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Listen to the Mockingbird
Old-Time and Bluegrass Song: Melody by Richard Milburn. Written and arranged by Septimus Winner[aka Alice Hawthorne] Respectfully dedicated to Aaron R. Dutcher, Esq.
ARTIST: An unknown on-line source;
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes DATE: April 17, 1855;
OTHER NAMES: Listen to the Mockingbird; Mockingbird Schottische; Mocking Bird;
RECORDING INFO: Bluebird 5843, Arthur Smith. Mercury SRM-1-1022, "Vasser Clements." Gusto 104, Fiddlin' Red Herron- "30 Fiddler's Greatest Hits." Briar 4202, The Kentucky Colonels- "Living in the Past." CMH 6237, Paul Warren- "America's Greatest Breakdown Fiddle Player." County 747, Clark Kessinger- "Sweet Bunch of Daisies." Decca 5213 (78 RPM), Curly Fox (1936). Fretless 101, "The Campbell Family: Champion Fiddlers." June Appal 024, Luke Smathers String Band- "Mountain Swing." Rebel 1528, Buck Ryan- "Fiddler on the Rocks." Chubby Wise- "Fiddles Around." Atkins, Chet. Chet Atkins Workshop, RCA (Victor) LSP-2232, LP (1961), cut# 7 (Hot Mocking Bird); Berst, Mike. Favorite American Melodies, Vol. 1, Berst TT 01, Cas (1988), cut# 5; Campbell, Scott. Campbell Family. Champion Fiddlers, Fretless 101, LP (1977), cut#A.13 (Mocking Bird); Cline, Curly Ray. Curly Ray Cline and His Lonesome Pine Fiddle, Melody MLP-17, LP (1970?), cut#A.03 (Mocking Bird); Cox, Gene (Eugene). American Hammer Dulcimer, Troubadour TR-6, LP (1978), cut# 13; Dr. Horsehair's Old Time Minstrels. Old-Time Clawhammer Banjo, Horsehair, Cas (1992), cut# 9; Fox, Curly. Champion Fiddler, Vol. 2, Rural Rhythm RR 252, LP (196?), cut# 8; Golden, Billy; and James Marlowe. Minstrels and Tunesmiths, JEMF 109, LP (1981), cut#A.06; Harman, Bob; and the Blue Ridge Descendants. Music of the Blue Ridge, Galaxie, LP (198?), cut#B.08; Herron, Fiddlin' Red. 30 Fiddlers Greatest Hits, Gusto GT-104, LP (1978), cut# 13; Jenkins, Snuffy; and Pappy Sherrill. Union Grove, The Hub of the Universe, Union Grove SS-4, LP (1970), cut# 16 (Mockingbird); Jenkins, Snuffy; and Pappy Sherrill. Good Time Music. National Folk Festival, Philo 1028, LP (1975), cut#A.06; Jones, Ramona. Lady's Fancy, County 783, LP (1984), cut# 5; Kentucky Colonels. Livin' in the Past, Briar BT 7202, LP (1975), cut#B.08a; Kessinger, Clark. Sweet Bunch of Daisies, County 747, LP, cut# 10 (Mockingbird); Kincaid, Bradley. Mountain Ballads and Old Time Solos. Album Number Six, Bluebonnet BL 123, LP (1963), cut#A.02; Landry, Ned. Best of the Country Fiddlers, RCA Camden CL-50027, LP (196?), cut# 3 (Mockingbird); Lentz, Jerry. More Yodeling, Aljen AJ 101, LP (197?), cut#B.02 (Mocking Bird Fiddle); Pegram, George; and Parham, Red (Walter). Pickin' and Blowin', Riverside RLP 12-60, LP (195?), cut# 14; Rutland, Georgia Slim (Robert Hughes). Raw Fiddle, Kanawha 325, LP (1976), cut# 12 (Mockingbird); Ryan, Buck. Fiddler on the Rocks, Rebel REB 1529, LP (197?), cut# 1; Smathers, Luke; String Band. Mountain Swing, June Appal JA 0024, LP (1977), cut# 11 (Mockingbird); Warren, Paul. America's Greatest Breakdown Fiddle Player, CMH 6237, LP (1979), cut# 8; Yohey, Bill. Tenino Old Time Music Festival. 1975 - 1976 - 1977, Voyager VRLP 321-S, LP (1978), cut#A.04; Bluebird 5843-B (78 RPM), Theron Hale.
SOURCES: In the repertory of Alabama fiddler D. Dix Hollis (1861-1927), who considered it one of "the good old tunes of long ago" (quoted in the Opelika Daily News of April 17, 1926); also played by Buffalo Valley, Pa., region dance fiddler Harry Daddario. Clyde Lloyd (Indiana County, Pa., 1952) [Bayard]. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 269, pg. 227. Gennett 6604 (78 RPM), 1928, the Tweedy Brothers (Harry, Charles and George, from Wheeling, W.Va., who played twin fiddles and piano). Edison 5362 (78 RPM), 1927, John Baltzell {Baltzell was a native of Mt. Vernon, Ohio, the same home town as minstrel Dan Emmett (d. 1904). Emmett returned to the town, poor, in 1888, and later taught Baltzell to play the fiddle}. Brody, 1983; pg. 170. Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; pg. 45. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1965/1981; pg. 72. Read 'Em and Weep, Arco, Sof (1959/1926), p 60; Traditional Music in America, Folklore Associates, Bk (1940/1965), p 45b; Kratzer, Marvin. Learning the Fiddler's Ways, Penn State, Sof (1980), p133
NOTES: A once-popular minstrel song melody by Richard (Whistling Dick) Milburn, a free Philadelphia black composer, arranged with lyrics by Alice Hawthorne (really Septimus Winner) and dedicated to Aaron Dutcher that has been extremely popular as a contest tune among fiddlers. It is heard sometimes as square dances as a singing call.
One of the most popular fiddle tunes in modern history, says musicologist Charles Wolfe (Devil's Box, Dec. 1982), while Bayard (1981) calls it a "universal favorite" with fiddlers. It was popularized on the Grand Ole Opry, WSM in Nashville, Tenn. by Theron Hale, but was composed in 1885 by one "Alice Hawthorne" (really Septimus Winner). In the repertory of Alabama fiddler D. Dix Hollis (1861-1927), who considered it one of "the good old tunes of long ago" (quoted in the Opelika Daily News of April 17, 1926); also played by Buffalo Valley, Pa., region dance fiddler Harry Daddario.
Septimus Winner also wrote "Whispering Hope," "Ten Little Indians," the words to "Where Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone," and a score of other songs. He was twenty-seven years old at the time, a music teacher and the owner of a music store in Philadelphia. Winner was acquainted with a young Negro boy, Dick Milburn (called Whistling Dick), a beggar who collected coins for his whistling and guitar playing on the streets. His whistling often turned to a beautiful imitation of a mocking bird, and this attracted Winner's attention and thought. It gave him an idea for a song and he promptly went to work on it. He finished "Listen to the Mocking Bird," gave Whistling Dick a job in his store, and published the composition in April, 1855, using the pseudonym Alice Hawthorne. Pseudonyms were common practice in those days, for example Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) and Artemus Ward (Charles Browne). Winner chose Hawthorne after his mother's maiden name. He never explained the "Alice" part of it.
Within months this song hit all parts of our nation and people everywhere went wild over it, especially in the South where the mocking bird is a common sight. For years afterwards Southern mothers named their baby girls Hally (or Hallie) after this song. President Abraham Lincoln said of this song "It is as sincere as the laughter of a little girl at play," and King Edward VII of England remarked, "I whistled 'Listen To the Mocking Bird' when I was a little boy."
The song became popular all over Europe and it is estimated that by 1905 total sheet copies sold ran approximately twenty million. This song's immense popularity has struck solidly for over a century. It is truly one of our old-time, all-time song hits. It was adapted by Lyle "Spuds" Murphy as the Three Stooges Theme Song- "Listen To The Mocking Bird" incorporating "Hickory, Dickory Dock."
The song is dedicated to Aaron Dutcher's who lived during this time period. Aaron Dutcher was born in South Amenia, New York on July 7, 1845. He enlisted in Company A, 150th New York Volunteers at the age of 17 and was to serve with that unit for 3 years. He marched with General Sherman’s March to the Sea. He was in the Grand Review in Washington, and was discharged on June 8, 1863. He first married, Julia Horkey, and they were early pioneers in Red Willow County in 1879. He suffered a stroke on Monday, February 28, 1916 and passed away on Saturday, March 4, 1916. He was buried in the Cedar Grove Cemetery, Indianola, Nebraska. No one is sure why the song is dedicated to Dutcher.
Here are the lyrics to “Mocking Bird” from an on-line source:
I'm dreaming now of Hally, sweet Hally, sweet Halley,
I'm dreaming now of Hally,
For the thought of her is one that never dies.
She's sleeping in the valley, the valley.
She's sleeping in the valley
And ther mockingbird is singing where she lies.
CHORUS: Listen to the mockingbird,
Listen to the mockingbird,
The mockingbird is singing o'er her grave,
Listen to the mockingbird,
Listen to the mockingbird,
Still singing where the weeping willow waves,
Ah! well I yet remember, remember, remember,
Ah! Well I yet remember
When we gathered in the cotton by her side.
Twas in September, September, September,
Twas in September, and the mockingbird was singing far and wide.
Chorus...
When the charms of spring awaken, awaken, awaken
When the charms of spring awaken,
And the mockingbird is singing on the bough;
I feel like one forsaken, forsaken, forsaken,
I feel like one forsaken, since my Hally is no longer with me now.
Chorus...
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