Lyr Req: Goodbye Maggie (Charles Monroe)

Subject: Goodbye Maggie: Monroe Brothers
From: jofield
Date: 12 Apr 00 - 11:50 PM

Anyone have the words for this sentimental old Monroe Brothers tune? I know half a verse and the chorus. It makes a fun duet.

Merci bien, James.

Subject: Lyr Add: GOODBYE MAGGIE (Charles Monroe)^^
From: Stewie
Date: 13 Apr 00 - 02:01 AM

GOODBYE MAGGIE
(Charles Monroe)

By a cottage in the twilight
Stood a soldier and a maid
Solemn words were being spoken
For his company today
Down her cheeks the teardrops flowing
Here at last she bid him stay
Sad but firmly comes an answer
'Maggie dear, I'm called away'

Goodbye Maggie (goodbye Maggie)
Goodbye darlin' (oh my darlin')
I will think (I will think)
Of you each day (of you each day)
It's decreed (it's decreed)
That I must leave you (leave you now)
Maggie dear, I'm called away

Next the tramp of mortal footsteps
Leading by her cottage door
And a soldier smiling bravely
Leaves her home he'd see no more
See him wave his hand at parting
Hear him sigh and softly say
'Dry your tears, my little darlin'
Maggie dear I'm called away'

Repeat chorus

There has been a fearful conflict
Victory has been nobly won
And a youthful soldier's dying
Ere his life has well begun
'Comrades', he is feebly saying,
'I shall never live till day
If you're spared, you'll see my darlin'
Tell her I was called away'

Repeat chorus

Recorded by Monroe Brothers 28 January 1938 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Bluebird B 7058-B
Source: Reissued on Monroe Brothers 'Feast Here Tonight' RCA AXM2-5510.
PS.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Goodbye Maggie: Monroe Brothers
From: Stewie
Date: 13 Apr 00 - 03:22 AM

jofield

Listening again, and also to the Lilly Brothers' version, the 4th line in the second stanza should read 'Leaves her whom he'll see no more', not 'Leaves her home ...'. The accent threw me, and the Lilly Bros were not much better.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Goodbye Maggie: Monroe Brothers
From: GUEST,Pete Peterson
Date: 13 Apr 00 - 09:01 AM

GREAT song! I have been singing this with a friend when we do historical society gigs and suggest (our audiences tend to be in their 50s and up) to people that they remember the movie, Sgt. York (Gary Cooper IIRC) and World War I

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Goodbye Maggie: Monroe Brothers
From: jofield
Date: 13 Apr 00 - 09:33 AM

Thanks very much. I used to know this one. It took having all the words in front of me to remember that I sang "for his country needed aid" in verse 1 and "next the sound of martial footsteps" in verse 2. In the early 60s, Marshall Brickman, later to write screenplays with Woody Allen, was a bluegrass banjo player, so we would sing "next the sound of Marshall Brickman".

Thanks again, Stewie,

James.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Goodbye Maggie: Monroe Brothers
From: Stewie
Date: 13 Apr 00 - 07:03 PM

James

Glad to be of help. You are right that the line in verse 1 is 'For his company needed aid'. Once again, the accent thwarted me. I can hear it now in the Monroe version, but would never have deciphered 'needed aid' from the Lillys' version. I puzzled over the introduction of the present tense with 'today', but could not think of a substitute, let alone what they were really singing!

In both cases, they clearly sing 'mortal footsteps', but your 'martial' makes more sense.

Regards, Stewie.