn the words and sang it at all our family parties and get-togethers. The song became quite popular so when we recorded for RCA Victor in 1927--we recorded "Bury Me Beneath The Willow " on our first recording session in Bristol , Tennessee . The original version of the song was written by Bradley Kincaid."
Article by Richard L. Matteson Jr. Appeared Dec. 2008 in Bluegrass Now
Bury Me Beneath the Willow By Richard L. Matteson Jr.
One of the standard songs in the bluegrass repertoire is "Bury Me Beneath the Willow." The willow is an ancient symbol of unrequited love. If you like the Alison Krauss you can watch her play the song with Tony Rice, Alison Krauss, David Grisman, JD Crowe, and Mark Schatz live on Utube.
Recent bluegrass recordings include The Stanley Brothers and The Kingston Trio in the 1960s; Wally Bryson and the Blaylock Brothers in the 1970s and Ricky Skaggs and Tony Rice recorded the song for Sugar Hill in 1980. Bill Clifton, Nashville Brigade, and Ralph Smith all have recordings out. Of course the Father of Bluegrass, Bill Monroe, recorded the song with his brother Charlie in 1937. It’s a song my group, The Bluegrass Messengers, played and a song that I included in my 2006 Mel Bay book, Bluegrass Picker’s Tunebook.
"Bury Me Beneath the Willow" became a popular Country Music (called hillbilly music back then) song in the late 1920s from Bradley Kincaid singing it on the WLS Barn Dance and the Carter Family’s classic 1927 recording for Victor. Before 1940 there were 24 different hillbilly/country artists who recorded the song as “Weeping Willow Tree” or "Bury Me Beneath the Willow." There were two answers to the weeping willow songs; one by the Carter Family and the other by McFarland and Garner.
Many of the early Country Music groups are called old-time string band groups today. When the Country Music record boom started in the 1922-1923, one of the first songs recorded was Henry Whitter’s "The Weeping Willow Tree" on OKeh 40187, in 1924. Hailing from Fries, Virginia, mill worker turned musician Henry Whitter (April 6, 1892- November 17, 1941) was one the first Country vocalists to record songs on a commercial label. His friend Kelly Harrell recorded the song as "Beneath the Weeping Willow Tree" for Victor 20535 in 1925. Ernest V. Stoneman also knew Whitter and did work in the mill area. His "Bury Me Beneath the Weeping Willow" was recorded on Edison 51909 in 1927. The extent of influence the “Whitter and friends” mill recordings had on other recordings is not known.
Over in Kentucky Blind Dick Burnett & Rutherford recorded “Weeping Willow Tree" for Columbia in 1926. In 1931 Jim Cole & his Tennessee Mountaineers, recorded the song, then Asa Martin in 1932. The list goes on including Riley Puckett, The Delmore Brothers and later the Lilly Brothers.
This ballad was popularized on record mainly by the Carter Family who recorded it on Victor 21074 in 1927; and later on Bluebird B-6053 in 1935. They also recorded a remake of the song, "Answer to Weeping Willow," on Decca 5234 in 1936.
Mother Maybelle Carter said this about the song, "That was a song we had sang all our lives. We first heard the song at a family get-together and decided to learn it. We did learn the words and sang it at all our family parties and get-togethers. The song became quite popular so when we recorded for RCA Victor in 1927--we recorded "Bury Me Beneath The Willow " on our first recording session in Bristol , Tennessee. The original version of the song was written by Bradley Kincaid."
The Carters may have used Kincaid’s version but clearly he didn’t write it. He just collected it and sang it on the WLS National Barn Dance. Here are the lyrics by the Carter Family/ Bradley Kincaid:
Bury Me Beneath the Willow- Carter Family
My heart is sad and I'm in sorrow
For the only one I love
When will I see him, no, no, never
Till I meet him in heaven above.
CHORUS: Then bury me beneath the willow
Beneath the weeping willow tree
Where he may know where I am sleeping
And perhaps he will weep for me.
He told me that he dearly loved me
How could I believe him untrue
Until an angel softly whispered
He has proven untrue to you. CHORUS:
Tomorrow was their wedding day
But alas, oh, where can he be
He's gone, he's gone to wed another
And he no longer cares for me. CHORUS:
Unlike many songs with radically different verses the theme has remained constant indicating the song probably came from a single source: a parlor song from the 1800s. This is the plot of the song as told by a woman singer: Her lover has abandoned her. Tomorrow was to be their wedding day, but now he is courting another girl. An angel softly whispers that he has been untrue and he no longer cares for her. The singer asks her friends to "bury me beneath the willow... And when he knows that I am sleeping, maybe then he'll think of me."
Belden collected the first versions of “Bury Me,” both a woman’s and man’s version, in 1909. Henry Marvin Belden (1865-1954) was a native of Connecticut, he came to the University of in the fall of 1895 as an assistant professor of English. In January of 1903, a club was organized on campus, which marked the organizational beginning of the Missouri Folklore Society. Belden attended these meetings and was an active member. One of the activities of this club was to collect folksongs and ballads of Missouri, and these first efforts were published by Belden in his 1906 article, "Old country ballads in Missouri," in the Journal of American Folk-Lore, (July-September, 1906).
The Missouri Folk-Lore Society was officially organized on December 15, 1906, "to encourage the collection, preservation and study of folklore in the widest sense, including customs, institutions, beliefs, signs, legends, language, literature, musical arts, and folk arts and crafts of all ethnic groups throughout the State of Missouri." Belden was the club's secretary and he actively promoted the Society while continuing his research, publication, and collecting of ballads. In 1910 and 1911 he was elected president of the American Folk-Lore Society. He finally published: Ballads and Songs Collected by the Missouri Folk-lore Society, edited by H. M. Belden. Columbia: The University of Missouri in 1940. A new edition of this work was published in 1955, with a reprinting in 1973.
UNDER THE WILLOW TREE (Belden A)
MS Ballad book of Ada Belle Cowden, Boone Co., Belden version A, p. 483, H. M. Belden, Ballads and Songs Collected by the Missouri Folk-Lore Society.
My heart is broken, I am in sorrow
For the only one I love.
I ne'er shall see his face again
Unless we meet in heaven above.
Chorus: Then bury me beneath the willow,
Beneath the weeping willow tree,
And when he knows that I am sleeping
Then perhaps he'll come and weep for me.
They told me that he did not love me;
But how could I believe them true
Until an angel came and whispered,
'He will prove untrue'?
Tomorrow was to be my wedding day;
But gone! oh, gone! oh, where is he?
He's gone to wed another bride
And all alone he has left me.
UNDER THE WILLOW TREE (Belden B)
Secured in 1909. Role of sexes reversed.Version B, H. M. Belden, Ballads and Songs Collected by the Missouri Folk-Lore Society, p. 483.
My heart is broken, I am sorry,
Over the one that I love.
I know that I shall never see her
Unless we meet in heaven above.
Chorus: Bury me beneath the willow,
Beneath the weeping willow tree,
And when she knows that I am sleeping
Perhaps she'll sometimes think of me.
Once she told me that she loved me;
How could I think her untrue
Until an angel whispered softly,
'Oh, she does not care for you'?
Tomorrow is our wedding day.
Where, oh, where is she?
She's gone to love another fellow.
Oh, she does not care for me.
Other folk collectors found early versions including Sandburg who published "Bury Me Beneath the Willow" in the 1927 American Songbag. Richardson (American Mountain Songs, 1927, p. 56) found this piece in the Southern Appalachians. Randolph and Brown found several versions each. Folk versions were also recorded by Bascom Lamar Lunsford, Jean Ritchie, Almeda Riddle, The Weavers and Woody Guthrie.
No one has yet found the parlor song that “Bury Me” is based on. There are similar songs like Stephen Foster’s “Under the Weeping Willow” and his 1863 “Bury Me in the Morning Mother.”
There are many songs from England in the Bodleian Collection titled “Weeping Willow Tree.”
The origin is still a mystery.
“Bury Me” has become one of my favorite bluegrass songs and inspired me to do a painting.
The setting is a lake in the Appalachian Mountains. A single weeping willow tree shrouds a grave. In my song it is the man that is forsaken and “died for love.” His untrue former love returns to his graveside to pay her respects. On the grave a turtledove watches as she kneels holding several white lilies. The lyrics appear on a gravestone in the left foreground. Above in the clouds an angel whispers to him that his love has been untrue. In the right upper corner the lovers meet again in Heaven.
Here are the lyrics I sing. The first verse is used as the CHORUS; the chords are standard:
Bury Me Beneath the Willow- Arranged by Richard Matteson
G G C C
Bury me beneath the willow,
G G D D
Under the weeping willow tree.
G G C C
When she hears that I am sleeping,
G D G G
Maybe then she’ll weep for me.
My heart is sad and I'm in sorrow,
For the only one I love.
When will I see her, no, no, never,
Till we meet in heav’n above.
Tomorrow was to be our wedding,
But, Lord, where can she be?
She’s gone, she’s gone to court another,
She no longer cares for me.
She told me that she dearly loved me,
How could she be untrue.
Until an angel softly whispered,
She no longer cares for you.
Place on my grave a snow-white lily,
And on my tomb a turtle dove,
So if she sometimes comes to see me,
She will know I died for love.
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