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Footprints in the Snow
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 James W. Morse
Published by Adams Music Co., Jersey City, 1899.
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:
LITTLE FOOTPRINTS IN THE SNOW
Words and music by James W. Morse
Published by Adams Music Co., Jersey City, 1899.
1. O'er my sad heart oft comes stealing thoughts of days all free from care,
As I watch the snowflakes falling drifting, floating through the air,
And a flood of tender mem'ries' brings a pang of deepest woe,
And I think of my lost darling's little footprints in the snow.
CHORUS: Little footprints, how I miss them as I tread this vale below!
Nothing opes the gates of mem'ry like the footprints in the snow.
2. And again I seem to hear her childish prattle at the door
As she donned her cloak and mittens in those days that come no more.
Here, alas, our joys are fleeting; sweetest hours so quickly go;
And I gaze with bitter longings on the footprints in the snow. CHORUS
3. Oft in fancy I can see her happy with her doll and sled,
Dimpled cheeks aglow with pleasure, vying with her tippet red.
Swiftly the dread angel sought her and as swiftly laid her low,
For she faded one spring morning like the footprints in the snow.
LAST CHORUS: Little footprints, how I miss them, God and I alone can know.
Nothing here can e'er replace them, little footprints in the snow.
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