Wildwood Flower- Version 4 Homer & Jethro parody

Wildwood Flower- Version 4
Homer and Jethro- 1962 

 

I'll Twine Mid the Ringlets/Wildwood Flower 

Old-Time Parlor Song; Words and Music Maud Irving and J.P. Webster- 1860

ARTIST: Lyrics Homer and Jethro 1962

CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes

EARLIEST DATE: 1860- Sheet music Maud Irving and J.P. Webster

RECORDING INFO: Wildwood Flower [Me II-E10] - Webster, J. P./Irving, Maud

Rt - Forsaken Lover ; Wildwood Flower Revisted; Pale Amarylis
At - I'll Twine Mid the Ringlets
Rm - Sinking of the Reuben James
Mf - Texas State Anthem
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Wildwood Flower Revisted - Irving, Maud/Webster, J. P./Fink, Cathy

Rt - Wildwood Flower
Fink, Cathy. Leading Role, Rounder 0223, LP (1985), trk# B.03

OTHER NAMES: Pale Wildwood Flower; Frail Wildwood Flower; Forsaken Lover; Wildwood Flower Revisted; Pale Amarylis; I'll Twine Mid the Ringlets

MELODY FOR: Sinking of the Reuben James

SOURCES: Mudcat; Folk Index; Ballad Index

NOTES: Wildwood Flower is a parlor song titled "I'll Twine Mid the Ringlets" by  
Maud Irving and J.P. Webster published in 1860. Autoharpist Sara Carter sang lead when the Carter Family made "Wildwood Flower" the #3 hit in the nation in 1928.
For years the Carter Family were credited with writing/arranging the song. A debate about the origin and type of flower, which the Carters called "pale Aronatus" perhaps "pale Amarylis," has perplexed researchers.  In the 1928 version the Carters sing: "The myrtle so bright with an emerald hue; And the pale Aronatus with eyes of bright blue." The song was passed down through the generations and I doubt Sara Carter knew what words she was singing. Different people hear different syllables; the exact meaning and type of flower may never be known. 

The song is a popular bluegrass/country instrument usually as a guitar solo. The melody was adapted and used for Woody Guthrie's song "Sinking of the Reuben James."

Ballad Index Notes: DESCRIPTION: The singer prepares to deck herself out with flowers in her hair, in response to her former lover who now has abandoned her. She promises to behave joyfully and forget she knew him, and make him regret that he "neglected his pale wildwood flower"
AUTHOR: Words: Maud Irving / Music: Joseph Philbrick Webster (?)
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (recording, Carter Family)
KEYWORDS: love abandonment beauty flowers
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE,So)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
BrownIII 263, "The Pale Wildwood Flower" (3 texts plus a fragment)
Ritchie-SingFam, pp. 248-249, "[Pale Wildwood Flower]" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 50-51, "Wildwood Flower" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph 798, "The Wildwood Flower" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 500-501, "The Wildwood Flower" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 798A)
Silber-FSWB, p. 166, "Wildwood Flower" (1 text)
DT, WILDWFLR*
Roud #757
RECORDINGS:
The Carter Family, "Wildwood Flower" (Victor V-40000, 1929; Montgomery Ward M-4432, 1934; rec. 1928) (Melotone 5-11-65, 1935); as "The A. P. Carter Family," "Wildwood Flower" (Acme 996, n.d.)
Carter Sisters & Mother Maybelle, "Wildwood Flower" (Columbia 21138, 1953)
John D. Mounce et al, "Wildwood Flower" (on MusOzarks01)
James Roberts, "Frail Wildwood Flower" (Gennett 6566 [as Wikel Miller]/Conqueror 7254 [as Joe Reeves], 1929; rec. 1928)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Reuben James" (tune)


I'LL TWINE 'MID THE RINGLETS (Maud Irving and J.P. Webster) (1860)

I'll twine 'mid the ringlets of my raven black hair
The lilies so pale and the roses so fair
The myrtle so bright with an emeral hue
And the pale aronatus with eyes of bright blue.

I'll sing and I'll dance, my laugh shall be gay
I'll cease this wild weeping, drive sorrow away.
Tho' my heart is now breaking, he never shall know
That his name made me tremble and my pale cheeks to glow.

I'll think of him never, I'll be wildly gay
I'll charm ev'ry heart, and the crowd I will sway.
I'll live yet to see him regret the dark hour
When he won, then neglected, the frail wildwood flower.

He told me he loved me, and promis'd to love
Trough ill and misfortune, all others above
Another has won him; ah, misery to tell
He left me in silence, no word of farewell.

He taught me to love him, he call'd me his flower
That blossom'd for him all the brighter each hour
But I woke from my dreaming, my idol was clay
My visions of love have all faded away.

WILDWOOD FLOWER/FLOWER OF THE WILDWOOD
HOMER & JETHRO AT THE CONVENTION- 1962 RCA LP-2492

Oh, My flower of the wildwood was skinny and tall
But for her adam's apple, she'd have no shape at all
I can still see her there, sittin' under the trees
Tyin' knots in her stockin's so it'd look like she had knees.

Then she joined a burlesque show that come to our town
And she thought as a stripper her fortune was found
But she bumped into trouble and now she is gone
Instead of yellin' take if off, they hollered leave it on.

She would eat like a horse but she never grew big
'Bout as useless as sprayin perfume on a pig
I'm a natural blond my flower would swear
But black was the color of the roots of her hair.