Lyr Req: Whip-Poor-Will's Song (Harrison Millard)

Subject: Lyr Req: When You Hear The First Whipoorwill Sing
From: topical tom
Date: 18 Jan 08 - 05:39 PM

As a young boy I heard my uncle sing this song to me and he taught me to play it on the fiddle.Among, I am sure, many others, Mac Wiseman recorded this song.I have not been able to find the lyrics.Hopefully someone can find them as it is a nice bluegrass-country song.I do recall the melody.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE FIRST WHIPPOORWILL (Bill Monroe)
From: Peace
Date: 18 Jan 08 - 05:46 PM

THE FIRST WHIPPOORWILL
As recorded by Bill Monroe on "The 1950-51 Castle Studio Sessions" (2019)

1. Springtime is near, my darlin'.
You say that you are goin' away.
My heart will be with you, my darlin',
And I'm countin' now the days

CHORUS: I know that soon I'll have to travel.
I know I'm over the hill.
I feel so all alone; my darlin' said she'd be gone
When I heard the first whippoorwill.

2. The flow'rs are bloomin', little darlin',
With the buddin' of the trees.
I hear them night birds a-cryin'.
I know that they are warnin' me. CHORUS

3. Our love was planted, little darlin',
Just like the farmer plants his grain,
But there will never be a harvest.
On the hill, the whippoorwills now sing. CHORUS

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When You Hear The First Whipoorwill S
From: topical tom
Date: 18 Jan 08 - 07:05 PM

I must apologize to all for making an error in the thread title;it should read "When You Hear The First Whipoorwill CALL".Sorry, Peace, that is not the song I remember. I think I do remember the chorus:

       Whipoorwill, whipoorwill,
       When you hear the first whipoorwill call,
       Meet me, darling, please meet me
       When you hear the first whipoorwill call.

The rest of the song I do not recall.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When You Hear The First Whipoorwill Sing
From: 12-stringer
Date: 18 Jan 08 - 07:16 PM

Mmm, topical, I think the one you're looking for is the song that Bradley Kincaid recorded in 1933 on Bluebird. I haven't heard it in 35 or 40 years but your lyrics ring a big bell with me. It's on the 60s RCA Camden album "Maple on the Hill," and there's a copy of it upstairs but I don't have a working phonograph! I never learned it, and it's not in the little Bradley Kincaid song book that I have, which dates from several years earlier.

This is a Tin Pan Alley hillbilly song, pretty surely, probably written about 1932. It was also cut, on Champion, by a group called the Blue Ridge Girls, a few months before Kincaid did it for Bluebird. I don't see any other immediately recognizable pre-1942 hillbilly recordings.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When You Hear The First Whipoorwill S
From: Sorcha
Date: 18 Jan 08 - 07:23 PM

I found nothing at all with those lyrics. Sorry!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When You Hear The First Whipoorwill Sing
From: Peace
Date: 18 Jan 08 - 07:25 PM

'Indeed, her rendition of Harrison Millard's 1875 "Whippoorwill" that many will recall from Bradley Kincaid's 1933 recording (as "The First Whippoorwill's Song") is the only recent recording of this piece.'

Subject: Lyr Add: WHIP-POOR-WILL'S SONG (Harrison Millard)
From: Peace
Date: 18 Jan 08 - 07:32 PM

Bingo. It was one of those things with hyphens in the title


WHIP-POOR-WILL'S SONG
Words and music by Harrison Millard, 1865.

1. Oh, meet me when daylight is fading,
And is darkening into the night;
When songbirds are singing their vespers,
And the day has far vanished from sight;
And then I will tell to you, darling,
All the love I have cherished so long,
If you will but meet me at evening,
When you hear the first whip-poor-will's song.

CHORUS: Whip-poor-will! Whip-poor-will!
You hear the first whip-poor-will's song;
Oh, meet me; oh, meet me,
When you hear the first whip-poor-will's song.

2. 'Tis said that whatever sweet feelings
May be throbbing within a fond heart,
When list'ning to whip-poor-will's singing,
For a twelve-month will never depart;
So then we will meet in the woodland,
Far away from the hurrying throng,
And whisper our love to each other,
When we hear the first whip-poor-will's song. CHORUS

3. And in the long years of the future,
Through our duties may part us awhile,
And on the return of the evening,
We are severed by many a mile;
Yet deep in our bosoms we'll cherish
The affection so fervent and strong,
We pledged to each other this evening,
When we heard the first whip-poor-will's song. CHORUS


From Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House Books
http://www.laurasprairiehouse.com/music/littletown/whippoorwillssong.html

Thanks to 12-Stringer for the lead down another path.

[Sheet music from 1865 can be seen at the Internet Archive.]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When You Hear The First Whipoorwill Sing
From: Peace
Date: 18 Jan 08 - 07:33 PM

I think that should be a LYRIC ADD.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When You Hear The First Whipoorwill S
From: topical tom
Date: 18 Jan 08 - 07:44 PM

Super work, 12-stringer and Peace!That's the one.Being able to sing it all after so many years will be truly a thrill!Thanx heaps!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When You Hear The First Whipoorwill Call
From: Peace
Date: 18 Jan 08 - 07:55 PM

Now, THAT made me smile. Thanks back to you.

However, there seems to be a few things left to do. The lyrics are by Harrison Millard who died September 10, 1895 at the age of 64. A site I saw said he wrote the lyrics in 1887 (was someone selling the sheet music of it on e-Bay (?)). Where'd the melody come from?

I read a few of Wilder's books way back but don't recall seeing the melody there (but then I think there were 8 or 9 books in the 'Little House' series and I got tired of them after 1 1/2).

So, again, where's the melody from?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When You Hear The First Whipoorwill Call
From: 12-stringer
Date: 18 Jan 08 - 08:09 PM

Thanks as well! That's the Kincaid version; with the lyrics on hand I can hear him singing it, even if my turntable doesn't work. I misjudged the date by a coupla years, however!

And with the hyphens and alternate title, I can see a few additional early recordings -- Uncle Eck Dunford on Victor in 1927, and both a Bluebird and a Conqueror by "Skyland Scotty" Wiseman in 1933 and 1934. There are also a few songs entitled "Whippoorwill", cut in the 20s by Vernon Dalhart and in the 30s by the Canova Family, which may be the same one.

No guarantees of content, but check this page
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1%3D1016+&query=whip
which has a couple of early 1900s cylinders of "The Whip-Poor-Will" song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When You Hear The First Whipoorwill Call
From: Peace
Date: 18 Jan 08 - 08:17 PM

Different song, 12-stringer (I checked them all) , but I just added that site to My Favorites.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When You Hear The First Whipoorwill Call
From: Peace
Date: 18 Jan 08 - 08:20 PM

Wait one. My date for the song is screwed up. A post above (by me!!) says it's from 1875. Sheesh. When I have a few (minutes), I'll dig s'more.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When You Hear The First Whipoorwill Call
From: Melissa
Date: 19 Jan 08 - 06:38 AM

There's a copy of The DeZurik Sisters singing this song (and several others) at:

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/08/365-days-214---.html

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When You Hear The First Whipoorwill C
From: topical tom
Date: 19 Jan 08 - 08:55 AM

Thanks so much, Melissa, for finding the song!And a fascinating site, too!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When You Hear The First Whipoorwill C
From: Sorcha
Date: 19 Jan 08 - 09:45 AM

Sheet music images at Levy

I should be sending you to Page 1 of the sheet music, just keep clickin on Next. This will print, but it prints small and usually rather dark.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When You Hear The First Whipoorwill Call
From: Peace
Date: 19 Jan 08 - 04:05 PM

Can anyone read a date on that sheet music? (Good find you gals.)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When You Hear The First Whipoorwill C
From: Sorcha
Date: 19 Jan 08 - 04:32 PM

I don't see a date on the sheet music, but here is what the actual search turned up:

Levy Call Number:        Box 130, Item 131a
Title:        The Whip-Poor-Will's Echo Song.
Composer, Lyricist, Arranger:        By H. Millard.
Publication:        Boston : Oliver Ditson & Co., 277 Washington St.
Date:        1865
Form of Composition:        strophic with chorus
Instrumentation:        piano and voice
First Line:        Oh, meet me when daylight is fading, and is darkening into the night
First Line of Chorus:        Whip-poor-will! Whip-poor-will! You hear the first whip-poor-will's song
Advertisement:        ads on back cover for Oliver Ditson & Co. stock
Subjects:        Birds; Dwellings; Trees; Musical instruments; Parlors; Vases; Mantelpieces; Cupids; Stairs & stairways; Architectural elements--columns; Plants; Courtship; Love; Time
Duplication:        cover and music same as Box 130 Item 131 (See: Box 130 Item 131)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When You Hear The First Whipoorwill C
From: topical tom
Date: 19 Jan 08 - 06:04 PM

As Peace said, many thanks for all the info and the sheet music.You did a great job of research on an old, quite obscure song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When You Hear The First Whipoorwill Call
From: Peace
Date: 19 Jan 08 - 06:55 PM

TT, it's nothing that wouldn't have been done by any common ordinary every-day saviours of the world's destiny.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When You Hear The First Whipoorwill C
From: Sorcha
Date: 19 Jan 08 - 07:12 PM

LOL...or people obsessed by Lyrics requests!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When You Hear The First Whipoorwill Call
From: Melissa
Date: 19 Jan 08 - 07:25 PM

Somehow, I don't think my sister is going to be half as appreciative when I give a copy of those songs to her daughter...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When You Hear The First Whipoorwill Call
From: Peace
Date: 19 Jan 08 - 07:28 PM

LOL both of you.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When You Hear The First Whipoorwill C
From: topical tom
Date: 19 Jan 08 - 09:56 PM

LOL! I bow in awe and worship to you omnipotent rulers of the universe of lyrics!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When You Hear The First Whipoorwill Call
From: Melissa
Date: 19 Jan 08 - 10:13 PM

I can barely wait until SETI gets a sounding from that galaxy.

"What's this sound like to you? Mockingbird Hill??"
"Actually, I think it sounds more like Gumtree Canoe..I haven't heard that song in ages!"

'After several years of speculation, scientists have discovered the Universe of Lyrics.
"I'm not surprised it took so long.." said Dr Knowitall "these beings are obviously about 150 years behind us in technology and sophistication"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whip-Poor-Will's Song (Harrison Millard)
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Mar 12 - 05:54 PM

I have a copy of the sheet music dated 1865- pretty lithogragh- some small pin holes on left side(from being bound?)-C.R.Heizmann & Bros./Reading Pa stamp in left bottom corner- am willing to sell if anyone is interested- [e-mail] is in frame to keep intact and preserve

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whip-Poor-Will's Song (Harrison Millard)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 25 Jun 17 - 08:39 AM

Sheet music for THE WHIP-POOR-WILL'S SONG, written by Harrison Millard, published in 1865, can be seen at the website of Connecticut College. (The song is indexed, incorrectly I think, as THE WHIP-POOR-WILL'S ECHO SONG.)

Lyrics are exactly as posted by Peace above.

Other copies can be seen at

Duke University

Indiana University

Johns Hopkins University

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill