Lyr Req: Whippoorwill

Subject: Lyr Req: Whippoorwill
From: GUEST,John
Date: 07 Apr 10 - 06:11 PM

When we were children, our father used to sing us to sleep with a song he called "Whippoorwill". His twin brother used to sing his kids to sleep with the same song; they have both now passed away. Our cousins as well as ourselves have searched for the song but have never had any success. Dad was born in 1918 and used to sing the song to neighbours when he was a child of six years old, so the song was aorund in the early 1920s.
The first line goes something like: "there's a whippoorwill softly singing in the pale moonlight"
Can anyone shed any light on the song, composer or origin?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whippoorwill
From: Melissa
Date: 07 Apr 10 - 06:16 PM

not this one, right?


Whip-Poor-Will's Song
Lyrics by Harrison Millard

Oh, meet me when 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.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whippoorwill
From: Q
Date: 07 Apr 10 - 09:05 PM

Looked at three in American Memory, but none with that line.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whippoorwill
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Apr 10 - 09:39 PM

As far as I can remember, it went:

There's a whippoorwill sweetly singing in the pale moonlight,
Whippoorwill, whippoorwil,
He sings about the honeysuckle 'round the cabin door,

........

He'll be saying, you'll be praying, I'll come back once more

....

I wish I had written it down when he used to sing it just before he died. Ah well!

Subject: Lyr Add: THE FIRST WHIPPOORWILL (Bill Monroe)
From: GUEST,hg
Date: 07 Apr 10 - 10:57 PM

Does this ring a bell? I have been meaning to systematically collect songs about whippoorwills. Maybe this thread will attract some more.

Artist: Monroe Bill
Song: THE FIRST WHIPPOORWILL
Album: The Music of Bill Monroe

Springtime is near my darling
You say that you are going away
My heart will be with you my darling
And I'm counting now the days

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

The flowers are blooming little darling
With the budding of the trees
I hear the night birds a crying
I know that they are warning me

Our love was planted little darling
Just like the farmer plants his grain
But there will never be a harvest
On the hills the whippoorwills now sing

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whippoorwill
From: GUEST,hg
Date: 07 Apr 10 - 11:37 PM

Perhaps you are looking for Joseph Belmont's The Whippoorwill Song. It is from 1901 and is on cylinder. I can't seem to find the lyrics. All the lyric sites want to send the ringtone to my phone...I'm beginning to despise the WWW.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whippoorwill
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 08 Apr 10 - 09:38 AM

You can find music from 1901 preserved on an ancient technology, you can find lyrics from songs of all kinds and all ages, yet you blow your top because you have to click once and close an ad?

That's not much of a trade-off. By the way, is your pop-up blocker on?
========
For those not of America, here's a link to a whippoorwill calling. (They do it a night, especially moonlit nights.)

night call


I love hearing them, although I admit they can become tiresome if too close to the tent.

We haven't had any luck with the song Guest is seeking, but if you go on YouTube, you can search for 'Whippoorwill DeZurik' and hear the DeZurik Sisters singing the song that Melissa posted. It's a charming piece, esp if you omit the novelty yodels.

I wish I could find a MIDI or the sticks and dots for that song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whippoorwill
From: GUEST,hg
Date: 08 Apr 10 - 10:37 AM

I assume you're directing directing your remark to me, leeneia and I must tell you that I spent some time trying to get past the ads to get to lyrics for this song and gave up in frustration. My perception of google searching for lyrics recently is that ads have increasingly taken over sites that used to provide lyrics easily. Perhaps I am wrong.
Getting to cylinder stored music used to be easier than it seems to be presently, but then the economy has changed....My pop-up blocker was on I believe.

Subject: Lyr Add: WHIP-POOR-WILL'S SONG (Harrison Millard)
From: Melissa
Date: 08 Apr 10 - 05:40 PM

If this is going to be a whippoorwill collection thread, I guess I ought to put in the rest of the DeZurik lyrics.
It can be heard at:
http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/08/365-days-214---.html



WHIP-POOR-WILL'S SONG
Lyrics by Harrison Millard

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.

'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;
To 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

And in the long years of the future,
Though our duties may part us awhile,
And on the return of the evening,
We be 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

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whippoorwill
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 08 Apr 10 - 05:53 PM

Indeed, Melissa, why not a whippoorwill collection?

Hear the bird sing on the hill.
Whippoorwill! Whippoorwill!
With a voice both loud and shrill;
Whippoorwill! Whippoorwill!
If the moon is gay and bright
If there's not a ray in sight,
All night long
he sings this song.
Whippoorwill! Whippoorwill!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whippoorwill
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 10 Apr 10 - 03:42 PM

Sheet music for WHIP-POOR-WILL'S SONG, composed by H. Millard, can be seen in The Good Old Songs We Used to Sing, Volume 2 compiled by J. C. H. (Boston: Oliver Ditson Company, 1895), page 115.

Lyrics are the same as those posted by Melissa above, so I won't repeat them.

It has the notation: "The echo of the Whip-poor-will may be repeated by another voice at a distance, or in another room, with very fine effect."!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whippoorwill
From: Q
Date: 10 Apr 10 - 04:58 PM

Drat this thread. Now I have caught that old Gene Austin earworm, My Blue Heaven.

When whippoorwills call, and evening is nigh,
I hurry to my blue heaven
A turn to the right, a little white light,
Will lead me to my blue heaven

Sheet music for the Millard song mentioned by Jim Dixon is at American Memory, along with others, but not the requested song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whippoorwill
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 10 Apr 10 - 04:59 PM

If we're going to collect whippoorwill songs, I suppose we ought to start by listing the ones that are already posted at Mudcat:


THE MOUNTAIN WHIPPOORWILL, words by Stephen Vincent Benet, done as a song by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and some others.

WHEN IT'S TIME FOR THE WHIPPOORWILL TO SING

WHIP-POOR-WILL a.k.a. HARK THE WHIPPOORWILL collected in the Ozarks, 1942.

WHIPPOORWILL (SING TO ME) by John Graves of Shreveport, La.

WHIPPOORWILL SONG from Patsy Stoneman: "O list' (whippoorwill) his song (whippoorwill)..."

CRY OF THE WHIPPOORWILL by Rhonda Vincent & Terry Herd: "Now listen close and you can hear..."

THE FIRST WHIPPOORWILL by Bill Monroe: "Springtime is near, my darling...."

WHIP-POOR-WILL'S SONG by Harrison Millard: "Oh, meet me when daylight is fading" (Sorry, Melissa!)


p.s. I omitted several songs that merely mention whippoorwills but aren't principally about whippoorwills, and don't have "whippoorwill" in the title.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whippoorwill
From: Q
Date: 10 Apr 10 - 05:10 PM

And the whiffenpoof is unrelated to the whippoorwill-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whippoorwill
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 10 Apr 10 - 05:30 PM

And the Whiffenpoof Song isn't really about whiffenpoofs anyway. It's all about poor little lambs, as I recall.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE WHIPPOORWILL SONG (Crosby/Hale)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 10 Apr 10 - 05:47 PM

From Apollo of Song: A Carefully Graded Rudimental Work for Public Schools and Singing Classes by S. G. Smith (Columbus, Ohio: S. G. Smith, 1897), page 111:


THE WHIPPOORWILL SONG
Words, Fanny J. Crosby. Music, F. Hale.

1. When Spring returns with her buds and flow'rs
And all is glad and gay,
'Tis then the voice of the whippoorwill
Rings out its tuneful lay.

CHORUS: Whippoorwill! Whippoorwill!
Oh, list to his beautiful song, sweet song.
Whippoorwill! Whippoorwill!
O, list to his beautiful song, {sweet song.}*

2. I love to roam at the twilight hour,
When skies are clear and bright,
And hear the song of the whippoorwill
That bids the world "goodnight."

3. And oh, how oft, when the golden stars
Their beams around me cast,
The loud, clear tones of the whippoorwill
Bring back the dear old past.

4. Sing on, thou birds of the evening time,
I'll ne'er forget thy strain;
But wait and watch for the song I love
When spring returns again.

[* There are 2 counterpoints to this last phrase:
1. Whippoorwill! Whippoorwill!
2. Beautiful evening song.]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whippoorwill
From: Melissa
Date: 10 Apr 10 - 06:13 PM

Hank William's Lonesome Whipporwill song?

Subject: Lyr Add: WHIP-POOR-WILL (Manley/Gilchrist)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 10 Apr 10 - 06:34 PM

From The Laurel Song Book: For Advanced Classes in Schools, Academies, Choral Societies, Etc. edited by William Lawrence Tomlins (Boston: C. C. Birchard & Company, 1921), page 174:


WHIP-POOR-WILL
Words, Frederick Manley. Music, W. W. Gilchrist.

1. The vesper sparrow now has sung
His farewell to the day.
The whisp'ring breeze of night has swung
The birds to sleep on bough and spray;
But from the valley and the hill,
There comes a voice, a broken lay,
And "whip-poor-will" it seems to say,
"Poor whippoorwill, poor whippoorwill,
Whippoorwill, whippoorwill, whippoorwill, whippoorwill."

2. A vagabond that shuns the way
His woodland breth'ren keep,
Who trusts to chance from day to day,
Who holds the rights of birdies cheap;
The nests he steals whene'er he will
The rest he breaks when others sleep
With "whip-poor-will" sung loud and deep,
"Poor whippoorwill, poor whippoorwill,
Whippoorwill, whippoorwill, whippoorwill, whippoorwill."

3. The children tuck'd in bed can hear
The plaintive tremulo,
And Billy thinks he says, "O dear,"
Because in daylight he must go
To sleep while others play and trill
And only wake when things are drear.
"I wish," says Bill, "some bird would hear
And play with Will, poor whippoorwill,
Whippoorwill, whippoorwill, whippoorwill, whippoorwill."

Subject: Lyr Add: WHIPPOORWILL (G Meredith & L Denni)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 12 Apr 10 - 04:12 PM

From the sheet music at Indiana University:
http://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/lilly/devincent/printable/LL-SDV-097029-01:


WHIPPOORWILL
Words, Gwen Meredith. Music, Lucien Denni.
Kansas City, MO: Lucien Denni Music Co., 1914.
From the musical comedy "Mlle. Juliette"

1. Why are you silent, dearie?
Whippoorwill, why so still?
Nature is calling, dearie,
Over hill, whippoorwill.
Ev'rything seems so lonely,
Ev'ry rill, whippoorwill.
Come in the treetops and sing to me,
With a trill, whippoorwill.

CHORUS: Sing a lullaby.
Breezes breathe a sigh.
All is still, whippoorwill.
All's asleep.
Sleep so deep.
Sing a lullaby.
Hear my coaxing cry:
Just one sleepy trill,
Whippoorwill, whippoorwill, whippoorwill.

2. Come in the night time, dearie.
Let us fill, whippoorwill,
Woodland with love's old story:
Coo and bill, whippoorwill.
Then when the shadows gather,
We will still, whippoorwill,
Dream in our bird-land some new love notes,
With a trill, whippoorwill.

Subject: Lyr Add: WHIPPOORWILL (T Gregg & M H McChesney)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 12 Apr 10 - 04:32 PM

From the sheet music at Indiana University: http://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/lilly/starr/printable/LL-SSM-2-015-0247-01:


WHIPPOORWILL
Words, Thomas Gregg. Music, M. H. McChesney.
Detroit: C. J. Whitney & Co., 1871.

1. The sun has sunk beneath the west, and dark the shadows fall.
I'll seek again my forest home, and make my evening call.
The zephyr in the grove is hushed, and every leaf is still,
So I will seek my wild retreat and chant my whippowill [sic]*.

CHORUS: Hear the call from yonder hill
Echo through the forest still.
Each soft note the pulses thrill.
Sing on, plaintive whippowill.
Hear the call from yonder hill
Echo through the forest still.
Haste and seek your wild retreat
And chant your whippowill.

2. Dim night, with sable mantle spread, envelopes field and flood,
And stars with pale and yellow light shine out on vale and wood.
My mate too has begun her strain upon yon distant hill,
And I will seek my leafy bow'r and tune my whippowill.

3. The watchdog has retired to rest. The curfew's toll is done.
No sound is heard in these deep shades, save my shrill voice alone;
Or in yon wild and lonely glen, the tinkling of a rill;
So in these peaceful solitudes I'll chant my whippowill.

4. It is the song which God has given. I'll sing it in His praise.
Of all within this forest bower, mine are the sweetest lays.
Then whippowill shall be my song in vale or on the hill.
Each evening at the twilight hour, I'll tune my whippowill.

[* Note: although the title is WHIPPOORWILL, the spelling "whippowill" is used throughout the lyrics.]

Subject: Lyr Add: WHEN THE WHIP-POOR-WILL SINGS MARGUERITE
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 12 Apr 10 - 04:49 PM

From the sheet music at Indiana University: http://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/lilly/devincent/printable/LL-SDV-097025-01:


WHEN THE WHIP-POOR-WILL SINGS MARGUERITE
Words, C. M. Denison. Music, J. Fred Helf.
New York: Helf & Hager Co., 1906.

1. The whip-poor-will at twilight's glow was singing.
The cricket chirp'd its "Goodnight" lullaby.
The dear old village bells were sweetly ringing
As you held me in your arms and said, "Goodbye."
You told me of a love that naught could sever,
Of happy days when you and I should wed.
You kissed my lips to part, perhaps, forever,
Then held my hand a moment while you said:

CHORUS: When the whip-poor-will sings Marguerite,
And forget-me-nots bloom at your feet,
You may know, though you yearn,
That to you I'll return,
Love's old story again to repeat;
So be true, little girl, I entreat,
Till the time when again we shall meet.
Let love's star brightly shine.
I'll return, sweetheart mine,
When the whip-poor-will sings Marguerite.

2. For weary days I've waited your returning.
I've longed to see your dear face once again.
The whip-poor-will is singing. I am yearning,
For my longing and my waiting was in vain.
'Neath dear old southern skies tonight you're sleeping.
The Swanee river flows upon its way.
For old times' sake, your love I still am keeping.
At twilight's glow, I seem to hear you say: CHORUS

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whippoorwill
From: GUEST,John
Date: 02 May 10 - 10:45 PM

First chance I've had to come back to the forum. Thanks everyone for trying but none of the suggestions are the right song. Perhaps we will never know.

Subject: Lyr Add: I'M SO LONESOME I COULD CRY (H Williams)
From: GUEST,Kerry
Date: 02 May 10 - 11:40 PM

Hey try this.

Words & Music by Hank Williams
Recorded by Hank Williams, 1949
Also recorded by B.J. Thomas, 1966 (#8)


C       C/B      Am7   Am7/G
Hear that lonesome whippoorwill;

    C         Em      Gm7   C7
He sounds too blue to fly..

    F       Fm       C      Am
The midnight train is whining low

G       C      G7       C    G   Am7   G/B
I'm so lonesome I could cry.


I've never seen a night so long,
When time goes crawling by;
The moon just went behind a cloud;
I'm so lonesome I could cry.

Did you ever see a Robin weep
When leaves begin to die?
That means he's lost the will to live;
I'm so lonesome I could cry.

The silence of a falling star
Lights up a purple sky;
And as I wonder where you are,
I'm so lonesome I could cry.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whippoorwill
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 03 May 10 - 10:55 AM

Thanks to all who posted info here. Clearly the whippoorwill has captured the imagination of American song writers.

A whippoorwill set sounds like a good idea for a folk band.

Subject: RE: Whippoorwill: The words I remember
From: GUEST,Elizabeth
Date: 20 Feb 11 - 08:51 PM

I sang this lullaby to my children in the 1990s. It must be wonderful for you to remember him singing it. I hope having these additional words helps.

There's a whippoorwill sweetly singing in the pale moonlight,
Whippoorwill, whippoorwill.
And he's singing a song that makes me long for home tonight,
Whippoorwill, whippoorwill.

He's singing 'bout the honeysuckle 'round the cabin door.
It seems he's saying, someone's praying, I'll come back once more.

There's a whippoorwill sweetly singing in the pale moonlight,
Whippoorwill, whippoorwill.


I've been looking for this song, too. I heard it when I was a teen around 1968/1970, just playing through my father's stack of old 78s. My father was born in 1927 and he probably bought these records when he was a teenager in the early 1940s. Maybe it was recorded around then. We tossed the 78s years ago. :(

Another song in that stack of 78s was:

"They Cut Down the Old Pine Tree"

Well they cut down the old pine tree,
And they hauled it away to the mill.
They'll be no coffin of pine,
For that sweetheart of mine
Since they cut down the old pine tree.

But she's not alone in her grave tonight
For there my heart will always be.
Though we drifted apart,
still they cut down my heart
When they cut down the old pine tree.

Do you know that one?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whippoorwill
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 26 Feb 11 - 11:50 PM

Guest Elizabeth: Please see the thread Lyr Add: They Cut Down the Old Pine Tree--and continue the discussion there if you like.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whippoorwill
From: GUEST,Spud
Date: 06 May 11 - 07:06 AM

Elizabeth had it right except for the last line, the whole song goes as follows;

There's a whipporwill sweetly singing in the vale tonight,
whipporwill, whippoorwill.

He's singing a song that makes for home tonight,
whippoorwill, whippoorwill.

Singing 'bout the honeysuckle 'round the cabin door,
Seems to be saying someones praying
You'll come home once more.

There's a whippoorwill sweetly singing in the pale moonlight,
But now I know, it's time to go, whippoorwill
      

Hope this is what you're looking for.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whippoorwill
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 08 May 11 - 12:50 PM

Here's the description of the last song from WorldCat.org:

WHIPPOORWILL
Words & music by Cal De Voll.
Chicago: Forster Music Pub., Inc., ©1930.
"Lloyd Huntley and his "Isles O'Blues" Orchestra"--cover, with photo.
First line of text: Ev'ry night I close my eyes and off to Paradise I stray.
First line of chorus: There's a whippoorwill sweetly singing in the pale moonlight.

Subject: Lyr Add: WHIPPOORWILL (Cal De Voll)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 09 May 11 - 10:50 PM

The sheet music can be viewed at Mississippi State University. (Click for a PDF.) Here's my transcription:


WHIPPOORWILL
Words and music by Cal De Voll
Chicago: Forster Music Pub. Inc., ©1930.

1. Ev'ry night I close my eyes and off to Paradise I stray,
Dreaming dreams of yesterday.
Seems I hear a whippoorwill upon a hill so far away
Calling me; that's why I say:

CHORUS: There's a whippoorwill sweetly singing in the pale moonlight:
Whippoorwill, whippoorwill,
And he's singing a song that makes me long for home tonight,
Whippoorwill, whippoorwill.
He's singing 'bout the honeysuckle 'round a cabin door.
Seems he's saying someone's praying you'll come back once more.
There's a whippoorwill sweetly singing in the pale moonlight.
Now I know I must go, whippoorwill.

2. Though I've heard a lot of melodies, just one of these I know;
Haunts me ev'rywhere I go.
It's a little whippoorwill's sweet song when evening breezes blow,
Calling me so sweet and low: CHORUS

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whippoorwill
From: GUEST,INSvictim
Date: 26 Feb 12 - 11:56 AM

I also had this record on a 78 from grandma, the cover of the record player fell down and smashed it circa 1960?. I remember that it had a purple Okeh label. I thought it was by Gene Autry but the Gene Autry museum assured me it was not. Thanks to Elizabeth and Spud for the additional words, all I could remember was the first line.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whippoorwill
From: GUEST
Date: 06 May 13 - 11:27 PM

I think it goes:
There's a whippoorwill singing in the pale moonlight,
"Whippoorwill, whippoorwill"
He's singing a song that makes me long for home tonight,
"Whippoorwill, whippoorwill"

He's singing 'bout the honeysuckle 'round our cabin door,
He keeps saying someone's praying
He'll come back for more.
There's a whippoorwill singing in the pale moonlight,
"Whippoorwill, whippoorwill"

...my dad, too sang this to us often. Thanks for reminiscing...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whippoorwill
From: GUEST,Niggardly Bastard
Date: 07 May 13 - 06:20 AM

No one has mentioned The Whippoorwill sung by Keely Smith in the 1958 movie Thunder Road starring Robert Mitchum.
He sings a version of it on an LP of his. He's a passable singer.