Wildwood Flower

Wildwood Flower (or The Wildwood Flower) is an American song, best known through performances and recordings by the Carter Family.

 

Contents
[hide]  *1 History  ==History[ edit] == Wildwood Flower is a variant of the song I'll Twine 'Mid the Ringlets,[1]  published in 1860 by composer Joseph Philbrick Webster, who wrote the music, with lyrics attributed to Maud Irving. Other versions of the song have evolved, including The Pale Amaranthus (collected in Kentucky and North Carolina, reported in 1911),[2] Raven Black Hair and The Pale Wildwood Flower (collected 1915-1919), and The Frail Wildwood Flower.[3]  The original Carter Family first recorded Wildwood Flower in 1928 on the Victor label. Woody Guthrie used the tune of I'll Twine 'Mid the Ringlets for the verses of his song The Sinking of the Reuben James, although he added a chorus to the song.[4]
 * 2 Lyrics
 * 3 Evolution
 * 4 Notes

The original poem (if any) from which the lyrics derived has been lost. Other poems attributed to the reputed author of the lyrics, Maud Irving, may be found in periodicals of the time, including Godey's Lady's Book[5]  and Home Monthly. Several of the poems in the latter periodical carry bylines indicating that the Maud Irvingof those poems was a pseudonym for poet and spiritualist J. William Van Namee.[6] ==Lyrics<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">The original lyrics to the 1860 song I'll Twine 'Mid the Ringlets, taken verbatim from the published sheet music (italics, recognized punctuation, and capitalization as in the original), are as follows.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-7" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[7] <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">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 emerald 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, Through 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. ==Evolution<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Although originally a parlor song, the song had undergone the folk process by the time the Carter Family recorded it. For example, the first verse of I'll Twine 'Mid the Ringlets is <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">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 emerald hue, And the pale aronatus with eyes of bright blue. <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">whereas the Carter Family's Wildwood Flower begins <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">Oh, I'll twine with my mingles and waving black hair, With the roses so red and the lilies so fair, And the myrtle so bright with the emerald dew, The pale and the leader and eyes look like blue.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-8" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[8] <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Several mondegreens are evident between the two songs (for example, "and the crowd I will sway" in I'll Twine 'Mid the Ringlets became "in his crown I will sway" inWildwood Flower), and later musicians produced further variants. For example, Iris DeMent sings "...the pale emanita and hyssop so blue". Roger McGuinn sings "...the pale amaryllis and violets so blue".

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Gardening author Ed Hume is unaware of a plant known as aronatus.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-9" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[9]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">In 1955, Hank Thompson and Merle Travis recorded an instrumental version of the song that reached number five on the Country charts.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-10" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[10]  In 1960, Joan Baezincluded the song on her debut album. In 1961, country instrumentalists Gerald Tomlinson and Jerry Kennedy recorded a version called Golden Wildwood Flower,which reached number 93 in the Music Vendor pop chart.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">In 1964, Don Bowman appropriated the tune as a background for Wildwood Weed, a monologue about marijuana.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-weed_11-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[11]  Ten years later, performed by Jim Stafford, it peaked at number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-12" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[12]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">In the 2005 film Walk the Line, Reese Witherspoon, playing June Carter, sings Wildwood Flower solo while strumming her autoharp. The film also features an instrumental version performed on guitar by Bill Frisell.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Robin & Linda Williams recorded a version of the song, with the original title and lyrics, for their album Visions of Love. The title of the album is taken from the last line, "My visions of love have all faded away."