|
Maiden’s Prayer, A
Lyrics by Bob Wills; Old-Time, Western Swing; Dance piece.
ARTIST: Bob Wills;
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes; DATE: 1938;
RECORDING INFO: Stoneway 104, Chubby Wise- "Chubby Wise and His Fiddle." MGM MG-2-5303, Bob Wills- "24 Greatest Hits By Bob Wills." Philo 1040, Jay Ungar and Lyn Hardy- "Catskill Mountain Goose Chase." County 772, Bobby Hicks- "Texas Crapshooter." Rhino CD #R2 70744, Bob Wills Anthology (originally recorded 1935). Asleep at the Wheel - "Ride with Bob." Allen, Red; and the Kentuckians. Red Allen and the Kentuckians, County 710, LP (1967), cut#A.03; Ashwell, Glen. 52nd Annual Old Fiddlers Convention Galax, Va 1987, Heritage (Galax) 704, LP (1988), cut# 16; Bryson, Wally; and the Blaylock Brothers. Bluegrass, Davis Unlimited DU 33011, LP (197?), cut#A.05; Cline, Curly Ray. My Little Home in West Virginia, Rebel SLP 1515, LP (1972), cut# 4; Fox, Curly. Champion Fiddler, Vol. 2, Rural Rhythm RR 252, LP (196?), cut# 4; Joyner, Carl. Hot Tarheel Fiddlin', Old Oblivion 00-4, Cas (199?), cut# 18; Kidd, Jimmie. 38th Annual Galax Old Fiddlers Convention, 1973, Gazette 38, LP (1973), cut# 3; Lewis, C. Roger. Kentucky, Lewis, Cas (1996), cut#B.02; Malboeuef, Tommy. Union Grove 50. Old Time Fiddlers Convention, Union Grove SS-9, LP (1974), cut#A.04; Morrison, Richard. Rackensack. Volume 1, Driftwood LP 278, LP (1972), cut#B.05; Ryan, Buck. 30 Fiddlers Greatest Hits, Gusto GT-104, LP (1978), cut# 4; Ryan, Buck. Draggin' the Bow, Rebel SLP 1552, LP (1976), cut# 8; Smathers, Luke; String Band. Mountain Swing, June Appal JA 0024, LP (1977), cut# 5; Taylor, Hollis. Twisted Fiddle, Gleeful GL 003, CD (1991), cut# 5 (Maiden's Dare); Wills, Bob. Fiddle, Country Music Foundation CMF-010-L, LP (1987), cut# 6; Wills, Bob; and the Texas Playboys. Tiffany Transcriptions, Vol. 2. Best of the Tiffanys., Edsel ED 322, LP (1984/1990), cut#B.06; Wise, Chubby (Robert R.). Chubby Wise and his Fiddle, Stoneway STY 104, LP (197?), cut#B.01;
OTHER NAMES: A Maiden’s Prayer;
SOURCES: Red Williams (Dallas, Texas) [Christeson]: Bob Wills (Texas) and Jay Ungar (West Hurley, N.Y.) [Brody]. R.P. Christeson (Old Time Fiddlers Repertory, Vol. 2), 1984; pg. 128. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 182.
NOTES: A Major. Standard. AB (Christeson), One part (Brody). A favorite tune of Texas swing fiddler Bob Will's father, fiddler John Wills, "who would get up early in the morning, around four A.M., and sit out in the front yard to the Wills farm as the dawn crept up off the plains, and play the melody to himself" (Charles Wolfe, The Devil's Box, June 1982, pg. 20). Florida fiddler Chubby Wise (1916-1996) earned a gold record for sales of his recording of the tune, while Wills' 1938 version became the third best-selling country music record for that year.
Twilight falls, evening shadows find,
There ‘neath the stars, a maiden so fair divine.
The moon on high, seemed to see her there,
In her eyes was a light, shining ever so bright,
As she whisper’d a silent prayer.
Ev’ry word revealed an empty broken heart;
Broken by fate that holds them so far apart.
Lonely there she kneels, And tells the stars above.
In her arms he belongs, then her prayer is a song,
Her unending song of love.
|