Lyr Req: Sweet Lorena (?)

Subject: Sweet Lorena (?)
From: chip a
Date: 16 Mar 01 - 12:08 PM

Does anyone know this one? This is not the LORENA in the database. It's the story of a slave couple. She's sold off & he's missing her. "No more the moon shines on Lorena..... as we sit and watch the possum in the corn..... And the old owl's a'hootin' like a horn." That's as close as I can come. A sad but beautiful old love song.

Thanks, Chip

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Lorena (?)
From: Irish sergeant
Date: 16 Mar 01 - 02:21 PM

Chip; I wish I could help but I only have the lyrics for the other. Anyone who's a true guru, Help!!!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Lorena (?)
From: GUEST,Gene
Date: 16 Mar 01 - 02:36 PM

sounds like The Old Plantation song...

The Browns...Louvin Brothers..etc

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Lorena (?)
From: GUEST,Gene
Date: 16 Mar 01 - 03:05 PM

on second thought...believe it was the BLUE SKY BOYS

HELP DALE!!!! CRS hittin' me bad today...

Subject: Lyr Add: NO MORE THE MOON SHINES ON LORENA
From: Sorcha
Date: 16 Mar 01 - 03:19 PM

Got it!

NO MORE THE MOON SHINES ON LORENA

Way down upon the old plantation
Old Massey used to own me as a slave
He had a yeller gal he called Lorena
And we courted where the wild bananas waved

For long years there we courted
And we were as happy as one
And my hard work for did Massey
And the happiness of life had just begun

No more the moon shines on Lorena
As we'd sit and watch the coons among the corn
And the possums laying on the wild bananas
And the old owl a hootin' like a horn

One day I called to see my dear Lorena
I thought she would meet me at the gate
But they took her away to old Virginny
And left me to mourn for her fate

For years I have longed to see her
And the thoughts of her was ever in my head
One day Massey read me a letter
Telling me the Lorena she was dead

But I know that her soul has gone to heaven
And there she is ever free from pain
And to her a brighter crown is given
And no more she will wear the darkie's chain

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Lorena (?)
From: Sorcha
Date: 16 Mar 01 - 03:23 PM

PS--that's from Carter Family Songs

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Lorena (?)
From: GUEST,Gene
Date: 16 Mar 01 - 03:26 PM

was also recorded by THE DELMORE BROTHERS...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Lorena (?)
From: GUEST,Gene
Date: 16 Mar 01 - 03:29 PM

and The Carter Family recorded it...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Lorena (?)
From: chip a
Date: 16 Mar 01 - 03:39 PM

Wow! You guys are fast! Thanks so much for the help. Sorcha, you done good. I've been trying to remember songs I used to play. Some come back & some are resting out in this grey place where I once had brain cells. Now, can anyone help me find the house? Thanks, Chip

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Lorena (?)
From: SINSULL
Date: 16 Mar 01 - 03:40 PM

Yours or mine, chip?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Lorena (?)
From: Sorcha
Date: 16 Mar 01 - 03:43 PM

chip a, 3 hours is hardly fast, honey. My record is 1 minute.......LOL. Glad I could find them for you.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Lorena (?)
From: mousethief
Date: 16 Mar 01 - 03:45 PM

Sorcha: you never! When did you do it in one minute?

My record is 3 minutes and now I feel inferior.

Subject: Lyr Add: ON THE OL' PLANTATION (from Blue Sky Boys
From: GUEST,Gene
Date: 16 Mar 01 - 03:49 PM

Tho a version has been posted, I will post this one...
Transcribed from Blue Sky Boys recording...

The song has been recorded under SEVERAL different titles
No More The Moon Shines On Lorena
Lorena, The Slave Girl
On The Ol' Plantation

ON THE OL' PLANTATION
THE BLUE SKY BOYS

Away down upon the Ol' Plantation
Where Master owned me as a slave
He had a yellow [yella] girl named Lorena
And we courted where the wild bananas wave.

For many long years we had courted
Then our lives became as one
I worked hard to support my old master
For the happiness of life had just begun.

One day Master sold my Lorena
And I thought this poor Darkie's heart would break
For they took her away to Alabama
And they left me to mourn on her fate.

CHORUS
No more the Moon shines on Lorena
As we watched the Coons among the corn
And The Possums ate on the wild Bananas
And the Hoot Owls hooted like a Horn.

For seven long years I prayed to see her
For the thought of her was ever in my head
Then one day master read me a letter
Telling me my Lorena was dead.

Oh! they say that her spirit is in heaven
Where the darkies are free from all pain
That to her a bright crown has been given
And no more will she wear the Darkies chain.

CHORUS

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Lorena (?)
From: GUEST,Gene
Date: 16 Mar 01 - 03:54 PM

Yet another version

* CLICK TO: PLAY REAL AUDIO *

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Lorena (?)
From: chip a
Date: 16 Mar 01 - 03:57 PM

Guest Gene, Yep, these are the words I remember. Thank you.

Sinsull, Where do we live? Do we have a five string? I'm very confused. Chip

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Lorena (?)
From: Sorcha
Date: 16 Mar 01 - 04:11 PM

(I did too, Alex! lookie here!) It was sort of a fluke, tho. A zero minute (answer in the same minute posted) is technichally possible, but the request would have to be made at the very beginning of the minute, and you'd have to be there as soon as it came up.

Thanks for the other versions, guys, and I didn't find a tune like Gene did.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Lorena (?)
From: chip a
Date: 16 Mar 01 - 04:23 PM

Thanks for the 2nd. version Gene. Now I have a chorus with a different tune. I'm whelmed. Chip

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Lorena (?)
From: GUEST,Cleigh O'Possum
Date: 16 Mar 01 - 04:50 PM

Thank you 'chip a' and thanks to Sorcha and Gene too for finding a song that portrays us possums so nicely instead of that terrible thread that is asking for some awful song about chopped up possums!

And Mr. MouseThief sir, compared to Miz Sorcha you and everyone else are inferior. She holds a record that is virtually unbreakable and this little clay possum sends her his love with a special little ass too just for her.

And thanks Mr. Gene for all the other information. I understand about the CRS as Catspaw has it real bad sometimes.

Cleigh O'Possum

Subject: Lyr Add: CHARMING EMMA SNOW
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 28 Apr 04 - 03:10 PM

CHARMING EMMA SNOW
Tune: Dearest Mae

Way down in Alabama,
Whar de pine tree grow,
I knew a charming yellow gal,
An' her name was Emma Snow.
Her eyes were bright as diamonds,
Her teeth was pearly white,
Dey glistened in the darkness,
As de stars do in de night.

Chorus:
But that happy time is over,
I've only grief and pain,
For I shall never, never see,
My Emma dear again.

We used to go out early,
To hoe de sugar cane,
De time did pass so cheerly,
When my dear Emma I seen.
She trabbled wid me daily,
An' I loved her still the same,
As we danced and sung so gaily,
To the banjo's sweetest strain.

But that happy time hath sorrow,
Its day is turned to night,
For I lost my dearest Emma,
By a cruel black snake bite,
We missed her in de evening,
An' we hunted far and wide,
Den found her in de meadow,
Where she sickened and she died.

Published by J. Andrews, New York, song sheet in American Memory, Nineteenth-Century Song Sheets.

There are steam-dozen songs with the line 'Way down in Alabama,' or 'On the Ol' Plantation,' most related to the Blue Sky Boys' "On the Ol' Plantation" and to "No More the Moon Shines on Lorena," sung by the Carters. The singer is deprived of his girl, she dying of some cause or another, sold or gone away to another location, etc.
They seem to have had their origin in the minstrel shows, and were widespread in both white and black folksong. There is no direct connection to "Lorena," the song composed by the Websters, although there are similarities, and later versions may have been influenced by it.
"Lorena" - see thread 14713: Lorena

The American blacksnakes are harmless.

Also see thread 31209: Chords Lorena

Subject: Lyr Add: EMMA SNOW
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 09 Nov 05 - 02:56 PM

The "Charming Emma Snow" posted above is a variant, meant to avoid copyright. Here is the original.

Lyr. Add: EMMA SNOW
Campbell Minstrels, arr. Henry Chadwick

Way down in Alabama,
Not bery long ago,
I know a yallow charmer,
And her name was Emma Snow.
Her eyes were bright as diamonds,
And her teeth were pearly white,
And dey glisten'd in the darkness,
Like the stars do in the night.

Chorus:
But the happy time is over,
I've only grief and pain,
For I shall neber, neber see
my Emma Snow again.

She used to go out early
To hoe de sugar cane,
De time it pass so cheerly
Whar my Emma Snow war seen,
And when our work was ober
And de night had come again
We danced and sung so gaily
To de banjo's sweetest strain.

Chorus

But de happiest heart has sorrow,
De brightest day has night,
And I lost my lubly Emma
By de pizen adders bite,
We missed her in de ebening
And we hunted far and wide,
We found her in de meadow
Whar she sicken'd and she died.

Campbell Minstrels, sheet music Sept. 1848, Wm. Hall and Son, NY.
American Memory, Index
Click on Music and enter song name. Item 4, Emma Stone. Item 2 is an 1849 reprint by Hall, an arrangement by Henry Chadwick for the Spanish guitar, no change in lyrics.


John A. Stone used the tune for his "Australia and the Amazon," 1855, "Original California Songster," reprinted by Dwyer and Lingenfelter in "The Songs of the Gold Rush," p. 80.