Lyr Req: the elm the ash and the red oak tree

Subject: Lyr Req: the elm the ash and the red oak tree
From: quokka
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 09:38 PM

Welcome to Mudcat,guest topher

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about trees...

From: GUEST,Topher - PM
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 11:39 AM

"Okay so when i was young my mom sang a lullaby or hymn that she called the red oak tree, I know that she didn't make it but i haven't been able to find it, i can remember a couple of the lyrics but not all of the song,
"Make me a grave where I can quietly lay, where the --- and the sky above, oh make me a grave where I can quietly lay, neath the elm and the ash, and the red oak tree."
any help is appreciated... "

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the elm the ash and the red oak tree
From: Dave Roberts
Date: 07 Jan 10 - 01:46 AM

As a starting point, it obviously sounds reminiscent of 'The Oak And The Ash'

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the elm the ash and the red oak tree
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 07 Jan 10 - 11:23 AM

It could have been influenced by one of the many 'Oak and the Ash' songs but in all of these the song/chorus is about longing to be back in one's own country, rather than dying. Could it be related in some way to the 'Lone burial' 'Home, home on the range' series of songs? A longshot again. I've never heard of an English/British oak being referred to as 'red'. Could it have been old oak tree?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the elm the ash and the red oak tree
From: GUEST,999
Date: 07 Jan 10 - 01:49 PM

Quokka,

I've been searching but finding nothing to help. I'll keep looking, but don't hold yer breath.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the elm the ash and the red oak tree
From: quokka
Date: 07 Jan 10 - 10:32 PM

It's not for me, it's for guest topher - request was posted in the 'songs about trees' thread, so I thought I'd help out - I remember when I didn't know how to start threads!

Cheers,

Quokka

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the elm the ash and the red oak tree
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 09 Jan 10 - 10:44 AM

There's another thread where a similar song (or poem?) has been posted, called THE BLACK OAK TREE.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the elm the ash and the red oak tree
From: quokka
Date: 09 Jan 10 - 12:09 PM

Guest topher, if you're out there, I think the song above must be the song you're searching for. 'The Black Oak Tree' The 'red' is obviously part of the folk process!

cheers

Quokka

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the elm the ash and the red oak tree
From: ClaireBear
Date: 09 Jan 10 - 12:54 PM

Found a YouTube: The Oak and the Ash and the Black Oak Tree. I'll paste it into the other thread too. Quokka, did you ever post a pointer on the thread where the question was originally asked?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the elm the ash and the red oak tree
From: quokka
Date: 15 Jan 10 - 05:18 PM

Possibly not, ClaireBear - I will go back and have a look. Thanks for reminding me;-)

Subject: Lyr Add: THE OLD OAK TREE (Irish)
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 16 Jan 10 - 03:31 AM

A rather melancholy song extremely popular here in the West of Ireland.
Not what you are looking for, and certainly not guaranteed to send a child to sleep at night.
Jim Carroll

THE OLD OAK TREE
Recorded from the late Tom Lenihan, Knockbrack, Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare

1   The night was dark, cold blew the wind and thickly poured the rain,
When Bessie left her own dear home and came not back again.
She left her widowed mother sighing, she feared not rain or cold,
The girl was young and fair to see, but love had made her bold.

2   The night being o'er, the day did dawn and Bessie was not home,
Which caused her weeping friends to think where Bessie thus did roam.
Until at last her mother rose up in anguish wild:
'I'll search this country o'er and o'er till I find my darling child.'

3   For three long weary weeks she spent in wandering up and down.
Her journey proved of no avail, for Bessie was not found,
And now to reach her lonely home in grief and woe she cried.
Her patience all being worn out she, broken-hearted, died.

4   And at the end of all this scene the owner of the grounds,
Young James Mc Cullagh, came one day to hunt with all his hounds.
He boldly rode o'er hill and dale with a joyful company
Until at last they lost the fox beneath an old oak tree.

5   'Twas there the hounds began to bark, to sniff and tear the clay,
And all that horse and whip could do could not drive those dogs away.
The gentlemen all gathered round, sent for a pick and spade.
They dug the ground and there they found the missing murdered maid.

6   The worms were creeping from her eyes that was once so blue and bright.
Out from her breast revealed a knife with McCullagh's name inscribed.
'I've done the deed,' McCullagh cried, 'and my soul is food for hell.
So hide her cold corpse from me now and I the truth will tell:

7   'Tis true I loved young Bessie once, but by my cunning art
I gained her to a vicious view which broke her mother's heart.
I wrote a marriage promise, oh, to which I signed my name
And from that dreadful hour to this I ruined poor Bessie's name.'

8   'And now to prove this awful deed,' the murderer did say,
He pulled a pistol from his side and fired right through his brain.
He was buried where he fell there, no Christian grave got he;
No priest was found to bless the ground beneath that old oak tree.