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There's More Pretty Girls Than One/More Pretty Girls Than One/Bonnie Blue Eyes
Traditional Old-Time song and Fiddle Tune;
ARTIST: From "Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Best of the Vanguard Years".
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes
EARLIEST DATE: 1800s; 1909 (JAFL)
RECORDING INFO: More Pretty Girls Than One [Me II-AA53]
Us - There's More Pretty Girls Than One
Richardson, Larry; & Red Barker & the Blue Ridge Boys. Larry Richardson and the Blue Ridge Boys - with Buddy Pendleton, Old Blue OB 702, CD (2007), trk# 7 [1965]
More Pretty Girls than One - part 3 [Me II-AA53]
Us - There's More Pretty Girls Than One
There's More Pretty Girls Than One [Me II-AA53]
Rt - Goodbye Little Bonnie, Goodbye ; You May Forsake Me
Rm - Lost Love Blues ; Poor Boy
Mf - Goodbye, Little Bonnie, Blue Eyes
Traum, Happy (ed.) / Flat-Pick Country Guitar, Oak, Sof (1973), p 18
Anderson, Casey. More Pretty Girls Than One, Atco 33-166, LP (1964), trk# A.01 (More Pretty Girls Than One)
Boles, Anna Marie. Sorrels, Rosalie (ed.) / Way Out in Idaho, Confluence, Sof (1991), p178 [1980s] (More Pretty Girls Than One)
Brown, Hylo (Frank). Hylo Brown - Early Bluegrass, ACM ACM 06, LP (1970s/1950s), trk# B.09 [1950s]
Byrd, Robert (Senator). Mountain Fiddler, County 769, LP (1978), trk# 3
Dinwiddie, Wayne. Anglo-American Songs and Ballads, Library of Congress AFS L21, LP (196?), trk# A.03 [1941]
Dixon Brothers (Dorsey & Howard). Beyond Black Smoke, Country Turtle CT-6000, LP (198?), trk# B.05 [1938/01/25] (More Pretty Girls Than One)
Elliott, Ramblin' Jack. Jack Elliott, Archive of Folk Music FS-210, LP (1967), trk# A.01 (More Pretty Girls Than One)
Ensign, Bob; and the Stump Jumpers. Mountain Guitar Pickin', Rural Rhythm RRBE 255, LP (1972), trk# A.03 (More Pretty Girls Than One)
Flippen, Benton. Old Times, New Times, Rounder 0326, Cas (1994), trk# 3 [1993] (More Pretty Girls Than One)
Hicks, Captain & Viola. Traditional Music of Beech Mountain, NC, Vol II, Folk Legacy FSA 023, LP (1965), trk# 6 [1961-63] (More Pretty Girls Than One)
Highwoods String Band. Dance All Night, Rounder 0045, LP (1975), trk# 12
Martin, Asa; and the Cumberland Rangers. Dr. Ginger Blue, Rounder 0034, LP (1974), trk# 5
New Lost City Ramblers. Cohen, John, Mike Seeger & Hally Wood / Old Time String Band Songbook, Oak, Sof (1976/1964), p192 (More Pretty Girls Than One)
Poston, Mutt; and the Farm Hands. Hoe Down! Vol. 7. Fiddlin' Mutt Poston and the Farm Hands, Rural Rhythm RRFT 157, LP (197?), trk# A.02 (More Pretty Girls Than One) Rambling Duet. Dixon Brothers. Vol 3, Document DOCD 8048, CD (1999), trk# 11 [1938/01/25] (More Pretty Girls than One - part 3)
Rector, Red; and Fred Smith. Songs from the Heart of the Country, County 721, LP (1969), trk# B.01 (More Pretty Girls Than One)
Richardson, Larry; & Red Barker & the Blue Ridge Boys. Blue Ridge Bluegrass, County 702, LP (196?), trk# 3 (More Pretty Girls Than One)
Round Peak Band. Round Peak Band, Marimac 9044, Cas (1992), trk# B.06 (More Pretty Girls Than One)
Rush, Tom. Tom Rush, Fantasy 24709, LP (1972), trk# 15 (More Pretty Girls Than One)
Skaggs, Ricky; and Tony Rice. Skaggs and Rice, Sugar Hill SH 3711, LP (1980), trk# 3
Smith, Arthur; Trio. Smokey Mountain Ballads, RCA (Victor) LPV-507, LP (1964), trk# 16 [1936/02/17]
Smith, Fiddlin' Arthur; & his Dixieliners. Fiddlin' Arthur Smith and His Dixieliners, Vol 2., County 547, LP (1978), trk# A.04 [1937/02/17]
Talley, James. Woody Guthrie and Songs of My Oklahoma Home, Cimarron CIM 1009, CD (1999/1994), trk# 14 (More Pretty Gals Than One)
Watson, Doc. Elementary Doctor Watson, Poppy PYS 5703, LP (1972), trk# A.04 (More Pretty Girls Than One)
Watson, Doc; Clint Howard and Fred Price. Old Timey Concert, Vanguard 107/8, Cas (1987/1967), trk# B.01
Wiseman, Mac. 20 Old-Time Country Favorites, Rural Rhythm RHY-258, CD (1997/1966), trk# 2 (More Pretty Girls Than One)
[Richard] Burnett & [Leonard] Rutherford, "There's More Pretty Girls Than One" (Challenge 423 [as Crockett & Cannon], 1929)
Carolina Tar Heels, "Goodbye My Bonnie, Goodbye" (Victor 21193, 1928, rec. 1927)
The Carter Family, "Bonnie Blue Eyes" (Decca 5304, 1936)
Cranford & Thompson, "Goodbye Little Bonnie" (Supertone 2594, c. 1932)
Woody Guthrie, "More Pretty Gals" (Folk Tunes 150, n.d., prob. mid-1940s)
Ken Marvin, "More Pretty Girls" (Mercury 6366, 1951)
Ozarkers, "There's More Pretty Girls Than One" (OKeh 45573, 1932)
Prairie Ramblers, "There's More Pretty Girls Than One" ((Perfect 6-10-58/Melotone 6-10-58/Conqueror 8713, 1936)
Riley Puckett, "There's More Pretty Girls Than One - Parts 1 & 2" (Decca 5439, 1937)
Ridgel's Fountain Citians, "Little Bonnie" (Vocalion 5389, 1930)
Rutherford & Foster, "There's More Pretty Girls Than One" (prob. Brunswick, 1930; on KMM)
Arthur Smith Trio, "There's More Pretty Girls Than One" Montgomery Ward M-4822/Bluebird B-6322, 1936)
Gordon Tanner, Smokey Joe Miller & Uncle John Patterson, "Goodbye, Little Bonnie, Blue Eyes" (on DownYonder)
Fields Ward and the Grayson County Railsplitters, "Good Bye Little Bonnie" (Gennett, unissued, 1929)
Dixon Brothers, "Bonnie Blue Eyes - Part 2" (Bluebird B-6691, 1936)
Arthur Smith Trio, "There's More Pretty Girls Than One - Part 2" (Bluebird B-6889/Montgomery Ward M-7155, 1937)
Arthur Smith Trio, "Answer to More Pretty Girls Than One" (Bluebird B-7437/Montgomery Ward M7476, 1938)
Howard Dixon & Frank Gerald (The Rambling Duet), "More Pretty Girls Than One - Part 3" (Bluebird B-7484/Montgomery Ward M-7464, 1938)
OTHER NAMES: More Pretty Girls Than One
RELATED TO: Bonnie Blue Eyes
cf. "Ten Thousand Miles Away from Home (A Wild and Reckless Hobo; The Railroad Bum) [Laws H2]" (words, tune)
cf. "The Lass of Roch Royal" [Child 76] and its various offshoots (tune)
cf. "Lonesome Road" (words)
cf. "The Wagoner's Lad" (theme)
SOURCES: Mudcat; Meade;
PRINT REFERENCES (7 citations):
Randolph 734, "Goodbye, Little Bonnie Blue Eyes" (1 text, 1 tune)
Shellans, p. 10, "Hush, LIttle Bonnie" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownIII 284, "Bonnie Blue Eyes" (2 text plus 1 fragment and 1 excerpt); also 301, "High-Topped Shoes" (2 texts, both mixed; "A" is mostly "Pretty Little Foot" with verses from "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down" while "B" is a hash of "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down," ""More Pretty Girls Than One," "In the Pines," and others)
Cambiaire, pp. 23, "More Pretty Girls Than One" (1 text)
MHenry-Appalachians, p. 170, "More Pretty Girls Than One" (1 text)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 192, "More Pretty Girls Than One" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 142, "Goodbye, Little Bonnie, Goodbye" (1 text)
NOTES: The song was recorded in 1936 by Fiddlin' Arthur Smith with the Delmores (arthur Smith Trio), who claimed to write the song. One country music site lists the song "There's More Pretty Girls Than One" as:
There's More Pretty Girls Than One
Writers: Alton Delmore, W. Smith
Artists: Delmore Brothers, Hylo Brown
"There's More Pretty Girls" was recorded by the Arthur Smith Trio on Feb. 17, 1936 for the Bluebird label. Another on-line source said "It was written by Alton Delmore in 1930, though not recorded until December 6, 1933. ...from the notes to The Delmore Brothers, Brown's Ferry Blues, County CD 116, 1995."
The problem was; it had already been recorded by Rutherford and Foster in 1929 and the Ozarkers in 1932. The song and it's related song Bonnie Blue Eyes date back to the 1800s. The song's chorus was in print by Odum in the JOAFL in 1909:
There's mo' pretty girls 'an one,
There's mo' pretty girls 'an one,
Swing an' clang an' don't git lost,
There's mo' pretty girls 'an one.
So clearly this is a traditional song that was arranged by Smith and Alton Delmore. Most country performers claimed ownership to any song they recorded. There was big money that could be made in royalties, but usually the record companies managed to make most of it.
According to the ballad index: This song and "Danville Girl" [one of the various forms of Laws H2] are siblings. And the whole family is rather a mess. "More Pretty Girls Than One" is reasonably well-known. The Silber text "Goodby, Little Bonnie, Goodbye" has been found with this tune. Since both are largely floating verses, we decided to lump them. Randolph's text also has a similar tune, and it shares the basic form of the Silber text, as well as some lyrics:
""Goodbye, little bonnie blue eyes (x2),
I'll see you again, But God knows when,
Goodbye, little...."
"I'm going on the railroad train...
'Cause I love you, God knows I do."
"I'm goin' on the ocean blue...."
"Lay your hand in mine...."
Brown's two substantial texts ("A" and "B") are similar: Most of the same verses, but no chorus. Note the absence of the "more pretty girls" verse, which originally caused us to classify separately. After some discussion, Paul Stamler and I decided to lump the lot, even though it's against our general policy, simply because none of the variations are really well-attested enough to be regarded as independent songs. But it should be noted that almost anything can be grafted onto this stalk. The "Goodbye, Little Bonnie Blue Eyes" family, which includes Shellans's "Hush, Little Bonnie," is Roud #762. These texts often end with the singer coming back. - RBW
The song originally was in a fast waltz time as you can hear in the Prairie Ramblers and Rutherford and Foster early recording. Today the song is even faster and in common 4/4 time. For additional verses use the Bonnie Blue Eyes songs.
THERE'S MORE PRETTY GIRLS THAN ONE Ramblin' Jack Elliot;
From "Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Best of the Vanguard Years".
CHORUS: There's more pretty girls than one
More pretty girls than one
Every town I ramble around
Has more pretty girls than one.
Look down that railroad line
Hear the train roll by
Train rolled by with the woman I love
Hung down my head and cried.
CHORUS:
Look out across that sea
See the breakers swell
How many a love is washed away
No human tongue can tell
CHORUS:
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