'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety

Subject: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Greg F.
Date: 01 Jul 98 - 04:06 PM

The BREAK THE NEWS TO MOTHER 08-June-98 posting jogged what's left of my memory regarding a whole mid-to-late 19th C. genre of these: MOTHER WAS A LADY, etc. Any additional contributions?

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Bill in Alabama
Date: 01 Jul 98 - 04:33 PM

'LIGHTNING EXPRESS' is a great tearjerker about a penniless boy trying to get home to attend to his dying mother.

'THEY'RE ALL GOIN' HOME BUT ONE' is also great, as is 'WHEN IT'S LAMP LIGHTIN' TIME IN THE VALLEY.'

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Mountain Dog
Date: 01 Jul 98 - 04:43 PM

Dear Greg,

I think no such list would be complete without the classic "MOTHER, THE QUEEN OF MY HEART" which resides right here in the DT database, complete with chords, no less!

I saw Arlo do an especially poignant version in concert some 20-odd years ago. I think he recorded a version on one of the "Pete Seeger/Arlo Guthrie" live compilations, too.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Alice
Date: 01 Jul 98 - 06:06 PM

You can search the data base with the word @tearjerker, and get a list that includes "Mother" tearjerkers, such as THE BAGGAGE COACH AHEAD.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE ANGELS REJOICED^^
From: Chet W.
Date: 01 Jul 98 - 08:20 PM

One of my favorite sub-genres, which we irreverently call "dead mother songs". One of my favorites that I currently perform is "The Angels Rejoiced" which I learned from a friend - sounds like a Louvin Brothers song - not sure.

THE ANGELS REJOICED

A house, not a home, was the picture Satan painted
For sweet little sister and me
Our daddy would frown while mother was praying
His heart was so hardened that he would not believe
In anger he'd swear, his voice cold and loud
His Sundays were spent out with the gambling crowd
I never saw my daddy inside a house of God
While Satan held his hand down the path of sin he trod

Not long ago our circle was broken
When God called on mother one night
In a voice sweet and low her last words were spoken
Asking our daddy to raise her children right
The angels rejoiced in heaven last night
I heard my daddy praying, Dear God make it right
He was smiling and singing with tears in his eyes
While mother with the angels rejoiced last night

If you can top that, I'd really like to hear it. It seems the dead mother songs with some religious context are the best. Also would like to know origin of this song if anyone knows. Send more songs.

Another great one is "By and By, I'm going to see the King" by preacher/dulceola player Washington Philips. I think the real title might be "A MOTHER'S LAST WORDS TO HER DAUGHTER".

Not morbidly,
Chet W.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From:
Date: 01 Jul 98 - 08:32 PM

Then there is Jimmie Rodgers' "WHISPER YOUR MOTHER'S NAME" recorded c.1929.

Murray

Subject: Request: By and By, I'm Going to See the King
From: Barbara
Date: 01 Jul 98 - 08:32 PM

Chet, could I talk you into posting 'By and By, I'm going to see the King'? Heard that sung not too long ago and it was wonderful, fine tune and upbeat, as I recall.
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Chet W.
Date: 01 Jul 98 - 10:19 PM

will do, barbara. give me a couple of days to find it.

chet w.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE SWEETEST GIFT, A MOTHER'S SMILE^^
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 01 Jul 98 - 10:22 PM

The Sweetest Gift, A Mother's Smile
James B. Coats

  	      E  
One day a mother came to the prison  
	     B7			E  
To see an erring but precious son  
She told the warden how much she loved him  
	    B7			E  
It did not matter what he had done.  
  
 (Chorus)  
		E  
She did not bring (to) him  
Parole or pardon (free)  
		   B7  
She brought no silver (or gold)  
		E  
No pomp or style (to see)  
It was a halo (bright)  
		     A  
Sent down from heaven('s light)  
		E       B7	    E  
The sweetest gift, a mother's smile.

Her boy had drifted far from the fireside
Tho' she had pleaded with him each night
Yet not a word did she ever utter
And tho' her heart ached, her smile was bright.

She left a smile son, you can remember
She's gone to heaven, from heartache free
The bars around you could never change her
You were her baby, and e'er will be.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Moira Cameron
Date: 06 Jul 98 - 07:05 PM

I'm surprised no one's mentioned "LEAVING NANCY" by Eric Bogle. He wrote it about his mother when he left Scotland for Australia. It's a real tear jerker.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Brack&
Date: 06 Jul 98 - 07:23 PM

Here's some.....

A MOTHER'S LOVE'S A BLESSING,
GOODBYE JOHNNY DEAR,
MEDALS FOR MOTHERS,
PAL OF MY CRADLE DAYS,
and The Cottage on the Hill.

Mick

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From:
Date: 06 Jul 98 - 08:46 PM

There is also "MY YIDDISHE MOMME" which was discussed a little bit in this thread.

Murray

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From:
Date: 06 Jul 98 - 10:36 PM

My tear-jerker favorite is Ernest Tubb's "SOLDIER'S LAST LETTER". I have been singing it for over 15 years, and it still chokes me up every time I do!

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 06 Jul 98 - 11:02 PM

To everyone- If you know a song, DON'T just post the title, dammit! If we don't have it, we want it!Lyrics, please!

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Bert
Date: 07 Jul 98 - 08:45 AM

Another snippet I got from Dad...

You may talk about that Old Fashioned Mother of yours
in the chorus that you bawl
If it wasn't for your Old Fashioned Father
She wouldn't have been a Mother at all.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Chet W.
Date: 07 Jul 98 - 10:14 PM

Barbara, Don't give up. Having trouble finding the record. Will post to this thread.

Chet W.

Subject: Lyr Add: MOTHER'S PARTING WORDS TO HER DAUGHTER^^
From: Chet W.
Date: 08 Jul 98 - 05:20 PM

Barbara and all, Still can't find my Washington Philips album, but here's a version from the Critton Hollow Stringband from their album "By and By", Flying Fish records, 1985.

A MOTHER'S PARTING WORDS TO HER DAUGHTER
(W. Phillips)

CHORUS

By and By, I'm going to see the king
By and By, I'm going to see the king
By and By, I'm going to see the king
Good Lord, I don't mind dyin' I'm a child of God

A mother called her daughter to her dyin' bed
She placed her hands upon her daughter's head
And grabbed her kindly in her arms
Said, I will not be with you very long

Oh daughter, Oh God is soon going to carry me home
But you must remember when I'm dead and gone
I must leave you now in this world alone
But you know that God will guide you safely home

Now you might do things that you don't consider no harm
But God in heaven knows when you've done wrong
So you better let dancing, card parties, all go by
So that you might be able to reach your home on high


Washington Phillips is a great source of this kind of song. His album on Yazoo records was released on CD, probably still orderable.

Good luck,Chet W.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 09 Jul 98 - 08:48 PM

There's the tear-jerker mother/child song on the DT called "PUT MY LITTLE SHOES AWAY."

Subject: Lyr Add: WHISPER YOUR MOTHER'S NAME^^
From:
Date: 10 Jul 98 - 12:54 AM

Ok Dick, calm down! Get Art to give you a double Laphraoig ;^} Here are the lyrics to Jimmie Rodgers' "Whisper Your Mother's Name" as I hear them on Rounder C-1058.

Whisper Your Mother's Name
(Sung by Jimmie Rodgers)

I was seated one day in a gilded cafe
In a window that looked on the street
A face caught my eye in a crowd passing by
And I hastedly sprang to my feet

It was my sister's sad face, I had left home to trace
Through her pride she had left us one day
And it brought back to me, as plain as could be
My mother as I heard her say

CHO

"If you should see your sister
do not reproach or blame
Tell her how we've missed her
I love her just the same
Say my darling the words that you've brought her
whether in pride or shame
Say that she's still my daughter
Whisper your mother's name"
(Yodel) EEE-yew-dee-oh-lee-oh-lady-ee-hee
yodeledee-yodeledee-hee

There were tears on her face as she passed by the place
and I hastedly sprang to her side
As we walked along I said, "Nell, we were wrong
We are sorry we wounded your pride
Your sweetheart is true and still waiting for you
We are willing now you should wed
If you'll only come back, you can marry your Jack
and please your dear mother who says"

CHO

Murray

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Anne
Date: 10 Jul 98 - 03:20 AM

SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE A MOTHERLESS CHILD especially by Billie Holliday or Etta James.

Subject: Lyr Add: HOLD FAST TO THE RIGHT^^
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 12 Jul 98 - 03:27 PM

Hold Fast to the Right
(Robert & Bill Brumley)

  
	E	       A		   E  
Kneel down by the side of your mother, my boy  
	     B7		        E  
You have only a moment I know  
        E	         A	       E  
But stay 'til I give you this parting advice  
       B7		   E  
It is all that I have to bestow.  

(Chorus)
Hold fast to the right, hold fast to the right
Wherever your footsteps may roam
Oh, forsake not the way of salvation, my boy
That you learned from your mother at home.

You leave us to seek your employment, my boy
By the world you have yet to be tried
But in the temptations and trials you meet
May your heart to the Saviour confide.

I gave you to God in your cradle, my boy
And I've taught you the best that I knew
And as long as His mercies permit me to live
I shall never cease praying for you.

You will find in your satchel, a bible, my boy
It's the book of all others the best
It will help you to live and prepare you to die
And will lead to the gates of the blest.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Martin Ryan.
Date: 12 Jul 98 - 06:27 PM

The old Oirish standard "MOTHER MACHREE" would surely qualify! It used be almost compulsory at the maudlin end of pub-sessions in Ireland years ago. Then it died out - or so I thought! At a well-known Irish Music Summer School last week I heard it belted out in a fine "bass-barreltone voice" (As Joyce, I think, said).

Mentioning the Willie Clancy Summer School: Lots of instrumental sessions around but one of the pubs in the town was effectively a "singers only" session - from about 11 in the morning till after midnight! You could wander in, hear a huge range of songs and singers, at any time of the day. Great!

Regards

Subject: Lyr Add: HELLO, CENTRAL, GIVE ME HEAVEN^^
From: Greg F.
Date: 16 Jul 98 - 09:14 PM

Thanks to all who contributed to this- really appreciated! Since I started this lot off, thought I should make a contribution- however over-sentimental and maudlin, it does capture the turn-of-the {last} century pretty well.

Cheers!! Greg

HELLO CENTRAL, GIVE ME HEAVEN
(Charles K. Harris, 1901)

Papa, I'm so sad and lonely, sobbed a tearful, little child.
Since dear Mama's gone to heaven, Papa, darling, you've not smiled
I will speak to her and tell her that we want her to come home
Just you listen and I'll call her, through the telephone.

Chorus:
Hello, Central, give me Heaven, 'cause my mother's there
You will find her with the angels, on the Golden Stair.
She'll be glad its me who's speaking, call her won't you please?
For I want to surely tell her we're so lonely here.

When the girl received this message coming o'er the telephone
How her heart thrilled in that moment, and the wires seemed to moan
I will answer just to please her, Yes, dear heart, I'll soon come home
Kiss me , mama, kiss your darling through the telephone

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: DWDitty
Date: 17 Jul 98 - 01:38 PM

Although some may say it is the antithesis of a Mother Song, MOTHERLESS CHILDREN has always been a favorite of mine. I particularly like Dave Van Ronk's rendition.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Bill in Alabama
Date: 17 Jul 98 - 03:38 PM

The song which I learned as The Lightning Express when I was learning songs from Grandpaw back in East Tennessee is available in the Levy Sheet Music collection under the title Please Mr. Conductor Don't Put Me Off. In my humble opinion, The Blue Sky Boys' rendition of this song is one of the best tear-jerkers I have ever heard.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Barbara
Date: 17 Jul 98 - 08:29 PM

Puh-leeze Mister Conductor,
Don't put me offa this train
The very best friend that a boy ever had
Is waiting for me in vain,
Ex-pected to die any moment
She may not live through the day
I've got to bid Mother goodbye, sir
Before God takes her away.

There. That's the chorus, which is all I know, so, Bill, how about some verses?? I looked in DT and didn't find it, and I agree, it's a classic.
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: Lyr Add: PLEASE MISTER CONDUCTOR^^
From: Bill in Alabama
Date: 20 Jul 98 - 06:42 AM

The Lightning Express
(as sung by Garland Foster [1877-1960] to his grandson [me])

The Lightning Express from the Depot so grand was just pulling out on its way;
All of the people that were on board seemed to be happy and gay;
Except for a lad in a seat by himself, holding a letter he had--
'Twas plain to be seen by the tears in his eyes that the contents of it made him sad.
The stern old conductor came through the car, taking tickets from everyone there;
When he came to the young boy's side, he gruffly demanded his fare.
'I have no ticket,' the boy replied, ' but I'll pay you back someday.'
'I'll have to put you off at the next station,' he said,' but he stopped when he heard the boy say:

CHORUS (see below)

'My mother was ailing before I left home, and needed a doctor's care;
I came to the city, employment to seek, but I could not find any work there.
Today a letter from Sister arrived, 'come home mother's dying' did say.
That's why I must make this ride, sir, though I haven't the money to pay.'
A little girl in a seat close by said, 'To put that boy off is a shame!'
And taking his hat a collection she made that soon paid his way on the train.
'I'm obliged to you miss, for your kindness to me..' 'You're welcome,' she said, 'Never fear."
Each time the conductor came through the car, these words seemed to ring in his ear:

CHORUS: Please, mister conductor, don't put me off of your train--
The best friend I have in the whole wide world is waiting for me in pain.
Expected to die any moment, and may not live through the day--
I want to bid mother good-bye, sir, before God takes her away.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Barbara
Date: 20 Jul 98 - 02:42 PM

Thanks, Bill!
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Songster Bob
Date: 20 Jul 98 - 03:22 PM

Great! I drop in for the first time in weeks and get an extra verse to one of my favorite songs ("Lightning Express"). Talk about timing!

The list of mother-in-tear-jerking songs should include "WHEN THE WORK'S ALL DONE THIS FALL," where it's the wandering son who dies before he can get back to his home in Dixie. I don't know if it's in Digitrad or Cowpie, but it likely is. If not, maybe someone who knows it can get it included.

I'll see if I can come up with others.

Songster Bob

Subject: Lyr Add: MOTHER WOULD COMFORT ME^^
From: rich r
Date: 20 Jul 98 - 10:50 PM

From the Civil War come several of these songs. George Root's "JUST BEFORE THE BATTLE MOTHER" is in the database along with a 20th century humorous parody. The following song by C.C. Sawyer is less well known. It is supposedly based on an incident wherein a Yankee soldier from New York was wounded and captured. He was taken to a hospital where the attendant told him there was nothing more that could be done and that he must die. Purportedly his last words were the title of the song.

MOTHER WOULD COMFORT ME
[by C.C. Sawyer (186?)]

Wounded and sorrowful, far from my home,
Sick among strangers, uncared for, unknown
Even the birds that used sweetly to sing
Are silent and swiftly have taken the wing
No one but Mother can cheer me today
No one for me could so fervently pray;
None to console me, no kind friend is near,
Mother would comfort me if she were here.

CH:
Gently her hand o'er my forehead she'd press
Trying to free me from pain and distress
Kindly she'd say to me, "Be of good cheer.
Mother wil comfort you, Mother is here!"

If she were with me, I soon would forget
My pain and my sorrow, no more would I fret
One kiss from her lips, or one look from her eye,
Would make me contented, and willing to die!
Gently her hand o'er my forehead she'd press
Trying to free me from pain and distress;
Kindly she'd say to me, "Be of good cheer,
Mother will comfort you, Mother is here!"

CH

Cheerfully, faithfully, Mother would stay
Always beside me, by night and by day;
If I should murmur or wish to complain
Her gentle voice would soon calm me again.
Sweetly a Mother's love shines like a star ,
Brightest in darkness, when daylight's afar;
In clouds or in sunshine, pleasures or pain,
Mother's affection is ever the same.

CH

Excuse me while I go get tissue.

rich r

Subject: Lyr Add: TELL MOTHER I'LL BE THERE^^
From:
Date: 20 Jul 98 - 11:34 PM

Old hymnals are a great source of Mother songs, often having a section in the topical index dedicated to Mother. One that is still in print and has at least 7 mother songs is Heavenly Highway Hymns (Stamps-Baxter Music, P.O. Box 4007, Dallas, TX 75208).

Here is one of my favorites. I may post more later.

TELL MOTHER I'LL BE THERE
(Charles M. Fillmore)

When I was but a little child how well I recollect
How I would grieve my mother with my folly and neglect;
And now that she has gone to heav'n I miss her tender care:
O Savior, tell my mother I'll be there

Chorus:
Tell mother I'll be there in answer to her pray'r
This message, blessed Savior, to her bear.
Tell mother I'll be there, heav'n's joy with her to share
Yes, tell my darling mother I'll be there!

Tho I was often wayward, she was always kind and good;
So patient, gentle, loving, when my ways were rough and rude;
My childhood griefs and trials she would gladly with me share
O Savior, tell my mother I'll be there

When I became a prodigal, and left the old rooftree
She almost broke her loving heart in mourning after me;
And day and night she prayed to God to keep me in his care;
O Savior, tell my mother I'll be there

One day a message came to me, it bade me quickly come
If I would see my mother ere the Savior took her home;
I promised her, before she died, for heaven to prepare;
O Savior, tell my mother I'll be there
--Charles M. Fillmore

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Philip Hudson
Date: 21 Jul 98 - 10:41 AM

RE: message from [e-mail] Date: 06-Jul-98 - 10:36 PM

"My tear-jerker favorite is Ernest Tubb's "Soldier's Last Letter". I have been singing it for over 15 years, and it still chokes me up every time I do!" I like that one too. I heard it on public TV this week in an Ernest Tubb's special. I don't know all the words but I do know the tune. If KristBenj or someone else would post the words or point to them in a data base, we would appreciate it. - Philip Hudson

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 21 Jul 98 - 12:39 PM

On the DT: "FADED COAT OF BLUE"

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Bill in Alabama
Date: 21 Jul 98 - 12:53 PM

Nathan's entry reminded me of a great old hymn which we used to sing in the mountains: "SUPPER TIME." Before Dick gives me hell about not posting the words immediately, let me say that I'll get to as quickly as I can.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Philip Hudson
Date: 22 Jul 98 - 05:35 PM

Bill in Alabama: You didn't have to be in the mountains to sing "Supper Time". I had it in a song book but I lent it to one of my many brothers and I can't remember which one. - Philip Hudson in Texas

Subject: Lyr Add: SUPPER TIME^^
From: Bill in Alabama
Date: 23 Jul 98 - 06:49 AM

Phillip:
I certainly didn't mean to imply that we in the mountains had a monopoly on anything--except hard-headedness and distrust any form of government. As musicians, our family was an eclectic bunch, and anything that we heard which appealed to us or touched us entered our repertoire.

Here are the words as I recall them:

Many years ago in days of childhood,
I used to play 'til evening shadows come;
Then winding down that old familiar pathway,
I'd hear my mother call at setting sun:

CHORUS: Come home, come home, it's suppertime;
The sun is sinking fast.
Come home, come, it's suppertime;
We're going home at last.

Years later, I was standing by her bedside,
And angel wings were winnowing the air.
She heard the call for suppertime in heaven,
And now I know she's waiting for me there. CHORUS

In memory, I can see her standing yonder,
And her familiar voice I hear once more;
The supper table's ready up in Heaven--
It's suppertime upon the golden shore. CHORUS

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: CarterNut
Date: 23 Jul 98 - 12:10 PM

The "Faded Coat of Blue" mentioned above is one of my favorites. I learned it from the Carter Family Victor 78 distibuted by Montgomery Ward. It is such a stirring song.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Bill D
Date: 23 Jul 98 - 07:27 PM

"I DIDN'T RAISE MY BOY TO BE A SOLDIER"../seems to me it fits, though from Mom's point of view...

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From:
Date: 24 Jul 98 - 12:57 AM

/songster bob--doc watson sings "When the Work's All Done This Fall" on Doc Watson on Stage (with Merle Watson). A fine album: Brown's Ferry Blues, Don't Let Your Deal Go Down, Life Gets Teejus, Don't It?" and so on.

Subject: Lyr Add: CAN THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN?^^^
From:
Date: 24 Jul 98 - 01:17 AM

i'm amazed that this isn't on the database:

Will the Circle Be Unbroken

        G                G7        C               G
  I was standing by my window on a cold and cloudy day
  As I watched the hearse come rollin' for to carry my
      D7      G
     mother away/

Chorus (same tune)
Will the circle be unbroken, by and by, Lord, by and by?
There's a better home a-waitin' in the sky, Lord, in the sky.

Oh, I told the undertaker, "Undertaker, please drive slow
'Cause that body you are haulin', Lord, I hate to see her go.

Well, I followed close behind her, tried to hold up and be brave,
But I could not hide my sorrow as they laid her in her grave.

I went back home, my home was lonesome, since my mother, she was gone.
All my brothers and sisters crying, what a home so sad and lorn.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Barbara
Date: 24 Jul 98 - 01:52 AM

Yep, computers are amazing, what they do and what they don't. They only give you what you ask for. I searched for just 'unbroken' and discovered that the song in the database is called 'CAN the Circle Be Unbroken'. Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: Lyr Add: A MOTHER'S LOVE IS A BLESSING (Keenan)^^
From: Brack&
Date: 24 Jul 98 - 04:30 AM

A Mother's Love's A Blessing (T. P. Keenan)

An Irish boy was leaving,
Leaving his native home,
Crossing the broad Atlantic,
Once more he wished to roam,
And as he was leaving his mother,
Who was standing on the quay,
She threw her arms around his waist,
And this to him did say,

Chorus
A mother's love's a blessing,
No matter where you roam,
Keep her while she's living,
You'll miss her when she's gone,
Love her as in childhood,
Though feeble, old and grey,
For you'll never miss a mother's love,
Till she's buried beneath the clay,

And as the years go onwards,
I'll settle down in life,
And choose a nice young colleen,
And take her for my wife,
And as the babes grow older,
And climb around my knee,
I'll teach them the very same lesson,
That my mother taught to me.

Chorus

A song my mother taught me. Regards Mick Bracken ^^

---

Click to play

---

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Dale Rose
Date: 26 Jul 98 - 07:55 PM

Earlier today, I posted (in a thread of its own) another Chas. K. Harris song, FOR SALE, A BABY, 1903. It is certainly right there at the top of the tear-jerker category.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE DYING MOTHER^^
From: CarterNut
Date: 26 Jul 98 - 11:03 PM

The Dying Mother
Performed by the Carter Family and recorded For ARC in Chicago, Ill. in 1940.

On a cold winter's eve as the snowflakes were falling,
In a low humble cottage a poor mother lay;
Although wrecked with pain as she layed there contented,
With her Savior, her Friend and peace with Him made.

Ch. We will all meet again on that great Judgement morning,
The books will be open, the roll will be called;
Oh how sad it will be if forever we're parted,
While some rise to Glory while others stand the Fall.

Oh that mother of yours has gone o'er the river,
And you promised you'd meet her while knelt by her bed;
As the death sweat rolled off and fell down on her pillow,
Oh, her mem'ry still lives although she is dead.

You remember the kiss and the last words she uttered,
Oh the arms that embraced you are with you no more;
As you stand by her grave teardrops fall on her casket,
And you vowed there to meet her on that happy shore.


Enjoy. More to come later.

John

Subject: Lyr Add: EVERY BUSH AND TREE (Otis Pierce)^^
From: Jack mostly folk
Date: 27 Jul 98 - 01:47 AM

Great Mother Tear jerky stuff, my alltime favorite is an Otis Pierce song covered by Jim Ringer called "Every Bush and Tree"

EVERY BUSH AND TREE
(Otis Pierce)

I hear the soft wings a blowin
in every bush and tree
I know my mothers a' waiting
in her heavenly home for me.

I was born in old Missouri
my family was poor
My mother's name was Laura
and my daddy's name was Joe

Momma , she called me to her bedside
saying Son I've got to go
We'll go and meet again up yonder
Where the parting will be no more (repeat 1st)

Now Daddy went back home to North Fork
And he left us here all alone
The sheriff came by one evening
And he took us to an orphan's home

So come all you orphan children
Who stays down here below
We'll go and meet again up yonder
Where the parting will be no more(repeat 1st)

If you need the music or example on tape, write me...
Jack the mostly folk guy.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: BSeed
Date: 27 Jul 98 - 01:56 AM

Amazing! I ask for Will the Circle Be Unbroken, get a message there are no hits, and it's listed under Can the Circle Be Unbroken? How come sometimes when I try to find a song, I get a list of songs with one word from the title --and that word, like or not, is THE.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Barbara
Date: 27 Jul 98 - 12:16 PM

Ah, my friend, the secret is brackets: [ ]
If you put the words inbetween 'em the WHOLE thing is searched, whereas if you DON'T use 'em, DT searches for individual words.
And, as far as a computer is concerned "can" is nothing like "will". It gives you all and only what you ask for.
Blessings,
BArbara

Subject: Lyr Add: I DIDN'T RAISE MY BOY TO BE A SOLDIER^^^
From: Ferrara
Date: 27 Jul 98 - 09:21 PM

Just have one verse & chorus of this:

Ten million soldiers to the wars have gone
Who will never return again
Ten million mother's heart will break
For the one who died in vain
Weighted down with sorrows of the lonely years
I heard a mother murmur through her tears:

CHORUS: I DIDN'T RAISE MY BOY TO BE A SOLDIER,
I brought him up to be my pride and joy.
Who dares to put a musket on his shoulder,
To shoot some other mother's pride and joy?
Let nations arbitrate their future troubles,
It's time to put the sword and gun away.
There'd be no war today, if mothers all would say,
I DIDN'T RAISE MY BOY TO BE A SOLDIER.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 27 Jul 98 - 10:05 PM

Ferrara- I just got through entering the whole song for the next DT edition. If I can get this @#$%$$##@ Windows to cut and paste from a DOS program, I'll post the rest.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: CarterNut
Date: 28 Jul 98 - 12:26 AM

With "Will the Circle...", when the Carter Family recorded it in 1935 it was under the title "Can the Circle...". On the database there is an extra verse which I never knew. I just learned the main four that everyone has heard.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 28 Jul 98 - 08:52 AM

The other verse I've heard in "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" which I can't remember the source for:

We sang the songs of childhood
Hymns of faith that made us strong
Ones that Mother Maybelle taught us
Hear the angels sing along.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Bill in Alabama
Date: 28 Jul 98 - 11:33 AM

My folks sang a totally different, more general, almost hymn-like version, and the chorus was definitely WILL the Circle etc. I have often wondered if it was the source for the mother version. The tune and the chorus are the same; the first verse is-- There are loved ones in the Glory whose dear forms we often miss--/ When we've told our earthly story, will we join them in their bliss?/ Will the circle be unbroken...etc.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Bill in Alabama
Date: 28 Jul 98 - 11:46 AM

sorry about double-posting. I thought I had outgrown that.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Whippoorwill
Date: 28 Jul 98 - 03:38 PM

This is more a "friend" song than a "mother" song, but my mother used to sing it when I was a tadpole and we'd both cry. I only remember a few words of the chorus; maybe somebody can help. I didn't find it in the database:

I'm tying the leaves so they won't come down,
So Mary(?) won't go away.

As I recall, it was about a little girl who fell ill in the summer, and the doctor said she would die when the leaves fell. Her sister/friend tied the leaves to the tree so they couldn't fall. Anyone remember the rest?

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Philip Hudson
Date: 30 Jul 98 - 10:16 AM

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety To: Bill in Alabama Bill, all we lack of the Mountains of Alabama here in Texas are the mountains themselves. Everybody I know is an Alabama boy/girl or a Mississippi girl/boy. We are cut out of the same cloth. All my ancestors came through Alabama on the way to Texas. It took them two centuries to get from Virginia to here and a lot of the old folks wish they hadn't come this far, especially in this heat and drought that we are having.

Thanks for the Supper Time words. - Philip Hudson in Texas

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Bill in Alabama
Date: 30 Jul 98 - 10:41 AM

Philip:

I'm in Alabama now, but I'm originally from East Tennessee. That's where you'll fine the mountains I'm talking about. As I recall, Tennesseeans played a fairly signigicant role in Texas settlement also. The joke around home used to be that all the Tennesseeans who could read went to Texas early on, and left the state to the rest of us.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: The oldest living Heather
Date: 30 Jul 98 - 02:17 PM

I'm looking for the lyric to a Scottish (I think) my mother used to sing to me. She is from England. She now lives with me and at 88 I'ld like to learn this for her. It's called "THE LAST ROSE OF SUMMER"

Subject: Lyr Add: THE LAST ROSE OF SUMMER^^^
From: Bill in Alabama
Date: 30 Jul 98 - 03:13 PM

Hey, Heather; good to hear from you-- It's an Irish song, one of Thomas Moore's poems set to music.

THE LAST ROSE OF SUMMER
Thomas Moore

'Tis the last rose of summer left blooming alone,
All her lovely companions are faded and gone.
No flow'r of her kindred, no rosebud is nigh. . .
to reflect back her blushes, or give sigh for sigh!

I'll not leave thee, lone one, to pine on the stem:
Since the lovely are sleeping, go sleep thou with them;
Thus kindly I scatter thy leaves o'er thy bed,
Where thy mates of the garden lie scentless and dead.

Too soon may I follow, when friendships decay,
And from love's shining circle the gems drop away!
When true hearts are wither'd and fond ones are flown...
Oh! Who would inhabit this bleak world alone?

Hope you enjoy it... Bill Foster

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: BSeed
Date: 30 Jul 98 - 11:13 PM

There is a tearjerker, mother related, that I remember only as a poem my mother used to recite when we were on long car trips. I don't know if it had ever been set to music. It was called "LITTLE BLOSSOM" and in it a mother sends her daughter to the bar to bring home her father, who--in a drunken rage--strikes her and kills her. The poem ends with lines to the effect that although the father was punished, the real villain was honored and rewarded "because he was licensed to sell." Anyone ever run across that one (it's mother-related because my mother used to recite it, just as "The Cremation of Sam McGee" is father related: it was his contribution on the long trips.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Philip Hudson
Date: 01 Aug 98 - 05:14 PM

Bill in Alabama To a Texan, the Sand Mountain area of Alabama and Lookout Mountain in Tennessee look like real mountains. But I agree that East Tennessee has them bigger and better. A lot of my ancestors came to Texas to escape Reconstruction. They left Mississippi as Teachers, Lawyers and Doctors and landed in Texas walking behind a mule 14 hours a day to make ends meet. Their children got no education at all and their grandchildren scant. Only in my generation (I am 61) did we finally get back to where we were. Now we have doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers and bankers in the family again. The South did rise again.

Now tell me the words to a song that starts "There's an OLD SPINNING WHEEL in the parlor". I know snatches of hundreds of songs but hardly know any of then through and have no sources. - Philip Hudson

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Laura
Date: 03 Aug 98 - 12:34 AM

Growing up, my mom used to sing TURN AROUND to my sister and I. Talk about a tear-jerker. Anyway, I can't find any form of the words now, and I'm to play it at a friend's wedding in a couple of months. Can anyone help?

Subject: Lyr Add: TURN AROUND (Malvina Reynolds)
From: JB3
Date: 03 Aug 98 - 01:17 AM

Where are you going, my little one, little one
Where are you going, my baby, my own
Turn around and you're two, turn around and you're four
Turn around and you're a young girl going out of the door
Turn around, turn around,
Turn around and you're a young girl going out of the door

Where are you going, my little one, little one
Pony-tails and petticoats, where have you gone
Turn around and you're tiny, turn around and you're grown
Turn around and you're a young wife with babes of your own
Turn around, turn around,
Turn around and you're a young wife with babes of your own

That's my recollection of the song. Didn't I learn it from a Kodak commercial when I was a kid? No idea who wrote it. It's similar in theme to "Sunrise, Sunset" from Fiddler on the Roof, also popular at weddings.

Cheers

June

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Ferrara
Date: 03 Aug 98 - 01:40 AM

Bill in Alabama, Is there any hope of your remembering more verses of "Will the Circle ..." the way your family sang it? That's a wonderful verse.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: BSeed
Date: 03 Aug 98 - 02:10 AM

"Turn Around" was written by Malvina Reynolds, who also wrote "Little Boxes" and hundreds of other songs. She died in the 1970's. --seed

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: BSeed
Date: 03 Aug 98 - 02:17 AM

By the way, the second line of the second verse of "Turn Around" is "Little dirndls and petticoats, where have you gone." That's how Malvina wrote it. Kodak may have changed it because more people know what ponytails are than dirndls. --seed

p.s.: I met Malvina Reynbolds at a now long defunct folk music club in Berkeley (she lived in Berkeley most of her life)--the club was called the Jabberwock.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: The oldest living Heather
Date: 03 Aug 98 - 04:28 PM

To: Bill in Alabama

Thanks much for the poem. God, it's more depressing than I remembered! Her voice made it soothing.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Bert C.
Date: 04 Aug 98 - 11:45 AM

I believe the verse for "Circle" that Barbara posted on 7/28 came from the Dirt Band's "Circle II" album.

Subject: Lyr Add: JUST A FEW MORE DAYS^^
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 04 Aug 98 - 08:47 PM

That's right, Bert!

Here's another "Mother Song" as done on "Gospel Songs by The Carter Family in Texas, Volume 3" and also done by Suzanne Thomas of Dry Branch Fire Squad:

Just a Few More Days
As Done by The Carter Family

  
G  
Not so long ago one morning  
C			    G  
Mother called me to her bed  
  
Then she threw her arms around me  
		D7  
Listen to the words she said:  
	G  
    Darling I am going to leave you  
	C			  G  
	But you'll not be left alone  
  
	Jesus will protect and shield you  
		         D7	    G  
	After he has carried me home.  

(Chorus)
Just a few more days of sorrow
Just a few more days of pain
Just a few more days of cloud'ness
Just a few more days of rain
Then I'm going to live with Jesus
He has got a home prepared
Then I'll join the holy angels
Mother will be waiting there.

Sometimes I'm sorely tempted
Sometimes I am sorely tired
But to overcome I'm trying
Taking Jesus as my guide
Oh, sometimes the past seems rugged
But it only makes me praise
And I know if I keep trying
I'll see my mother some sweet day.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Laura
Date: 04 Aug 98 - 10:19 PM

Thanks for the words folks, they're really helpful!

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: BSeed
Date: 05 Aug 98 - 12:23 AM

And of course there's "ALL MY TRIALS"--or did someone already mention this one:

Hush little baby, don't you cry-- You know your momma is bound to die, All my sorrows, Lord, soon be over.

Is that one on the database?--seed

Subject: Lyr Add: YE CANNA SHOVE YER GRANNY^^^
From: Art Thieme
Date: 06 Aug 98 - 12:12 AM

YE CANNA SHOVE YER GRANNY

Oh, ya cannot shove your granny off a bus,
Oh, ya cannot shove your granny off a bus,
Oh, ya cannot shove your granny,
'Cause she's your mammy's mammy,
Oh, ya cannot shove your granny off a bus!

Got this from Sandy Paton---1959---on his old LP for Electra "The Many Sides of Sandy Paton". Sandy never liked this album very much, although I always thought it was a great recording. More than 30 years later he was visiting us in Illinois and I got him to sign it for me. (Didn't want to, but he did.)This record contains the FIRST recording of "Wild Mountain Thyme" on the American folk scene. They made Sandy cut a verse 'cause it would've been too long for radio play. Fred Hellerman--The Weavers---is the uptown-sounding guitar backing up Sandy here.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: BSeed
Date: 07 Aug 98 - 12:48 AM

That's a real tearjerker, all right. Right up there with

Grandmaw's in the cellar,
Oh, lordy, can't you smell her,
Baking biscuits on her danged old dirty stove.
In her eye there is some matter
That keeps dripping in the batter
And she whistles while the (sniff) runs down her nose.

--seed

Subject: Lyr Add: DON'T GO OUT TONIGHT, DEAR FATHER^^^
From:
Date: 07 Aug 98 - 08:25 AM

BSeed, I don't know 'Little Blossom' but I found a similar song in my database called 'Don't Go Out Tonight, Dear Father', which is on the Free Reed CD 'The Tale of Ale' that first came out as an LP in 1976. The notes (by Vic Gammon) say: "A temperance song from the mid-nineteenth century. Peter Davison has commented that 'temperance songs offer a perverse delight very different from the sober instruction their authors intended'. Such songs were often taken up by the music halls and sung with mock seriousness. [...] We include these temperance items to show we are not biased and to give the other side of the case."

DON'T GO OUT TONIGHT DEAR FATHER

Don't go out tonight dear father
Don't refuse this once I pray
Tell your comrades mother's dying
Soon her soul will pass away
Tell them too, of darling Willie
Him we also much do love
How his little form is drooping
Soon to bloom again above

Don't go out tonight dear father
Think oh think how sad 'twill be
When the angels come to take her
Papa won't be there to see
Tell me that you love dear mama
Lying in that cold cold room
You don't love your comrades better
Cursing there in that saloon

Oh dear father do not leave us
Think oh think how sad 'twill be
When the angels come to take her
Papa won't be there to see
Oh dear father do not leave us
Think oh think how sad 'twill be
When the angels come to take her
Papa won't be there to see

Morning found the little pleader
Cold and helpless on the floor
Lying where he madly struck her
On that chilly night before
Lying there with hands uplifted
Feebly uttering words of prayer
Heavenly father please forgive him
Reunite us all up there

Don't go out tonight dear father
Think oh think how sad 'twill be
When the angels come to take her
Father won't be there to see

The tune is a worthy match to the words. Sorry, but I have no means of reproducing it. Try to get the CD if you're really interested. Or maybe someone else has it? - Susanne

Subject: Lyr Add: LEAVING NANCY (Eric Bogle)^^
From: Moira Cameron
Date: 12 Aug 98 - 09:40 PM

Well, after e-mailing a friend and waiting for the response, I finally have the lyrics to the Eric Bogle song he wrote about leaving his mother. (I had mentioned it, oh--quite a while back--but I didn't have the lyrics.)

Here they are:

Leaving Nancy
Eric Bogle

In comes the train, and its long black shape
Stops with a shudder and screaming of brakes.
Parting is hard; my weary soul aches;
I'm leaving you, Nancy-O.

But you stand there so calm, determinedly gay,
And talk of the weather and events of the day.
But your eyes tell me all your tongue cannot say.
Good-bye, my Nancy-O.

Then come a little closer, put your head upon my shoulder.
Let me hold you one more time before the whistle blows.

The suitcase is lifted and stowed on the train,
A thousand regrets turn around in my brain.
The ache in my heart is a black seed of pain.
I'm leaving you, Nancy-O.

But you stand there so calm, so lovely to see,
The grip of your hand is an unspoken plea.
You're not fooling yourself, and you're not fooling me,
Goodbye, my Nancy-O.

Then come a little closer, put your head upon my shoulder.
Let me hold you one more time before the whistle blows.

But the whistle has blown, and the time is all gone,
And he who must leave you is standing alone.
There's so little time, and now it's all gone.
Good-bye, my Nancy-O.

And as the train starts gently to roll,
I lean out the window to wave and to call,
And I see the first tear trickle and fall.
Goodbye, my Nancy-O.

Then come a little closer, put your head upon my shoulder.
Let me hold you one more time before the whistle blows.

Then come a little closer, put your head upon my shoulder.
Let me hold you one last time before the whistle blows.

Subject: Lyr Add: M-O-T-H-E-R: A WORD THAT MEANS THE WORLD…
From: gargoyle
Date: 13 Aug 98 - 01:36 AM

Truly, I believed that THIS above all others would be the first one to be posted. A search of DT doesn’t show it there.

I PROMISE to learn ANSI and MIDI postings via the tutorials on this site. Future contributions will include the “correct” format.


Eva Tanguay’s Great “Mother” song
M-O-T-H-E-R: A word that means the world to me
(Words by Howard Johnson, music by Theodore Morse)
Copyright MCMXV (1915) by Leo Feist
Published Teller, Sons & Dorner, New York
London: Ascherberg, Hopwood & Crew, Limited

VERSE 1: I’ve been around the world, you bet, But never went to school.
Hard knocks are all I seem to get. Perhaps I’ve been a fool.
But still, some educated folks, supposed to be so swell,
Would fail, if they were called upon a simple word to spell.
Now, if you’d like to put me to a test,
There’s one dear name that I can spell the best:

CHORUS 1: “M” is for the million things she gave me.
“O” means only that she’s growing old.
“T” is for the tears were shed to save me.
“H” is for her heart of purest gold.
“E” is for her eyes, with love-light shining.
“R” means right, and right she’ll always be.
Put them all together, they spell “MOTHER,”
A word that means the world to me.

VERSE 2: When I was but a baby, long before I learned to walk,
While lying in my cradle, I would try my best to talk.
It wasn’t long before I spoke, and all the neighbors heard,
My folks were very proud of me, for “Mother” was the word.
Although I’ll never lay a claim to fame,
I’m satisfied that I can spell this name:

CHORUS 2: “M” is for the mercy she possesses.
“O” means that I owe her all I own.
“T” is for her tender sweet caresses.
“H” is for her hands that made a home.
“E” means ev’rything she’s done to help me.
“R” means real and regular, you see.
Put them all together, they spell “MOTHER,”
A word that means the world to me.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From:
Date: 13 Aug 98 - 07:03 AM

There is also the college fraternity song to the same tune:

"M" is for the many times you made me,
"O" is for the other times you tried but couldn't.
"T" is for the times....

It will taking some digging around (VERY deep) for the rest.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Bob Schwarer
Date: 13 Aug 98 - 08:30 AM

I haven't checked the entire thread, but a couple of great "mother" songs are:

NEVER HIT YOUR GRANDMA WITH A SHOVEL (it leaves a bad impression on her mind)

GRANDMA GOT RUN OVER BY A REINDEER

Bob S.

Subject: Lyr Add: MOTHER O' MINE^^
From: gargoyle
Date: 17 Aug 98 - 09:17 PM

Mother O' Mine
(Words by Rudyard Kipling, Music by Frank E. Tours)
Copyright by Chappel & Co. Ltd. MCMII
By permission of Miss Louis Sington, to whom Mr. Kipling assigned the exclusive rights of the original settings.

If I - were hang'd on the high -est hill,
Mother, o' Mine,
I know whose love - woulsd fol-low me still, -
Moth-er o'Mine. -

If I wer drown'd in the deep-est sea, -
Moth-er o' Mine,
I know whose tears would come down to me, -
Moth-er o' Mine, Moth-er o' Mine.

If I were damned of body and soul,
I know whose pray'rs - would make me whole
I know whose pray'rs - would me me whole
Moth -er o' Mine,
O, - Mother -er o' Mine.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Cameron
Date: 18 Aug 98 - 03:57 PM

A subcategory of the sentimental mother-ballads were songs about mothers and their daughters who had "fallen to shame". These were tremendously popular in the music halls along the Bowery in the 19th century.

I quote the following from Luc Sante's book _Low Life_, which I enthusiastically recommend to anyone interested in 19th century Americana, and the seamier side of New York City in particular:

"The kind of song that went over best with the thieves, murderers, extortionists and their assorted muscle was the sentimental ballad. The tune that supposedly launched Izzy Baline's career at Sualter's was Arthur Lamb and Harry von Tilzer's 'The Mansion of Aching Hearts':

She lives in the mansion of aching hearts,
She's one of the restless throng;
The diamonds that glitter around her throat,
They speak both of sorrow and song;
The smile on her face is only a mask
And many's the tear that starts,
For sadder it seems, when of mother she dreams,
In the mansion of aching hearts.

"The repertoire was topheavy with such laments of the strayed remembering their kindly old mothers. There was James Thornton's 'She May Have Seen Better Days':

While strolling along with the city's vast throng,
On a night that was bitterly cold,
I noticed a crowd who were laughing aloud
At something they chanced to behold.
I stopped to see what the object could be,
And there, on a doorstep, lay
A woman in tears from the crowd's angry jeers
And then I heard someone say:
She may have seen better days, when she was in her prime;
She may have seen better days, once upon a time.
Tho' by the wayside she fell, she may yet mend her ways.
Some poor mother is waiting for her who has seen better days.

"And Charles Graham's 'The Picture that is Turned Toward the Wall':

There's a name that's never spoken
And a mother's heart half broken,
There is just another missing from the old home, that's all;
There is still a mem'ry living,
And a father unforgiving,
And a picture that is turn'd toward the wall.

"And William B. Gray's 'She is More to be Pitied than Censured':

At the old concert hall on the Bowery
'Round the table were seated one night
A crowd of young fellows carousing,
With them life seemed cheerful and bright.
At the very next table was seated
A girl who had fallen to shame;
And the young fellows jeered at her weakness,
Till they heard an old woman exclaim:
She is more to be pitied than censured,
She is more to be helped than despised,
She is only a lassie who ventured
On life's stormy path, ill advised.
Do not scorn her with words fierce and bitter,
Do not laugh at her shame and downfall;
For a moment just stop and consider
That a man was the cause of it all.

"And 'Just Tell Them that You Saw Me,' by Paul Dresser, Theodore Dreiser's older brother; the lachrymose 'Just Break the News to Mother,' of Civil War vintage; 'A Violet for Her Mother's Grave'; 'A Bird in a Gilded Cage' about the sorrows of a kept woman; 'Mother was a Lady, or If only Jack were Here'; 'Gold Will Buy Most Anything but a True Girl's Heart'; 'Heaven Will Protect the Working Girl'; 'With All Her Faults I Love Her Still'; 'Just for the Sake of Our Daughter'; 'You Made Me What I am Today - I Hope You're Satisfied'; and the immortal 'Teach Our Baby that I'm Dead.' These songs must have performed some sort of expiatory function; the mind boggles at the spectacle of garrote artists weeping at songs about shame, white slavers sobbing at the tribulations of white slaves, ear-chewers remembering their white-haired mothers."

Cameron.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Alice
Date: 19 Aug 98 - 01:04 AM

Last year in a thread discussion, I brought up the song Mother Was A Lady, (I think as an example of a waitress, in working songs) and someone responded that there was an additional verse in which one of the drummers turned out to be her brother Jack that she was looking for. Does anyone have the rest of the lyrics?

alice in montana

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Dale Rose
Date: 19 Aug 98 - 04:21 AM

I just entered Mother Was A Lady in a new thread, copied from the 1896 sheet music. I have never heard any version that indicated that one of the drummers was her brother, only that the one tormentor knew him well. No telling what changes may have made over the last 102 years by those who sing it, though!

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: BSeed
Date: 19 Aug 98 - 03:35 PM

A note on Cameron's posting of "fallen" women tearjerkers: The verse is the first eight lines; the chorus begins with the title, "She is more to be pitied than censured."

There is another verse, about the girl's funeral, with the words of the chorus coming as the preacher's elegy. The song is on the digitrad (I looked it up last night and was planning to post it here, but Cameron beat me to it).

The song was in one of the books we had in the home when I was growing up in the thirties and forties. Another contemporary (1880s, I think) song you'd like if you like this sort is "Take Back Your Gold." Here's the chorus. If anyone has the verses, please add them. They're not in the trad.

Take back your gold, for gold will never buy me;
Take back your bribe and promise you'll be true.
Give me the love, the love that you denied me--
Make me your wife; that's all I ask of you.

--seed

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 19 Aug 98 - 11:36 PM

Digging deep into the fraternity depths, I've come up
with:

M is for the many times you made me;
O is for the other times you tried.
T is for those tourist cabiin parties,
H is for the hell we raised inside.
E is for the ease with which you had me
R is for the Wreck (sic) you made of me...

put them all together, they spell MOTHER
And a mother, brother, is what you've made of me

Now, for extra credit, does anyone remember the
sequel? It started F is for your foolish little letter,
and spelled out FATHER.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: BSeed
Date: 20 Aug 98 - 03:41 AM

Gawd, did I write elegy when I meant eulogy? They're gonna get me for that on the "Pedantry" thread.--seed

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 22 Aug 98 - 10:48 PM

The way I heard it on an album called "Bawdy Songs Go to College":

M is for the many times you made me
O is for the other times you tried
T is for those tawdry frat house weekends
H is for the hell that's in your eyes
E is for your everlasting passion
R is for the ruin you made of me

Put them all together, they spell M O T H E R
And that's just what I think I'm going to be.

Response:

F is for your friendly correspondence
A is for my answer to your note
T is for the tearful sad occasion
H is for your hope I'll be the goat
E is for the ease with which I made you
R is for the rube you think I'll be

Put them all together, they spell F A T H E R
And that's a rap you'll never pin on me.

(Pretty obnoxious song, n'est-ce pas?)

Subject: Lyr Add: GRANDPA AND HIS 'DEAR'^^
From: gargoyle
Date: 30 Aug 98 - 12:52 AM

Grandpa and his 'Dear'

Can anyone say what fun there is
In the thoughtless use of a gun
Which takes its aim at an innocent life,
And, lo! that life is done?

The merry, happy warblin birds
Though roguish they may be,
The song they sing is pleasanter far
Than the bang of a gun - to me

"When I was a boy, " said Grandpa Grey,
"I thought, ' Now, like a man,
I'll take my gun to the field, and bag
As many birds as I can'

"So off I went, and I banged away,
With no thought of the pain I gave,
Till I presently met a sweet young miss
Trying one bird to save.

It had fallen near with a wounded wing,
And the look in her face so sad
Went straight to my heart, and I felt ashamed
Of myself for a heartless lad.

"Well, after that, I never could aim
At an innocent bird again,
But-I took to hunting after the 'dear'
And I did not hunt in vain;
For I've captured one, and I've never-ceased
To love and cherish my 'dear;'
And if you want to see her boys,
Why, look at your grandmother here."

Subject: Lyr Add: MOTHER'S LAST SONG (Bryan Waller Proctor)
From: gargoyle
Date: 30 Aug 98 - 01:11 AM

THE MOTHER'S LAST SONG
(Bryan Waller Proctor)

Sleep! The ghostly winds are blowing!
No moon abroad - no star is glowing:
The river is deep, and the tide is flowing
To the land where you and I are going!
We are going afar,
Beyond moon or star,
To the land where the sinless angels are!

I lost my heart to you heartless sire,
("Twas melted away by his looks of fire)
Forgot my God, and my father's ire,
All for the sake of a man's desire;
But now wee'll go
Where the waters flow,
And make us a bed where none shall know.

The world is cruel - the world is untrue;
Our foes are many, our friends are few;
No work, no bread, however we sue!
what is there left for me to do,
But fly -fly
From the cruel sky,
And hide in the deepest deeps - and die!

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: gargoyle
Date: 05 Sep 98 - 02:13 PM

OUR MOTHERS

Voices from the Dust Bowl

Mrs. Mary Sullivan

Library of Congress Collection

Real Audio

Our Mothers

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Jack Hickman
Date: 05 Sep 98 - 08:24 PM

And then there's that classic Mother's Day poem:

My Mother:

She took me out of my nice warm cot
And sat me down on the cold cold pot
And made me go whether I had to or not
My Mother.

Jack Hickman

Subject: Lyr Add: WHEN I WAS A WEE WEE TOT
From: Barbara
Date: 06 Sep 98 - 12:58 AM

There's a tune to that, Jack, and a moral...

When I was a wee wee tot,
My mother put me on my wee wee pot
To see if I would wee or not,
Wee wee, wee wee, wee wee.

She took me from my wee wee pot
And put me in my wee wee cot
And there I wee wee'd quite a lot,
Wee wee, wee wee, wee wee.

She took me from my wee wee cot
And hit me on my wee wee bot
'Cause I'd not wee wee'd in the pot,
Wee wee, wee wee, wee wee.

Something like that anyway.
B*
Barbara

HTML line breaks added. --JoeClone, 27-Sep-02.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From:
Date: 07 Sep 98 - 03:18 PM

There is an old book of poetry entitled "Heartthrobs", which is a rich mine of such materials. I do not have it to hand, but remember a mother's reference to wine as "the adder's kiss". (Happily my own parents were not Prohibitionists and did not engage in such Calvinist austerities as water-drinking, but they did have the book about the house.)

Are there not any songs about wicked mothers, other than in the much older ballads like The Flower of Serving Men? Could Victorian mothers have been so uniformly sweet?

A few years back someone in Cape Breton released a 45 of a recitation about his greedy and ill-tempered mother, entitled "Tanks Ma, Bye". I distinctly remember that the mother took the last piece of pie for herself. This is similar to a song I once heard on a Grand Ole Opry repeat on PBS, where the singer complained that the reason he was so short was because his family would never let him eat the last potato.

Subject: Lyr Add: LITTLE BLOSSOM
From: GUEST,Newfiegirl...Little Blossem..
Date: 23 Oct 02 - 12:53 PM

LITTLE BLOSSOM

Oh dear, I'm so tired and lonesome! I wonder why Mamma don't come.
She told me to shut up my pretty blue eyes, and before I'd wake up she'd be home.
She said she was going to see Grandma. She lives by the river so bright.
I suspect that my Mamma fell in there, and perhaps she won't be home tonight.

I guess I'm afraid to stay up here without any fire or light,
But God's lit the lamps up in Heaven. I see them all twinkling and bright.
I think I'll go down to meet Papa. I suppose then he stopped at the store.
It's a great pretty store full of bottles. I wish he wouldn't go there anymore.

Sometimes he is sick when he comes home. He stumbles and falls up the stairs,
And once when he entered the parlor, he kicked at my poor little chair.
And Mamma was so pale and frightened, she hugged me up close to her breast.
She'd call me her poor little Blossom. I guess I've forgotten the rest.

But I remember that Papa was angry. His face was so red and so wild;
And I remember he struck at poor Mamma, and hurt his poor little child.
So out in the street went the baby, her little heart beating with fright,
Until she reached that gin parlor, all radiant with music and light.
But I love him and I guess I'll go find him. Perhaps he'll come home with me soon;
And then it won't be dark and lonely, waiting for Mamma to come.

Her little hand pushed the door open, though her touch was light as a breath.
Her little feet entered the parlor that leads but to ruin and death.
"Oh Papa," she cried as she reached him, though her voice rippled out sweet and clear,
"I thought if I come I would find you. Now I'm so glad that I'm here.

"The lights are so pretty, dear Papa. I think the music is sweet.
I guess it must be suppertime, Papa, for Blossom wants something to eat.
A moment his blared eyes gazed wildly, down into her face sweet and fair,
And then a demon possessed him, his grasp for the back of a chair.

A moment, a second, it was over, the work of defend was complete.
And poor little innocent Blossom lay quivering and crushed at his feet.
Then swift as a light, came his reason, and showed him the deed he had done.
With a groan that the Devil might pity, he knelt by the quivering form.

He pressed her pale face to his bosom. He lifted her fair golden head.
A moment the baby's lips trembled, and poor little Blossom was dead.
Then in came the law so majestic, and swore with his life he must pay.
He was only a fiend or a madman, to murder a child in that way.

The man who had sold him the poison made him a demon of hell.
Sure he must be loved and respected, because he had license to sell.
They may rob you of friends and of money, send you to predication and woe;
But as long as they pay for their license, the law must protect them, you know.

God pity the women and children who are under the judgment run
And hasten the day when against it neither heart, voice nor pen shall be dunned.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: wilco
Date: 23 Oct 02 - 05:56 PM

" One we hear around here all the time are "IF I COULD HEAR MY MOTHER PRAY AGAIN" and "MEDALS FOR MOTHERS."

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Genie
Date: 23 Oct 02 - 05:59 PM

How about "MY MOTHER'S BIBLE,"
"THAT WONDERFUL MOTHER OF MINE,"
or "TOO-RA-LOO-RA-LOO-RAL?"

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Genie
Date: 23 Oct 02 - 06:13 PM

Pal Of My Cradle Days

Lyr/Chords Req: Pal Of My Cradle Days

Also, there's the old Al Jolson hit "MY MAMMY," as well as "IN A SHANTY IN OLD SHANTY TOWN" and Dolly Parton's autobiographical "COAT OF MANY COLORS" and Paul McCartney's tribute to his own dear departed mother, "LET IT BE."

The second verse (chorus?) to M-O-T-H-E-R goes:
"M" is for the mercy she possesses,
"O" means that I owe her all I own.
"T" is for her tender, sweet caresses,
"H" is for those hands that made a home.
"E's" for everything she did to help me,
"R" means real and regular was she.
Put them all together, they spell "Mother,"
A name that means the world to me.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: SINSULL
Date: 23 Oct 02 - 08:41 PM

Rocking Alone In An Old Rocking Chair.
Pictures From Life's Other Side.
I Want To Shake Hands With Mother.
I Dreamed About Mama Last Night.

Subject: Lyr Add: HEAVEN IS NEARER SINCE MOTHER IS THERE
From: Nathan in Texas
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 11:13 PM

HEAVEN IS NEARER SINCE MOTHER IS THERE
Copyright 1937 by the Stamps-Baxter Music Company
Words by Blanche C. Patterson
Music by Luther L. Lovett

Dark are the windows, no flickering glow
Lights up the old house that we used to know;
But in the darkness a sweet face so fair
Smiles down from heaven for mother is there.

        Heaven is nearer since mother is there,
        Heaven is dearer since mother is there;
        Earth ties are broken and heav'n is more fair,
        Heaven is nearer since mother is there.

Oft when the shadows of eventide fall,
I seem to hear her voice tenderly call;
In words familiar, "Let us come now to prayer,"
I kneel in rev'rence and mother is there.

O how I miss her sweet voice and her smile,
Yet, I shall see her again after while;
With our dear Savior, I know she will wait
With a glad welcome just inside the gate

Subject: Lyr Add: HELLO CENTRAL, GIVE ME HEAVEN
From:
Date: 30 Oct 02 - 12:22 AM

WOULD ANYONE HAVE..... GUITAR CHORDS for
"HELLO CENTRAL GIVE ME HEAVEN"?????


HELLO CENTRAL, GIVE ME HEAVEN
(Charles K. Harris, 1901)

Papa, I'm so sad and lonely, sobbed a tearful, little child.
Since dear Mama's gone to heaven, Papa, darling, you've not smiled
I will speak to her and tell her that we want her to come home
Just you listen and I'll call her, through the telephone.

Chorus: Hello, Central, give me Heaven, 'cause my mother's there
You will find her with the angels, on the Golden Stair.
She'll be glad its me who's speaking, call her won't you please?
For I want to surely tell her we're so lonely here.

When the girl received this message coming o'er the telephone
How her heart thrilled in that moment, and the wires seemed to moan
I will answer just to please her, Yes, dear heart, I'll soon come home
Kiss me , mama, kiss your darling through the telephone

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,TAMMY IN MISSOURI
Date: 30 Oct 02 - 08:57 AM

I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO FIND THE LYRICS TO A SCOTTISH SONG FROM THE 1600'S NAMED BARBRA ALLEN. IF YOU CAN FIND I WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE IT. A FRIEND OF MINE IS VERY ILL AND HER MOTHER SANG IT TO HER WHEN SHE LITTLE AND SHE FORGOT THE WORDS TO IT.   

                                           THANK YOU

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 30 Oct 02 - 05:15 PM

It's in the DT. If a search for Barbara Allen doesn't get it, try Barbry Allen or Barbree Allen. Or search for (and use these square brackets) [came nigh him].

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 30 Oct 02 - 05:16 PM

I am amazed that no one has yet mentioned THE LETTER EDGED IN BLACK: "Come home, my boy, your dear old mother's dead!" In the DT.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: SINSULL
Date: 30 Oct 02 - 05:38 PM

Or "Don't Go in the Lion's Cage Tonight, Mother"? wink wink

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 30 Oct 02 - 06:35 PM

"Don't go in them lions cage tonight" is found here: http://www.mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=1647

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Genie
Date: 30 Oct 02 - 10:59 PM

How about Steve Goodman's "The day the dog got drunk and died and Ma was sent to prison..."? ;-D

[See: YOU NEVER EVEN CALLED ME BY MY NAME.]

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: kendall
Date: 28 Dec 02 - 11:51 AM

My youngest is 31, yet I still get a lump in my throat just thinking of "Where are you going?"

[See TURN AROUND by Malvina Reynolds.]

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,Frank Hamilton
Date: 28 Dec 02 - 02:38 PM

And then there's that little fragment of New York City folklore:

Don't cry lady, I'll buy your god-damned violets,
Don't cry lady, your pencils too.
Don't cry lady, take off those beggars goggles,
Hello Mama, I knew it was you.

This might not quite qualify................

Frank

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: SINSULL
Date: 28 Dec 02 - 02:52 PM

Tune Frank?

Subject: Lyr Add: DON'T STEP ON MOTHER'S ROSES (Johnny Cash
From: Cluin
Date: 28 Dec 02 - 05:47 PM

An old Johnny Cash song my Dad and Uncle used to sing:


DON'T STEP ON MOTHER'S ROSES
Words and music by Johnny Cash
As recorded by Johnny Cash on "Songs of Our Soil" (1959)

We all were called to come back to the old home on the farm.
Mother passed away; what a mournful day!
And as my Daddy watched, his eyes were filled with pain and hurt
When someone stepped upon a rose and crushed it in the dirt.

CHORUS: "Don't step on Mother's roses!" Daddy cried.
"She planted them the day she was my bride;
And ev'ry time I see a rose, I see her smilin' face.
She made my darkest days look bright 'round the old homeplace.
Don't step on Mother's roses; let 'em grow
The way they did such many years ago.
They'll bloom for me each year, and I'll have Mother near.
Don't step on Mother's roses; let 'em grow."

Years have passed away, and how the old homeplace has changed!
Daddy had to go; we all miss him so!
Children pick the roses as they go along the way,
But when their petals are abused, I hear my Daddy say: CHORUS

Subject: Lyr Add: TO DADDY (Dolly Parton)
From: GUEST,Jaze
Date: 28 Dec 02 - 10:30 PM

TO DADDY
(Dolly Parton)

Mama never seemed to miss the finer things of life.
If she did, she never did say so to daddy.
She never wanted to be more than mother and a wife.
If she did, she never did say so to daddy.
The only thing that seemed to be important to her life
Was to make our house a home and make us happy.
Mama never wanted any more than what she had.
If she did, she never did say so to daddy.

He often left her all alone but she didn't mind the staying home.
If she did, she never did say so to daddy.
And she never missed the flowers and the cards he never sent her.
If she did, she never did say so to daddy.
Being took for granted was a thing that she accepted;
And she didn't need those things to make her happy;
And she didn't seem to notice that he didn't kiss and hold her.
If she did, she never did say so to daddy.

One morning we awoke just to find a note
Mama carefully wrote and left to daddy;
And as we began to read it, our ears could not believe it,
The words that she had written there to daddy.
She said, "The kids are older now and they don't need me very much,
And I've gone to search for love I need so badly.
I have needed you so long, but I just can't keep holding on."
She never meant to come back home.
If she did, she never did say so to daddy.

Goodbye to daddy.

Subject: Lyr Add: ALWAYS IN THE WAY (Chas. K. Harris)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 17 Oct 04 - 03:50 PM

Lyrics from The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music:

The Virtual Gramophone has a 1904 recording by Robert Price.

ALWAYS IN THE WAY.
Chas. K. Harris. 1903.

1. Please, Mister, take me in your car. I want to see Mammá.
They say she lives in heaven. Is it very, very far?
My new Mammá is very cross, and scolds me ev'ry day.
I guess she does not love me, for I'm always in the way.

CHORUS: Always in the way, so they always say;
I wonder why they don't kiss me just the same as sister May?
Always in the way. I can never play.
My own Mammá would never say I'm always in the way.

2. The ride it ended all too soon. She toddled off alone.
A light shone from a window, and she peeped into the room.
"Please tell me is this heaven, Ma'am, and will they let me stay?"
"Forever, child, for this is home, and you're not in the way." CHORUS

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 17 Oct 04 - 09:05 PM

I love the Molly O'Day song, "TEARDROPS FALLING IN THE SNOW." The words can be found with a forum search or you can hear Molly sing it on The Record Lady.

Subject: Lyr Add: DAHN THE PLUG'OLE
From: GUEST,BFG
Date: 18 Oct 04 - 03:53 AM

An old music-hall song went...

A mother was washing her baby one night
The youngest of ten and a delicate might
The mother turned 'round for the soap off the rack
She was only a moment - but when she turned back
Her baby had gone and in anguish she cried
"Oh where has my baby gone?"
The angels replied

Chorus
"Your baby has gone down the plug-hole
Your baby has gone down the plug
The poor little thing was so skinny and thin
He should have been washed in a jug - In a jug
Your baby is perfectly happy
He won't need a bath any more
For he's mucking (messing) about with the angels above
Not lost! But gone before."

Believe it or not it appeared on 'Disraeli Gears' by 'Cream' (Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce & Ginger Baker) in the late 60's

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,Penny Anderson
Date: 04 Feb 05 - 04:53 PM

I'm looking for the words to the song "PUT MY LITTLE SHOES AWAY" and the words to the song "The Old Oak Tree". It's an oldie back from 1949 to 1953, somewhere in between those dates. I use to listen to those songs and I would cry, yet I liked the songs. I was about eight to ten years old. I hope someone can help me find the words to these songs. I'm not sure who sang them. Thanks, Penny Anderson [e-mail]

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Pogo
Date: 04 Feb 05 - 09:55 PM

oh there's a good one...It's Sonny something (sonny boy?) and I recall that in the lyrics there's mention of a father who's gone off to be a sailor and never returned.

" Sonny don't go away/I'm here all alone/Your daddy's a sailor/never comes home " ahhh something something " I'm feeling so tired/and I'm not all that strong " Then there's something about " Sonny worked on the land/though he's barely a man " Somebody's got to know that song. I heard a beautiful version of it by a band called Steve Carroll and the Bograts. It's a real tear jerker momma song and probably ought to be added to the list

[See SONNY'S DREAM by Ron Hynes.]

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 04 Feb 05 - 10:09 PM

If the MC has done any single-service to the gargoyle's education....

It is.....

How much fr***ng c**p exists in the world of "folk."

Insiped Inaighn Infantile C*****

Before the MC my broadest source was "Child's" and later "Randolph"....

Susan and Dick..... you MUST draw the line somewhere .... TRAD is traditional .... its roots lie in souls past by....they have been winnowed in the winds of the world.....and the chaff has sifted out....leaving the grain....the truth....the verse.

Because some drunk in a Malaysia added a verse to a traditional tune does not make it TRAD.

Thankful there is a steady hand at the helm.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,Joe_F
Date: 05 Feb 05 - 08:38 PM

"The Ballad of the Harp Weaver" by Edna St Vincent Millay would surely qualify, except that, despite the title, it seems to have been set to music only as an art song:

http://www.denelder.com/poetry/balladof.html

And what about that dreadful medieval French song about the wicked young woman who asks the wicked young man for his mother's heart to feed her dog? More spewjerking than tearjerking, I'm afraid.

--- Joe Fineman    [e-mail]

||: Felicificity: Happiness per unit luck. :||

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,ragdall
Date: 05 Feb 05 - 09:42 PM

My Mother's Bible
Words by M.B. Williams, Music by Charles Davis Tillman, 1893

This song always brings tears to my eyes, both because of the words and because my mother used to hold me in her lap and sing it to me when I was very young. Sometimes she sang in English, sometimes in another language.

Subject: Lyr Add: SONNY'S DREAM (Ron Hynes)
From: JennyO
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 08:55 AM

Pogo, here is the song you were looking for, as well as some info. It was in the DT.

SONNY'S DREAM
(Ron Hynes)

Sonny lives on a farm on a wide open space
Where you can take off your sneakers and give up the race
You could lay down your head by a sweet river bed
But Sonny always remembers what it was his Mama said

Sonny carries a load though he's barely a man
There ain't all that to do, still he does what he can
And he watches the sea from a room by the stairs
And the waves keep on rollin', they've done that for years

cho: Oh, Sonny don't go away, I am here all alone
And your daddy's a sailor who never comes home
And the nights get so long and the silence goes on
And I'm feeling so tired, I'm not all that strong

And it's a hundred miles to town, Sonny's never been there
And he goes to the highway and stands there and stares
And the mail comes at four and the mailman is old
Oh, but he still dreams his dreams full of silver and gold

Sonny's dreams can't be real, they're just stories he's read
They're just stars in his eyes, they're just dreams in his head
And he's hungry inside for the wide world outside
And I know I can't hold him though I've tried and I've tried

cho: Oh, Sonny don't go away, I am here all alone
And your daddy's a sailor who never comes home
And the nights get so long and the silence goes on
And I'm feeling so tired, I'm not all that strong

(Sung by Ron Hynes on the album: "Living in a Fog"
by the Wonderful Grand Band 1981)

Definitely written by Ron Hynes. It originally appeared on
a Ron Hynes solo album (long since deleted) in the late seventies.
Hamish Imlach made up some additional lyrics and added them
after hearing the song (perhaps incomplete) during a
tour of Canada some time in the mid-eighties. This version was
then passed on to Christy Moore and then to Mary Black etc.
Ron Hynes recorded another solo album "Cryer's Paradise" in 1993.
He currently lives in Prince Edward Island, Canada.


I've always known it with another verse at the end. I guess these were the additional lyrics by Hamish Imlach referred to above.

Many years have rolled on, Sonny's old and alone
His Daddy the sailor, never came home
Sometimes he wonders what his life might have been
But from the grave Mamma still haunts his dreams.

cho: Oh, Sonny don't go away, I am here all alone
And your daddy's a sailor who never comes home
And the nights get so long and the silence goes on
And I'm feeling so tired, I'm not all that strong

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: emjay
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 06:18 PM

I guess I should look in the DT before I post, but I was thinking of "THE BAGGAGE COACH AHEAD." I can't remember if it was mother's body in the coach. I have the words in a scrapbook an aunt kept long, long ago.

If it isn't in the DT, I'll try to find and post those words.

I was surprised it took so long for someone to post THE LETTER EDGED IN BLACK with its line:

Come home my boy,
Your poor old father wants you,
Come home my boy
Your dear old mother's dead.

At least it is in the DT, and I've spent so much time trying to remember those words.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,joesblondie
Date: 17 May 05 - 02:56 PM

my mother used to sing a song to me when I was a little girl and it made me cry every time. The song is "I'M TYING THE LEAVES SO THEY WON'T COME DOWN". Could someone please send me the lyrics? I'd so appreciate this. Thanks in advance

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,Allen
Date: 17 May 05 - 03:38 PM

I wish I could remember the title, but there's a terrific Russian song about a prisoner writing to his mama, a tearjerker with capital T.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Beer
Date: 17 May 05 - 10:34 PM

Wow!! Late getting on this thread and probably didn't read them completely. Leaving Nancy by Eric bogle is one of my favourites. Thanks
Cameron. Didn't know he did that one. I thought that song was about a young fellow leaving his sweetheart and going to war.
how about: MOTHER THE QUEEN OF MY HEART". May have been mentioned.And "MOMMY PLEASE STAY HOME WITH ME". May not be the correct title.
Beer.

Subject: Lyr Add: IN THE BAGGAGE COACH AHEAD (G. L. Davis)
From: Scoville
Date: 17 May 05 - 11:38 PM

Lyrics below are from the sheet music at the University of Maine:

IN THE BAGGAGE COACH AHEAD
Words and music by Gussie L. Davis, ©1896.

1.On a dark stormy night as the train rattled on, all the passengers had gone to bed,
Except one young man with a babe in his arms who sat there with a bowed-down head.
The innocent one began crying just then, as though its poor heart would break.
One angry man said, "Make that child stop its noise, for it's keeping all of us awake."
"Put it out," said another. "Don't keep it in here; we've paid for our berths and want rest."
But never a word said the man with the child, as he fondled it close to his breast.
"Where is its mother? Go take it to her," this a lady then softly said.
"I wish that I could," was the man's sad reply. "But she's dead in the coach ahead."

CHORUS: While the train rolled onward, a husband sat in tears,
Thinking of the happiness of just a few short years,
For baby's face brings pictures of a cherished hope that’s dead,
But baby's cries can't waken her in the baggage coach ahead.

2. Ev’ry eye filled with tears when his story he told, of a wife who was faithful and true.
He told how he'd saved all his earnings for years, just to build up a home for two;
How when Heaven had sent them this sweet little babe, their young happy lives were blessed.
His heart seemed to break when he mentioned her name, and in tears tried to tell them the rest.
Ev’ry woman arose to assist with the child; there were mothers and wives on that train,
And soon was the little one sleeping in peace, with no thought of sorrow or pain.
Next morn at a station he bade all goodbye; "God bless you," he softly said.
Each one had a story to tell in the home of the baggage coach ahead.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,J Harshman
Date: 17 Mar 06 - 12:09 PM

Here's the way I learned it:

My mother was a lady, the urge you would allow.
You may have a sister who needs protection now.
I came to this great city to find my brother dear.
You wouldn't dare insult me, sir, if brother Jack were here.

The youth sat there in silence, his head bowed down in shame.
"Excuse me miss, I meant no harm. Pray tell me, what's your name."
She told him and he cried "Alas! I know your brother true.
For we've been friends for many, many years, and he often speaks of you.
So come with me when I go there, and if you'll only wed,
I'll take you to hiim as my bride, for I've loved you since you said,

'My mother was a lady, the urge you would allow.
You may have a sister who needs protection now.
I came to this great city to find my brother dear.
You wouldn't dare insult me, sir, if brother Jack were here."

I always wondered if "the urge you would allow" wasn't right. Perhaps it should be "and yours I would allow."

I've been trying to remember another song my grandmother sang to me - there were three - "My Mother Was a Lady" "The Skinniest Man" and another one I can't remember.
J

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,Joe_F
Date: 17 Mar 06 - 08:17 PM

J Harshman: "Like yours, you will allow", I believe.

--- Joe Fineman    [e-mail]

||: Pretense must be more perfect than performance. :||

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST
Date: 12 May 06 - 02:29 PM

Does anybody know the words or, even better, have the sheet music to "Just for the Sake of Our Daughter." By the way, there'll be an exhibit this summer at the Smithsonian's Museum of American Art called, "American ABC: Childhood in the 19th Century." Songs like "COME HOME FATHER" and "FATHER'S A DRUNKARD AND MOTHER IS DEAD" are relevant.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Joybell
Date: 12 May 06 - 06:25 PM

"DON'T STEP ON MOTHER'S ROSES" is here -- there's also "The White Rose". Two of my favourite rose and Mother songs. Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,arkansasman2003
Date: 01 Jun 06 - 09:40 PM

im looking for a song we think it is called "mothers hall of fame" but cannot find it...someone told us it was written by a gary simon...please if anyone knows the lyrics let me know please...the last line says something about if there was a mother's hall of fame i'd vote you in because you're head and shoulders above the rest...or something like that

[possibly THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE]

Subject: break the news to mother
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Jul 06 - 02:27 PM

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,shanedoyle
Date: 06 Feb 07 - 06:07 PM

hi i am looking for the chords to a mothers loves a blessing i have to sing it tomorrow at my grandmothers funeral

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,carl
Date: 16 May 07 - 01:27 AM

help Im looking for country song that talks about about a boy loving his mother and he ask her to marry him. The song goes through the whole boys life and either the mom dies or the son dies.

The song is in the last ten years I think

Can anyone help

Really desperate

Thanks

Carl

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 04:39 AM

writer unknown: My grandmother - born 1890 in North GA mountains, would sing this tear jerker to us:

O Father do not bid me come
to meet your new-made bride
I could not greet her in the room
where my dear mother died.

Her picture's hanging on the wall
Her books are lying there.
And there's the harp her fingers played
And there's her vacant chair.

The chair by which I used to kneel
to say my evening prayer
O father do not bid me come (??? )
I cannot greet her there ( ??? )

[See THE BLIND CHILD'S PRAYER.]

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,Glenda M.
Date: 02 Dec 07 - 08:56 PM

I was looking for the song "ALWAYS IN THE WAY" I found it here, but the words are not exactly like my mothers remembers it. Her mother used to sing it to her when she was a little girl.

Does anyone know where I could get the music for this song?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Subject: Lyr Add: MOTHER'S NOT DEAD (SHE'S ONLY A-SLEEPING)
From: topical tom
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 06:39 PM

MOTHER'S NOT DEAD (SHE'S ONLY A-SLEEPING)
Recorded by: Charlie Monroe & His Kentucky Pardners
Writer: Charlie Monroe

CAPO: 1st FRET/KEY: G#/PLAY: G

[G] I Left my old home way back in the [D7] mountains
Mother was called to heaven that [G] day
They carried my mother up to the [D7] graveyard
Ev'rything's lonesome since she went a-[G] way.

CHORUS: [G] Mother's Not Dead, she's only a-[D7] sleeping
Just patiently waiting for Jesus to [G] come
The birds will be singing while mother lies [D7] sleeping
They will sing o'er her as the grave fades a-[G] way.

Nothing seems right around the old home place
Even the place where we used to play
I love my old home way back in the mountains
But ev'rything's changed since she went away. CHORUS

Mother was good and now she's in heaven
She was the best pal a boy ever had
I still love my home way back in the mountains
But without you mother, a heart aches so sad. CHORUS

SOURCE:
BLUEGRASS FOR COLLECTORS/Various Artists
1980 RCA Camden ACL-7081

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,wendy
Date: 17 Mar 08 - 09:59 AM

Does anyone know all the lyrics to the tearjerkers my mother used to sing?

1.
"Mother when I go to heaven
Will the angels let me play?
Just because I am a cripple
Will they say I'm in the way?"

2.
"her young life must go when the last leaves fall...
So I'm tying the leaves so they won't come down,
So Nellie won't go away."

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: open mike
Date: 17 Mar 08 - 12:01 PM

May 11 will be Mother's Day here in the States, and I will be hosting my monthly radio show that day.

Here are some songs I have played on previous Mother's Day shows: (listed as I do for radio with Artist, title, label and website)

Jimmie_Rodgers_Mother,Queen_of_my_Heart_AmericanLegends_
Laser_Light/Stanyan_
Jimmie_Rodgers_Gambler's_Blues_American_Legends_Laser_Light/Delta_
www.jimmierodgers.com (Sept. 8, 1897-May 26,1933)
Nancy Pyle_Mamma's_got the Know_How_Singing'and Swingin' w/Nancy   
Bruce_Holmes_Angels_Life is an Intelligence Test_Haven Music
www.bruceholmes.com__http://www.myspace.com/bruceholmes_
Gillian_Welch_Orphan_Girl_Revival_Almo_www.gillianwelch.com_
http://www.onamrecords.com/home.html_
Dave_Carter,_Tracy_Grammer_When_I_Go_When_I_Go_SELF
http://www.daveandtracy.com/_http://tracygrammer.com/
Janet_Bates_Women_in_Black_Colours_Will_Come_Back_Self_
www.janetbates.com_see her song Mother's Day_
www.womeninblack.org_www.womeninblack.net

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: SINSULL
Date: 17 Mar 08 - 12:25 PM

Here you go Wendy:
http://www.lyon.edu/wolfcollection/songs/feltslittle1255.html

Looks like one I have to learn.
SINS

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: SINSULL
Date: 17 Mar 08 - 01:05 PM

A recording of Tying the Leaves:
http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/jones_grandpa/albums.jhtml?albumId=129769

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: topical tom
Date: 17 Mar 08 - 01:14 PM

The Sweetest Gift, A Mother's Smile:

   http://www.mudcat.org/Detail.CFM?messages__Message_ID=31859

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: topical tom
Date: 17 Mar 08 - 01:20 PM

An extra verse to "A Mother's Smile here

Subject: Lyr Add: JUST BEFORE THE BATTLE MOTHER
From: GUEST,The Mole catcher's unplugged Apprentice
Date: 17 Mar 08 - 01:40 PM

Just Before The Battle, Mother.

Just before the battle, mother,
I am thinking most of you,
While upon the field we're watching
With the enemy in view.
Comrades brave are 'round me lying,
Filled with thoughts of home and God
For well they know that on the morrow,
Some will sleep beneath the sod.

CHORUS:
Farewell, mother, you may never
Press me to your breast again,
But, oh, you'll not forget me, mother,
If I'm numbered with the slain.

Oh, I long to see you, mother,
And the loving ones at home,
But I'll never leave our banner,
Till in honor I can come.
Tell the traitors all around you
That their cruel words we know,
In every battle kill our soldiers
By the help they give the foe.

CHORUS:
Farewell, mother, you may never
Press me to your breast again,
But, oh, you'll not forget me, mother,
If I'm numbered with the slain

Hark! I hear the bugles sounding,
'Tis the signal for the fight,
Now, may God protect us, mother,
As He ever does the right.
Hear the "Battle-Cry of Freedom,"
How it swells upon the air,
Oh, yes, we'll rally 'round the standard,
Or we'll perish nobly there.

CHORUS:
Farewell, mother, you may never
Press me to your heart again,
But, oh, you'll not forget me, mother,
If I'm numbered with the slain.


- George F. Root (c. 1864)


Charlotte (awaits the return of loved ones from the wars on Ma and Pa's piano stool)

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,K Goodwin
Date: 17 Mar 08 - 05:08 PM

A question for guest J. Harshman. You mentioned a song "The Skinniest Man" My grandmother sang a song about the skinniest man she ever saw that come from Hokenspoken. I wandered if this would by chance be the same song...?

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Snuffy
Date: 17 Mar 08 - 09:00 PM

Forgive me, Charlotte, but I couldn't help get a fleeting image of "the wars on Ma and Pa's piano stool"

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: fumblefingers
Date: 18 Mar 08 - 01:39 AM

This tearjerker takes a bit of careful listening.

Drunkard's plea

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: banjoman
Date: 18 Mar 08 - 08:06 AM

Surprised nobody mentioned Hank Williams who has a number of "Mother" songs including "MOTHER IS GONE"

"WHEN GOD COMES AND GATHERS HIS JEWELS"

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: The Mole Catcher's Apprentice (inactive)
Date: 18 Mar 08 - 11:28 AM

"Forgive me, Charlotte, but I couldn't help get a fleeting image of "the wars on Ma and Pa's piano stool"

My husband is in Afghanistan with the Canadian Armed Forces

Charlotte (the view from ma and Pa's piano stool)

Subject: Lyr Add: NEEDLE AND THREAD (Henry Clements)
From: GUEST,Tom Bliss
Date: 18 Mar 08 - 12:16 PM

Needle and Thread by Henry Clements (HenryClem)

This is a simply brilliant anti war song that saves the punch till the very last line. There's usually a shocked silence when I finish, then thunderous applause - for Henry

I'm thinking of your mother, Jack, as she patched your dungarees
She said you were a terror, Jack, forever climbing trees
The bumps and scrapes and bruises, Jack, she'd ease your cares away
She'd patch you and your trousers, Jack, and wave you out to play

I'm thinking of your mother, Jack, as your blazer badge she sewed
You'd passed to go to Grammar, Jack, what pride your mother showed
But the uniform was costly, Jack, came with such sacrifice
But she dressed you up so smartly, Jack, wouldn't have it otherwise

I'm thinking of your mother, Jack, machining gloves for pence
Her fingers worn to leather, Jack, that you might have a chance
She toiled that you might study, Jack, she sewed that you might reap
And if she seems old already, Jack, she's given you her sleep.

I'm thinking of your mother, Jack, as she polishes your shoes
She's pressed the suit she gave you jack, for important interviews
She said it didn't matter, Jack, when there were no jobs to be found
Things would soon get better, Jack, but you couldn't hang around

I'm thinking of your mother, Jack, the day that you left home
You'd signed to be a soldier, Jack, though to her you're hardly grown
And she's written you such letters, Jack, though she had no news at all
She was knitting you a sweater, Jack, when the Captain came to call

I'm thinking of your mother, Jack, as she polishes your shoes
She's pressed the suit she gave you jack, for important interviews
Too many bumps and bruises, Jack, and no more trees to climb
I'm thinking of your mother, Jack, she's dressed you one last time

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: SINSULL
Date: 18 Mar 08 - 12:20 PM

HELLO, CENTRAL, GIVE ME HEAVEN (for my Mommy's there)

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: The Mole Catcher's Apprentice (inactive)
Date: 18 Mar 08 - 12:21 PM

NEEDLE AND THREAD by Henry Clements

but does it qualify under the thread title...?
'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety

Charlotte (the view from Ma and Pa's piano stool)

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,Tom Bliss
Date: 18 Mar 08 - 12:25 PM

but does it qualify under the thread title...?
'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety

Err... sorry? It's a song about a mother laying out her dead son. No -silly me, my mistake!

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: topical tom
Date: 18 Mar 08 - 02:08 PM

If this song has been mentioned I didn't see it.Though not involving death, this brings chills and tears to my eyes every time I hear it.
    Coat of Many Colors

Subject: Lyr Add: MORE THAN JUST A NAME ON THE WALL
From: Wesley S
Date: 18 Mar 08 - 05:15 PM

This one is about the Viet Nam War Memorial

The Statler Brothers : More Than Just A Name On The Wall

I saw her from a distance
As she walked up to the wall
In her hand she held some flowers
As her tears began to fall
And she took out pen and paper
As to trace her memories
And she looked up to heaven
And the words she said were these...

She said Lord my boy was special,
And he meant so much to me
And Oh I'd love to see him
Just one more time you see
All I have are the memories
And the moments to recall

So Lord could you tell him,
He's more than a name on a wall..

She said he really missed the family
And being home on Christmas day
And he died for God and Country
In a place so far away

I remember just a little boy
Playing war since he was three
But Lord this time I know,
He's not coming home to me

And she said Lord my boy was special,
And he meant so much to me
And Oh I'd love to see him
But I know it just can't be
So I thank you for my memories
And the moments to recall

But Lord could you tell him,
He's more than a name on a wall..

Lord could you tell him,
He's more than a name on a wall..

Subject: Lyr Add: I DIDN'T RAISE MY BOY TO BE A SOLDIER
From: GUEST,Joseph de Culver City
Date: 19 Mar 08 - 12:53 PM

Brack& mentioned 'Pal of My Cradle Days'

What about this WWI anti war song:

I DIDN'T RAISE MY BOY TO BE A SOLDIER
(Al Piantadosi and Alfred Bryan)

Ten million soldiers to the war have gone
Who may never return again;
Ten million mothers' hearts must break
For the ones who died in vain
Head bowed down in sorrow, in her lonely years,
I heard a mother murmur thro' her tears:

CHORUS/"I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier,
I brought him up to be my pride and joy.
Who dares to place a musket on his shoulder,
To shoot some other mother's darling boy?"
Let nations arbitrate their future trouble,
It's time to lay the sword and gun away.
There'd be no war today, If mothers all would say,
"I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier."

What victory can cheer a mother's heart,
When she looks at her blighted home?
What victory can bring her back
All she cares to call her own?
Let each mother's answer in the years to be,
"Remember that my boy belongs to me."
CHORUS^^^


My dad's uncle [Al. Piantadosi) composed the music for both songs and many others.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,The Mole Catcher's unplugged Apprentice
Date: 19 Mar 08 - 12:58 PM

'The Statler Brothers : More Than Just A Name On The Wall'

this is an absolutely beautiful song, thanks for including the lyrics. Wesley.

Charlotte (the view from Ma and Pa's piano stool)

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Mar 08 - 01:06 PM

I would add the Irish rebel song IRISH SOLDIER BOY to this thread.

Painful last verse starting with:
Goodbye, God bless you Mother dear, I hope your heart won't pain.

(I have a couple of versions on vinyl somewhere).

Chris Muriel, Manchester

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,Seth in Olympia
Date: 12 May 08 - 11:22 PM

I recently found a cassette of Hamish Imlach in the local Goodwill with some great songs on it, including "I DIDN'T RAISE MY BOY TO BE A SOLDIER" with four or five verses, a fine spirited march with pipes and drums that my children and grandchildren love to sing in the car.
seth from Olympia

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: eddie1
Date: 13 May 08 - 02:12 AM

If you want a real mother/tearjerker song try almost anything by Goebbel Reeves!

Eddie

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Brakn
Date: 13 May 08 - 05:00 AM

I see I first posted to this thread nearly 10 years ago and have just read through it. Thanks all.

My mother died last Tuesday.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: open mike
Date: 13 May 08 - 07:45 PM

I am sorry to hear of your loss, Brakn.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,Kak
Date: 01 Oct 08 - 08:57 PM

I'm trying to remember the name of a popular country song from a few years back. It was sung by a female - (it might have been Faith Hill, but not sure) it's about a young girl leaving town w/her family and sees her best friend out of the back window of the car, her Mother says the same phrase - that is said all through out the song - and in the end the Mother dies, while the girl is at her bedside and the same phrase keeps going through out the song.
Can anyone help me with the name of this song.
Thanks in advance for your help.

Subject: Lyr Add: ROCK ME TO SLEEP (Elizabeth Akers Allan)
From: GUEST,Uncle Jaque
Date: 02 Oct 08 - 08:37 PM

Some years ago while performing some Civil War era songs on my gut strung parlor guitar sitting on a barrel at one of our 3rd Maine Volunteers reenactments, a group of spectators approached and listened for a while.

In the center of the flock was the obvious Matriarch, who I'd guess to be in her 90s at least, hobbling along with a walker, surrounded by at least 3 generations of her family.

When I'd finished the tune, the elderly lady asked:

"Sonny; do you know 'Rock Me to Sleep, Mother'?"

Somewhat embarrassed by my ignorance, apologetically confessed that I had never so much as heard of it!

"That's a pity" she said; "My Mother used to sing me to sleep with that song back when I was but a child.".

   Obviously, that was a loooong time ago!

   It just so happened that the lady reenactor sitting nearby in her hoop skirt and bonnet was in her 20th century persona the Curator for the 5th Maine Regimental Hall and Museum on Peak's Island off of Portland, Maine.

   Overhearing our interchange, she remarked that she had just been going through a dusty cardboard box of old papers in the attic of the hall and came across some sheet music with that very title!

A week or so later, in response to my fervent request she sent me a Xerox copy of it.

I don't read music worth a hoot, but the lyrics about broke my heart. Eventually I picked and poked through the score to get the jist of the melody, and found that it was no less than beautiful.

A check of the Smithsonian and LOC Archives turned up no reference to "Rock Me to Sleep Mother" or any recording of it ever having been made. Apparently although it was written in 1860 and had been fairly popular at the time of the Civil War, it had slipped into the oblivion of obscurity before recording technology was invented.
The Levy collection has a couple of versions of the poem set to other scores, none nearly as pretty as the one I have though.

It seems that Elizabeth Akers Allan was a woman ahead of her time - an Artist, Journalist, Civil War Correspondant, Sculptress and Poetess. After she wrote the poem of "Mother" a male Composer set it to music and made a lot of money off of it, as it was a big hit. Of course Elisabeth got no credit or royalty for her work.
She sued the guy, but back then women did NOT sue men, and she only got a token settlement. After a couple of failed marriages and numerous exploitations, she died a pauper and is buried in Portland.

Back about 5 years ago I guess we happened to have the TV on to the Morning Show (which we hardly ever do) on Mother's Day, and I heard a lovely female voice singing a pretty song - and something about the lyrics sounded familiar. Stepping into the room where the TV was, I heard some of the lyrics and realized that although the melody was different, she was singing "Rock Me to Sleep"!

Turns out it was Robin Spielberg singing the old song, the first time I'd ever heard anyone other than myself sing it (and she does a much better job of it, by the way.). Looked her up on line and sent her an E-mail, to which she graciously and surprisingly replied.

It seems that she was perusing an old book of poetry about Mothers in a New York City Library and came across one that really got to her. It was Allen's poem. She searched high and low for a score to it but since she never could find it, she composed her own.
Actually, it isn't all that far off from the original.
At her concerts, she would ask the audience if anyone had ever heard of this song in it's original score. Up to that point, none had.

So I emailed back;

"How would you like the other four verses (It has 6; she only had 2) and the original score as published in 1860?"
She seemed delighted, as I was to provide the missing material to her.
I don't know if she ever performed or recorded it in it's original form or not - I'd love to hear her do it though! This song was written for a voice like hers.

It took me a while to figure out the chords to play it by, but I finally figured out that by capoing up to the third fret I could play it in "G" and have my vocal range about cover it. This is one of those old tunes that uses up a lot of range! I'd really like to hear someone who knows what they're doing and has the range for it perform it. I'd like to hear it done by a solo female, backed up with a harpsichord, hammer dulcimer, perhaps a violin - but definitely a bass viol.   A bass viola teamed up with those lyrics will tear your heart out on a foggy night, i'll betcha.

I'd post the scanning of my score... if MC would let me.

But FWIW the lyrics:

********************************

ROCK ME TO SLEEP, MOTHER

Elizabeth Akers Allan
Portland, Maine

Civil war Journalist \ War correspondent
c. 1860


Backward, turn backward, O time in your flight,
Make me a child again just for to-night!
Mother, come back from the echoless shore,
Take me again to your heart as of yore;

Kiss from my forehead the furrows of care,
Smooth the few silver threads out of my hair;
Over my slumbers your loving watch keep; -
Rock me to sleep, Mother; - rock me to sleep!

Backward, flow backward, O tide of the years!
I am so weary of toil and of tears, -
Toil without recompense, tears all in vain, -
Take them, and give me my childhood again!
I have grown weary of dust and decay, -
Weary of flinging my soul-wealth* away;
Weary of sowing for others to reap;-
Rock me to sleep, mother; rock me to sleep!

Tired of the hollow, the base, the untrue,
Mother, O mother, my heart calls for you!
Many a summer the grass has grown green,
Blossomed and faded, our faces between:
Yet, with strong yearning and passionate pain,
Long I to-night for your presence again.
Come from the silence so long and so deep;
Rock me to sleep, mother, - rock me to sleep!

Mother, dear mother, the years have been long
since I last listened your lullaby song:
Sing, then, and unto my soul it shall seem
Womanhood's years have been only a dream.
Clasped to your heart in a loving embrace,
With your light lashes just brushing my face,
Never hereafter to wake or to weep; -
Rock me to sleep, mother, - rock me to sleep!

Over my heart, in the days that have flown,
No love like mother-love ever has shone;
No other worship abides and endures,
Faithful, unselfish, and patient like yours:
None like a mother can charm away pain
From the sick soul and the world-weary brain.
Slumber's soft calms o'er my heavy lids creep;
Rock me to sleep, mother,- rock me to sleep!

Come, let your brown hair, just lighted with gold,
Fall on your shoulders again as of old;
Let it drop over my forehead to-night,
Shading my faint eyes away from the light;
For with it's sunny-edged shadows once more
Haply will throng the sweet visions of yore;
Lovingly, softly, its bright billows sweep; -
Rock me to sleep. mother. - rock me to sleep!



* One version prints as "Soul-Wreath"

Subject: Lyr Add: MY MOTHER (from Hank Snow)
From: GUEST,''Mother''
Date: 02 Oct 08 - 11:46 PM

I was looking for the words to one of my mothers old songs she used to sing. I could not find on this search. After I wrote them down, I just thought maybe someone else might be interested in this song? Words are below.

MY MOTHER
As sung by Hank Snow

There are friends who will want you, but just for a day.
There are pals you think true, but they'll cast you away;
But there's one loving soul, boys, I'll sure recommend.
Through this old world of sorrow, she'll be true till the end.

Mother, though her hands are all wrinkled and old,
Mother, silver hair that has lost all the gold--
You left her alone, went to roam through the years,
But all that you left her was heartaches and tears;
So kiss her old brow, whisper softly and true,
"Mother, you're just an angel and I love you."

[Spoken:] On the door of a cottage, a wreath sadly hung,
And a hearse stood there waiting as the choir softly sung.
There were flowers in their beauty, and the old parson he prayed.
This was the last tribute, as they left for her grave.
She won't meet you tonight, son, when you crave her caress.
She has reared you to manhood, and now you've laid her to rest.
Those flowers in their beauty, ah, to her they're unknown,
'Cause tonight she's with the angels up around God's great throne.
So don't wait that late, son, to try and repay.
Give those flowers and give those treasures, and give them today.
Let her know that you love her, and kindly show her that you care,
'Cause she's your mother, God love her; she's as true as a prayer.

So kiss her old brow, whisper softly and true,
"Mother, you're just an angel and I love you."

Subject: Lyr Add: TO BE A SOLDIER
From: Banjiman
Date: 03 Oct 08 - 03:49 AM

TO BE A SOLDIER

Let me sing you of my son
So bright and brave is he
Just 16 and he's left school
Now he's gone away from me
He's gone away from me

He's off to be a soldier boy
To fight for his homeland
He's learning how to use a gun
He says he is a man
He says he is a man

My son just heard about Iraq
The sand and sun shine bright
The leaving it has come and gone
His face was shining bright
His face was shining bright

Let me sing you of my son
A man he'll never be
Got taken to another man's war
Is he ever coming back to me?
Is he ever coming back to me?

He landed in Bhazra town
The heat was so intense
I wondered why he'd been sent there
But to him it all made sense
To him it all made sense

He and the lads got up to go
To ride out on patrol
The car that pulled up alongside
Blew out their very souls
Blew out their very souls

My son, little one, oh my boy
My tears you cannot see
Tangled in another man's war
You're never coming back to me
You're never coming back to me

Let me sing you of my son
So bright and brave was he
Just 16 when he left school
He'll not come home to me
He'll not come home to me                                                


        Music and lyrics by Wendy Arrowsmith © 2006

Subject: RE: Correction: "Rock Me to Sleep" Posting
From: GUEST,Uncle Jaque in Maine
Date: 03 Oct 08 - 09:46 AM

While rummaging through my binder of 19th C. music and practicing "Mother", I happened upon a print out of a reply to the e-mail that I mentioned.
Apparently it was Cathie RYAN who did "Mother".

Since Robin Spielbuerg did that TV gig with her, and I'm not sure but what she backed her up on piano, I got the two mixed up.

In the letter Ms. Ryan mentions that she found the lyric by E.A. Allen in a book by Tillie Olsen titled "Mother to Daughter, Daughter to Mother".

When Cathie went to write the score, having pretty much given up on finding the original, she says that it just "came to her" as if the Poetess had sent it from beyond the veil.

It seems that she liked the melody until she found out that the chap who wrote it - "Ernest LESLIE, according to my copy of the score - stole Allen's poem as the lyrics and essentially screwed her out of a share of the royalties due to her.

Rotten bum that he was for that, I reckon that he has been judged in a much less biased Court by now, and the judgment was much more equitable than it was in the first hearing here on Earth.

Since that old score I consider to be settled, and this song having long since passed into the "Public domain", the perpetrator no longer to gain any fruits of his deceit, I personally have no moral reservations in "stealing" it back from Leslie to share with a public which, for the most part, has never before in their lives heard it.

In doing so I always try to give full and due credit to Ms. Allen for her beautiful and moving tribute to Mothers everywhere.

Should she somehow be aware of the goings on back here among the mortals, I sincerely hope that she would approve.

The full web address to the scanning of this score only opens the photobucket home page and you can't access my pictures without a password, as far as I know. But thanks to a suggestion from Geoff the Duck on another topic, I was able to tweak the URL so as to open the file page with a few scannings of my collection (I have several boxes full of old stuff like this); click on the thumbnail of the last picture, and that should open it for you. Let me know if it works!

Rock Me to Sleep, Mother; Scanned Score with chords (By ear)

For the chords below the staff, capo up to the 3rd fret - for a Baritone anyway. YMMV, of course.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,Blake Pierce
Date: 29 Dec 08 - 10:21 PM

Thats my great grampa and you dont have the full song

Subject: Lyr Add: CLAUDY BANKS
From: Barry Finn
Date: 30 Dec 08 - 12:29 AM

I learn this from the singing of Jeff Warner

Claudy Banks
(Collected by Jeff Davis & Dick Swain from Fred Redden of Middle Musquodoboit, Nova Scotia, ca 1990.)

In youth I craved adventure, to Australia I did stray
Leaving friends and my dear mother for adventure far away
She begged me not to leave her or to return some day
To the bonny banks of Claudy, ten thousand miles away

Chorus:
Oh blame me not for weeping, oh blame me not I say
For I long to see my mother, ten thousand miles away

Last night as I lay sleeping, I had a dreadful dream
I thought I saw my mother who was waiting there for me
She said that she must leave me, she could no longer stay
By the bonny banks of Claudy, ten thousand miles away

Today I got a letter, it came from sister dear
Telling me of my dear mother and wishing I were there
She said that they have laid her in a grave so cold and gray
By the bonny banks of Claudy, ten thousand miles away

I wish I were a little bird, I'd fly so far away,
To the bonny banks of the Claudy, ten thousand miles away.
As the years roll on before me, I'll sometimes kneel and pray.
For the bonny banks of Claudy, ten thousand miles away.


Last verse complied from Almedia Riddle's version

Subject: Lyr Add: DEAR BROTHER (Hank Williams)
From: Ebbie
Date: 30 Dec 08 - 01:23 AM

This is the song that I grew up with, quite different from the Carter Family one that followed it in, I think, 1937.

Will the Circle be Unbroken
1907 Ada Habershon

There are loved ones in the glory,
Whose dear forms you often miss;
When you close your earthly story,
Will you join them in their bliss?

Refrain:
Will the circle be unbroken
By and by, by and by?
In a better home awaiting
In the sky, in the sky?

In the joyous days of childhood,
Oft they told of wondrous love,
Pointed to the dying Savior;
Now they dwell with Him above.

You remember songs of heaven
Which you sang with childish voice,
Do you love the hymns they taught you,
Or are songs of earth your choice?

You can picture happy gath'rings
'Round the fireside long ago,
And you think of tearful partings,
When they left you here below.

One by one their seats were emptied,
One by one they went away;
Here the circle has been broken—
Will it be complete one day?

A newer tear-jerker that I also like:

DEAR BROTHER
Hank Williams, Sr.
(Williams sings harmony to Audrey Williams' lead)

Dear Brother,

Mama left us this morning,
the angels they took her away
She's gone to join Daddy up there in heaven
But we'll meet again someday

Chorus

She left this world with a smile on her face
Whispering her Saviour's name
Dear brother, Mama left us this morning
For that city where there is no pain

As I stood by her bedside those last few moments
I lived my childhood again
I thought of you, brother, and of the old homestead
And my tears, they fell like rain.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,DWR
Date: 30 Dec 08 - 02:22 AM

Blake Pierce, I may be wrong, but I am assuming that you are referring to Otis Pierce. Be assured that your great grampa has any number of fans here. If you have more than what we know about, we'd be glad to have them.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,Mariah Ransome
Date: 07 Jan 09 - 10:55 PM

Otis Pierce was Great Grandfather also! I just emailed Bay Records tonite to try & a copy of the Every Bush and Tree album. What a small world!

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Acorn4
Date: 08 Jan 09 - 05:05 AM

"STITCHES" by Sammy Kershaw from the album "I want my money back"

Bit of a George Jones soundalike who just about avoids the sickbucket because it's such a good tune and arrangement.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,merrymax
Date: 17 Apr 09 - 08:32 AM

I thoroughly enjoyed looking through this site, and found words of many songs I had known in my childhood. LITTLE BLOSSOM (I have an old 78 of this somewhere), In the Luggage Van Ahead (I have a Tex Morton recording of this) Also, the "Lightning Express" although on the recording I have of it is called "Please Mr Conductor.

What I would like the words of is the song recorded by Slim Whitman back in the 1980's called "PAINT A ROSE ON THE GARDEN WALL, so mum will think summer's still here".
I would also like the words of the "THE LETTER EDGED IN BLACK", and another old song recorded by Tex Morton that starts off:

"A stranger was reading a letter from home,
A letter which brought bitter tears,
All over this world he started to roam,
A wanderer for many long years,
Over and over he read every word
And this is what I heard.
Come back to the valley, come back to the hills,
Come back to the ones that love you so,
The old folk are weary their time is drawing nigh,
They need you their heads are bending low.
A light still burns in the window each night
To guide you wherever you may go,
Come back to the valley come back to the hills,
Come back to the ones that love you so".

That is all I can remember of it, but would love the rest. And while it is not a "Mother" song, I would like to know the words of an old music hall number "Gimme the ground"

Subject: RE: Every Bush & Tree
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Apr 09 - 09:54 AM

Dixie

I appreciate the lyrics to Every Bush & Tree.   My mother used to sing this song seventy years ago. I didn't recognize the title but the first verse was so familiar. I"m singing it as I remembered it, but would love to hear the first two verses, just to know if I'm getting it right.


Thanks,
[e-mail]

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,mayomick
Date: 27 Apr 09 - 11:32 AM

Did a song with the lines "Don't close the lid of the coffin until I kiss my mother goodbye " ever exist , or was it just a spoof ?

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST
Date: 11 May 11 - 12:29 AM

Anyone know words for The One Word, Mother ?

Subject: Lyr Add: ON THE EVENING TRAIN (from Johnny Cash)
From: autoharpbob
Date: 11 May 11 - 09:58 AM

A couple I can add - and I have read through to check they haven't been mentioned.

"THE PICTURE ON THE WALL" - Carter Family - already in digitrad.


ON THE EVENING TRAIN
Hank and Audrey Williams
As sung by Johnny Cash on "American V: A Hundred Highways" (2006)

I heard the laughter at the depot but my tears fell like the rain
When I saw them place that long white casket in the baggage coach of the evening train.
The baby's eyes are red from weeping; its little heart is filled with pain.
"Oh Daddy" it cried, "They're taking Mama away from us on the evening train"

[Instrumental break]

As I turned to walk away from the depot, it seemed I heard her call my name.
"Take care of my baby, and tell him, Darling, that I'm going home on the evening train."
I pray that God will give me courage to carry on till we meet again.
It's hard to know she's gone forever; they're carrying her home on the evening train.

I pray that God will give me courage to carry on till we meet again.
It's hard to know she's gone forever; they're carrying her home on the evening train.
They're carrying her home on the evening train.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 15 Jul 11 - 03:03 AM

"LINSTEAD MARKET"? Translated from the Jamaican patois- "All the children linger, linger, for what their mama don't bring, all the children linger, linger, oh how will the children eat?"

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,Desi C
Date: 15 Jul 11 - 01:37 PM

Hank Williams's Mother's Day is a real tear jerker. WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN MOTHER by Ann Breen is good too

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: topical tom
Date: 15 Jul 11 - 03:23 PM

"The Faded old Sunbonnet"

[possibly MOTHER'S OLD FADED SUNBONNET]

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,JMRinKY
Date: 16 Jul 11 - 03:48 PM

This one almost qualifies.

Daddy, dear old Daddy,
You've been more than a Daddy to me.
You could have gone out with the boys every night,
But you stayed at home
Just to bring me up right.
Daddy, dear old Daddy,
Way up in heaven she sees,
You've been more that a dad,
Your're the best friend I had.
Daddy, you've been a mother to me.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Feb 12 - 08:50 AM

Mother used to sing a song that doesn't really fit in here, but I sure would like to fill in the blanks in my mind. What I remember is:

A man met with an accident upon a railroad train.
He tried to ride but wouldn't pay the fee.
A doctor was consulted, and then he said to him,
We'll have to cut your leg off at the knee.

They tried to give him chloroform, He would take the stuff.
He said, Proceed while I am brave and strong.
But as you cut my leg off, I pray you let me sing.
They did, and so he started up this song.

Just tell them that you saw me, and I was looking well,
To ups and downs I've always been a slave.
And whisper, if you get a chance to Mother dear and say,
Your only son has one foot in the grave.

Easy
[e-mail]

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: banjoman
Date: 09 Feb 12 - 06:11 AM

Just read this thread again as I was looking for one of the songs listed in it -thanks.
A couple of other "Mother" songs sprang to mind as I was reading:

THE LAND BEYOND THE BLUE - I have a recording by Debbie McClatchy but I think it may originally be from the Red Clay Ramblers.

MOTHER IS GONE - by Hank williams - this may have already been mentioned??

Subject: Lyr Add: WILL THE ANGELS LET ME PLAY?
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Apr 12 - 10:25 AM

In the yard where children were a-playing games one day,
A little tot with crutches was watching wishfully.
It seemed so hard she could not play as other children do.
They said that she would spoil their game, and was a baby, too.
Her tender heart was breaking, for they would not let her play.
As she goes to Mama, she murmurs painfully:

"Mama, when I go to Heaven will the angels let me play?
Just because I'm a cripple, will they say I'm in their way?
Children here never want me; I'm a bother, they say.
Mama, when I go to Heaven, will the angels let me play?"

"I am so tired, dear Mama," the little darling said.
"Please rock me just a little, then put me to bed.
I wish Papa would come home before I go to sleep.
Please tell him how I've waited for his kiss upon my cheek."
That night when all was silent, the angels came that way
And took the little darling, whose sweet lips seemed to say:

"Mama, when I go to Heaven, will the angels let me play?
Just because I'm a cripple, will they say I'm in their way?
Children here never want me; I'm a bother, they say.
Mother, when I go to Heaven, will the angels let me play?"

http://web.lyon.edu/wolfcollection/songs/feltslittle1255.html

Original lyrics, with a link to the original sheet music, posted here.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Jul 13 - 01:24 AM

Please Mr. Conductor, don't put me off of this train.
I want to bid mother goodbye, sir, before God calls her away.
She's expected to die any moment, sir, and may not live for the day.
I want to bid mother goodbye, sir, before God calls her away.

A little girl sat in a seat nearby....

That is all I remember from childhood recitations at elocution lessons. I would love to have the full text of the poem

Subject: Lyr Add: MOTHER OF MINE (Bill Parkinson)
From: Jim McLean
Date: 05 Jul 13 - 09:47 AM

Sadly, Bernie Nolan of the Singing Nolans has passed away due to cancer, at a very young age of 52. I was the first to record the family in 1971 and one of the songs was Mother, Sweet Mother of Mine.


MOTHER OF MINE
(Bill Parkinson)

Neil Reid - 1971
Little Jimmy Osmond - 1972
Klaus Wunderlich - 1975
Hayley Westenra - 2009
The Blue Rubatos - 2010

Also recorded by:
Eddie Peregrina; Florence Aguilar;
Reetta Marjamäki; The Nolans.

Mother of mine, you gave to me
All of my life to do as I please
I owe everything I have to you
Mother, sweet Mother of mine

Mother of mine, when I was young
You showed me the right way things had to be done
Without your arms where would I be
Mother, sweet Mother of mine

Mother, you gave me happiness
Much more than words can say
I thank the Lord, let me breathe with you
Every night and every day

Mother of mine, now I am grown
And I can walk straight all on my own
I'd like to give you what you gave to me
Mother, sweet Mother of mine

Mother, you gave me happiness
Much more than words can say
I thank the Lord, let me breathe with you
Every night and every day

Mother of mine, now I am grown
And I can walk straight all on my own
I'd like to give you what you gave to me
Mother, sweet Mother of mine
Mother, sweet Mother of mine



NB: The line "I thank the Lord, let me breathe with you" is
sometimes sung as "I pray the Lord that He may bless you"

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 28 Jul 13 - 06:48 PM

To the guest above who requested PLEASE MR. CONDUCTOR....

The complete lyrics have been posted in the forum: Click here.

There is also a link there to a copy of the sheet music at another web site.

Subject: Lyr Add: THEY'RE ALL GOIN' HOME BUT ONE
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 28 Jul 13 - 09:11 PM

This was mentioned by Bill of Alabama way back near the beginning of this thread:


THEY'RE ALL GOIN' HOME BUT ONE
As sung by Mac Wiseman

1. There were five of us boys in the family.
We told our dear mother goodbye.
We left our dear home down in Georgia,
Our luck in the city to try.
We agreed to go back and see her
When two years had passed away.
She told us that she would be waiting
And two years are over today.

2. They're all going home to mother tonight.
They're all going back but one,
And mother will be so happy tonight,
And proud of each fortunate son;
But one of her boys will be missing.
There's one she will fail to see.
They'll all be there with mother tonight.
They're all going home but me.

3. Tonight when it's dark in this prison,
I'll stand looking out through the bars.
I'll think of my mother in Georgia.
I can still see her eyes in the stars.
The others were steadfast and loyal.
No tears will they cause her to shed,
But I was the one that disgraced her,
A criminal better off dead.

REPEAT 2.

Subject: Lyr Add: MEDALS FOR MOTHERS (from Osborne Bros)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 28 Jul 13 - 10:24 PM

This song was mentioned by Brack& back in 1998:


MEDALS FOR MOTHERS
As sung by The Osborne Brothers

I dreamed Mother walked up the heavenly stairs,
And medals for mothers were given up there.
They mentioned a million things Mom did for me,
Things I took for granted and never could see.

CHORUS: If there's medals for mothers,
For all of the deeds they have done,
If there's medals for mothers,
Mama, you'll win ev'ry one.

A medal of honor was pinned on her there,
A medal for patience and kind loving care.
A medal for duty she won up above,
But the biggest of all was the one for her love.

CHORUS

Mama, you'll win ev'ry one.

Subject: Lyr Add: MANSION OF ACHING HEARTS (Lamb/von Tilzer
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 29 Jul 13 - 08:15 AM

This song was quoted in the text posted by Cameron back in 1998:

From the sheet music at The University of Illinois at Chicago:


THE MANSION OF ACHING HEARTS
Words by Arthur J Lamb; music by Harry Von Tilzer; ©1902.

1. The last dance was over; the music had ceased;
And the dancers were leaving the hall.
A few men were saying their last goodbyes
To the beautiful belle of the ball.
Alone by the window a youth sadly stands.
His heart she had stolen away,
And just as he gazed on her beautiful face,
He was startled to hear someone say:

CHORUS: She lives in a mansion of aching hearts.
She's one of a restless throng.
The diamonds that glitter around her throat,
They speak both of sorrow and song.
The smile on her face is only a mask,
And many the tear that starts,
For sadder it seems when of mother she dreams
In the mansion of aching hearts.

2. Alone by the fireside, a man sadly looks
At a picture that hangs on the wall.
He has never forgotten the sad sweet face
Of the beautiful belle of the ball.
He's reading her letter: "My picture I send.
I have loved you, but only in vain.
Oh, try to forget that we ever have met."
Then he thinks with a heart full of pain: CHORUS

Subject: Lyr Add: MY MAMMY (Young/Lewis/Donaldson)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 29 Jul 13 - 07:32 PM

This is the Al Jolson song mentioned by Genie back in 2002. From the sheet music at Mississippi State University:


MY MAMMY
Words by Joe Young and Sam Lewis; music by Walter Donaldson; ©1921.

1. Ev'rything seems lovely
When you start to roam.
The birds are singing the day that you stray,
But wait until you are further away.
Things won't be so lovely
When you're all alone.
Here's what you'll keep saying
When you're far from home.

CHORUS: Mammy, mammy,
The sun shines east; the sun shines west;
But I've just learned where the sun shines best.
Mammy, mammy,
My heart strings are tangled around Alabammy.
I'se a-comin'; sorry that I made you wait.
I'se a-comin'; hope and pray I'm not too late.
Mammy, mammy,
I'd walk a million miles for one of your smiles, my mammy.

2. We all start our travels
Searching for a friend.
If you went searching down deep in your mind,
You know you just left the best pal behind.
After all our travels,
Where do we all wend?
Back home to our first love
At the journey's end.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 29 Jul 13 - 10:16 PM

This is one that I wrote:

Autumn Leaves

Autumn leaves are falling outside our window
A cold wind scatters them across our lawn
Tears roll down my cheeks as I think of you
Although it's twenty years now since you've gone
I remember how our daughter asked about you
As she wondered why her mommy doesn't come
As I cried I told her that you'd gone to Heaven
But my words were only lost on one so young

I became both her father and her mother
And love for her gave me strenth to go on
And in her smiling eyes I'd see your picture
For she grew up looking so much like her mom
She was married just a year ago last summer
And now she has a daughter of her own
I'm so proud that she has named the baby for you
For her little smile can melt a heart of stone

Those autumn leaves fell on the day you left me
But in springtime all the trees once more turned green
I'm so thankful for the gifts that you have given
But I wish you had been here to share my dream
Last week I paid a visit to my doctor
And he told me that my test results were poor
I know somewhere above you're waiting for me
And I'll kiss you soon again at Heaven's door


©   Jan.26, 2009
      Alexander McLean

Subject: Lyr Add: SHE MAY HAVE SEEN BETTER DAYS (Thornton)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 30 Jul 13 - 10:03 AM

This song was quoted in the text posted by Cameron back in 1998:

From the sheet music at the the Levy collection:


SHE MAY HAVE SEEN BETTER DAYS
Words and music by James Thornton, ©1894.

1. While strolling along with the city's vast throng
On a night that was bitterly cold,
I noticed a crowd who were laughing aloud
At something they chanced to behold.
I stopped for to see what the object could be,
And there on a doorstep lay
A woman in tears from the crowd's angry jeers,
And then I heard somebody say:

CHORUS: She may have seen better days
When she was in her prime.
She may have seen better days,
Once upon a time.
Though by the wayside she fell,
She may yet mend her ways.
Some poor old mother is waiting for her
Who has seen better days.

2. If we could but tell why the poor creature fell,
Perhaps we'd be not so severe.
If the truth were but known of this outcast alone,
Mayhap we would ail shed a tear.
She was once someone's joy, cast aside like a toy,
Abandoned, forsaken, unknown.
Ev'ry man standing by had a tear in his eye,
For some had a daughter at home.

3. The crowd went away, but I longer did stay,
For from her I was loath to depart.
I knew by her moan as she sat there alone
That something was breaking her heart.
She told me her life; she was once a good wife,
Respected and honored by all.
Her husband had fled ere they were long wed,
And tears down her cheeks sadly fall.

Subject: Lyr Add: MOTHER IS GONE (from Hank Williams)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 31 Jul 13 - 10:10 AM

Banjoman mentioned this song above in 2008 and again in 2012, but it hasn't been posted at Mudcat before.


MOTHER IS GONE
As sung by Hank Williams

In a little pine grove by the old home,
There's someone who's resting alone,
And there on the tomb these words I read.
The words were: "Mother is gone."

Mother is gone to her home
Way up in heaven above,
And my heart's so sad for the words I read there.
The words were: "Mother is gone."

As I stood alone with mem'ries of home,
The place I left long, long ago,
I returned home but I waited too long,
For the words read: "Mother is gone."

My friends did say before she went away
She called my name o'er and o'er,
So trusting in God's love, I'll meet her above,
Over on that other shore.

Mother is gone to her home
Way up in heaven above,
And my heart's so sad for the words I read there.
The words were: "Mother is gone."

Subject: Lyr Add: PAINT A ROSE ON THE GARDEN WALL
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 31 Jul 13 - 11:26 AM

Merrymax mentioned this back in 2009:


PAINT A ROSE ON THE GARDEN WALL
As sung by Slim Whitman

"I might live a little longer, dear," a sick mother said to her son.
"I will leave you when the roses disappear. They're fading one by one."
Then the boy knelt down to pray
And his prayer started in this way:

Please paint a rose on the garden wall so Mom will think summer's still here.
The doctor said she would be taken from me when the roses disappear.
She'll think the painted flower is real; it will give her new courage somehow,
So please paint a rose on the garden wall so Mama won't leave me now.

[Spoken] You know they say that a boy's best friend is his mother,
And I for one know that it's true.
They'll stay by your side when there's no other,
And guard you when you're alone and blue.
So is it asking too much, dear God,
To spare me these heartaches, these tears?
Won't you please paint a rose on the garden wall,
So my mom will think summer's still here?

[Sung] She'll think the painted flower is real; it will give her new courage somehow,
So please paint a rose on the garden wall so mama won't leave me now.

Subject: Lyr Add: WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN MOTHER
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 31 Jul 13 - 06:50 PM

Guest Desi C mentioned this song in 2011, although he thought of Irish pop singer Ann Breen's version. This song is truly sappy. Somehow it sounds worse to my ears when Ann Breen sings it, although she has a good voice.


WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN MOTHER
As sung by Wilf Carter a.k.a. Montana Slim
Tune: "What a Friend We Have in Jesus"

What a friend we have in mother,
Who will all our secrets share.
We should never keep things from her.
Tell her all and she'll be there.
Oh, what tender love she gives us,
When in sorrow or despair.
Tell her gently; whisper softly.
She will listen; she'll be there.

Day by day as she grows older,
She's the nation's guiding star.
Don't forget the prayers she taught you.
You may need them by and by.*
Though her hair has turned to silver,
Send her flowers sweet and fair.
Drop a card or send a letter.
She'll be waiting; she'll be there.

When her eyes are closed in slumber,
Gently kiss her icy brow.
Fold her hands upon her bosom.
She will rest in Heaven now.
When your days are dark and dreary,
And your cross is hard to bear,
Do not let your mem'ry fail you.
Think of her and she'll be there.

[Repeat last 4 lines.]


[* Ann Breen changes this line to "You will need them where you are," thus fixing the faulty rhyme.]

Subject: Lyr Add: MOTHER'S OLD FADED SUNBONNET
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 31 Jul 13 - 07:11 PM

Topical Tom mentioned "The Faded Old Sunbonnet" which I take to be this song:


MOTHER'S OLD FADED SUNBONNET
As sung by J. P. Mayton

There's a faded old sunbonnet on a peg behind the door.
It's the one my sainted mother used to wear,
But one day she hung it up and never took it down no more,
And since that day we've left it hanging there.

Dear God, take care of mother wherever she may be (up there).
Grant her rest and some comfort over there (and keep her).
Such a sweet and smiling angel she always seemed to be
In that old sunbonnet that she used to wear.

It seems that I can feel her tourin'(?) around that old home place.
That's when times were really tight and we were in despair,
And she'd take that old sunbonnet and put it low upon her face
Just to hide from us all the sorrow written there.

Oh, God, take care of mother....

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,OldNicKilby
Date: 13 Jul 15 - 07:07 AM

Trawling through some old tapes we stumbled on this. Who was or is Henry Clements ? What a cracking song , managed to learn it over the weekend found it difficult not to cry

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,OldNicKilby
Date: 13 Jul 15 - 07:09 AM

I should have added Henry Clements "Needle and Thread"

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,Alan Ross
Date: 13 Jul 15 - 04:42 PM

My late father Stewart Ross wrote the lyrics to a lovely mother song.

My Mother - words by Stewart Ross (C) 1975
Many years ago I left my home to seek my fame and fortune,
and I left my dear old mother in her home.
Now the years have rolled along, and I am far across the ocean,
but the time has come for me to cease to roam.

Chorus:

May the light of love shine out across the dark and stormy ocean.
May the bonds of friendship reach across the sea.
To the cottage where that dear old lady sits, and waits, and wonders.
Yes, my dear old mother's waiting there for me.

Yes, in mem'ry I can see her standing by the open doorway,
looking seaward from the cottage on the brae.
mid the heather and bracken there she stands and waits so lonely.
And she's thinking of her boy who's far away.

Chorus:

May the light of love....


One day soon I will return to find that dear old lady waiting,
for her wand'ring boy to come back home again.
And I'll reach out with my loving arms and greet her with emotion. And I'll settle down and never roam again.


Chorus:

May the light of love...

Yes, my dear old mother's waiting there for me

Subject: Lyr Add: A BOY'S BEST FRIEND IS HIS MOTHER
From: JeffB
Date: 14 Jul 15 - 03:38 PM

This is a favourite of mine :-

A BOY'S BEST FRIEND IS HIS MOTHER
Words by Harry Miller, music by J. P. Skelly, ©1883.

1. While plodding on our way the toilsome road of life,
How few the friends that daily there we meet!
Not many will stand by in trouble and in strife
With counsel and affection ever sweet;
But there is one whose smile will ever on us beam,
Whose love is dearer far than any other,
And wherever we may turn, this lesson we will learn:
A boy's best friend is his mother.

CHORUS: Then cherish her with care,
And smooth her silv'ry hair.
When gone, you will never get another;
And wherever we may turn,
This lesson we shall learn:
A boy's best friend is his mother.

2. Though all the world may frown, and ev'ry friend depart,
She never will forsake us in our need.
Our refuge evermore is still within her heart;
For us her loving sympathy will plead.
Her pure and gentle smile forever cheers our way;
'Tis sweeter and 'tis purer than all other.
When she goes from earth away, we'll find out while we stray,
A boy's best friend is his mother.

3. Her fond and gentle face not long may greet us here;
Then cheer her with our kindness and our love.
Remember at her knee in childhood bright and dear,
We heard her voice like angels from above.
Though after years may bring their gladness or their woe,
Her love is sweeter far than any other,
And our longing heart will learn, wherever we may turn,
A boy's best friend is his mother.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: JeffB
Date: 14 Jul 15 - 03:41 PM

Sorry, got a wonky mouse. I C&P'd this and had to do manual line-breaks, but damned mouse had a short-circuit and sent off prematurely. Could a kind Mud Elf do the line-breaks for me please?

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: henryclem
Date: 14 Jul 15 - 08:30 PM

I'm Henry Clements and I'm still singing around the local folk clubs in Bristol, Gloucs and Wilts, and sometimes further afield. Needle and Thread is a song I still find intensely emotional to sing and I am gratified to hear that the impact is more than personal just to me. I know a few people sing it but the only other recorded version I know of is Tom Bliss's superb rendition on "Mixed Moss".

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,OldNicKilby
Date: 15 Jul 15 - 09:55 AM

Thank you Henry, it is very rare that I am so touched by a song. Goodness knows where we got the tape from or what made me listen to it last week. A wonderful song on a par with " Sun is Burning "

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,Gealt
Date: 15 Jul 15 - 11:15 AM

Shall I Ne'er See You More Gentle Mother?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej-hFjR06mY

Very popular in the ballrooms of romance.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,Mrr
Date: 15 Jul 15 - 12:38 PM

There is a lovely song I heard about in a wonderful book called The Witch's Boy (Gruber), sung by a gypsy child in a tavern, that I wish were a real song but don't know if it is.

In it, a young man falls in love with a cruel mistress (I am tryng to quote) who asks him, as a token of his love, to kill his mother, cut out her heart, and bring it to her to eat. This the young man does, but as he is running back to his love with the bleeding heart in his hands, he trips and drops it. When it falls to the ground it cries out in his mother's voice, oh, my dear child, have you hurt yourself? This was the chorus of the song and the little girl sang it most plaintively, goes the story.

I love the song, though! Is it real? Anybody know it?

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,Mrr
Date: 15 Jul 15 - 12:40 PM

Also, would The Baggage Coach Ahead count? I always cry at that one...

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Joe_F
Date: 15 Jul 15 - 03:33 PM

Mrr: It's real. I mentioned it a ways upthread, but didn't think to look it up. It's called Jean Richepin's Song.

Subject: Lyr Add: ...TRADE SILVER IN MY MOTHER'S HAIR
From: PHJim
Date: 16 Jul 15 - 08:03 AM

I'll admit that I haven't read every post, but just in case this one's bee missed, here's a song I learned from Mose CScarlett's first album, "Stallin' For Time".

I Wouldn't Trade The Silver In My Mother's Hair

Fred J. Coots - Jack Little

I wouldn't trade the silver in my mother's hair
For all the gold in the world
The hands that rocked my cradle
Through all my baby days
Are treasures from the sky
That money cannot buy

God gave us mothers
And tried to be fair
When he gave me mine
I got more than my share
I wouldn't trade the silver in my mother's hair
For all the gold in the world.

God gave us mothers
And tried to be fair
When he gave me mine
I got more than my share
I wouldn't trade the silver in my mother's hair
For all the gold in the world.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: PHJim
Date: 16 Jul 15 - 08:10 AM

I'm sure someone's thought of this one, but just in case:Ray Wylie Hubbard

Subject: Lyr Add: MOTHER'S CHAIR (from Isla Grant)
From: GUEST,Isla Grant - Mother's Chair
Date: 16 Jul 15 - 02:22 PM

There's an old arm chair,
and it means the world to me,
for I used to sit there,
upon my mother's knee.
And she'd read to me the stories,
that children love to hear.
Now there's no one to sit in mother's chair.

I still recall the many times,
the words she'd say to me,
fight for all your dreams,
turn them to reality.
And as I sat by her in wonder,
her eyes held so much pride,
I knew against all others,
I had mother on my side.

Mother's chair is old and dusty,
and the colour's fading fast.
But to me it holds the memory,
of happy days long past.
Like the way she'd smile and hold my hand,
brush away my tears,
now there's no one to sit in mother's chair.

Now the old chair is still standing,
where she left it on that day,
when God came to visit,
and carried her away.
And every time I see it,
it looks so cold and bare,
now there's no one to sit in mother's chair.

Mother's chair is old and dusty,
and the colour's fading fast.
But to me it holds the memory,
of happy days long past.
Like the way she'd smile and hold my hand,
brush away my tears,
now there's no one to sit in mother's chair.

There's an old arm chair,
and it means the world to me,
for I used to sit there,
upon my mother's knee.
And she'd read to me the stories,
that children love to hear.
Now there's no one to sit in mother's chair.
No there's no one to sit in mother's chair.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,Guest who posted as Easy Seeker
Date: 25 Dec 18 - 10:42 AM

I made a misprint when I posted the song of the man who met with an accident upon a railroad train.
I said they tried to give him chloroform, He would take the stuff.
It was meant to be, He wouldn't take the stuff.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Acorn4
Date: 26 Dec 18 - 05:59 AM

Sammy Kershaw - Stitches

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: mayomick
Date: 27 Dec 18 - 05:36 AM

An Old Log Cabin for Sale
A welcome I read on the floormat an old braided rug by the door
The hands of an angel had made it with many a prayer prayed before
In an old rocking chair on she waited for one glimpse of him how she yearned
But now he was standing in silence too late yes too late he'd returned
And the sign read An Old Log Cabin for Sale…….

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Mrrzy
Date: 27 Dec 18 - 01:43 PM

I love this place. The Witch's Boy had no dog in it, so thanks.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: topical tom
Date: 28 Dec 18 - 04:57 PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ltTCjwLLes

Put My Little Shors Away

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Shenkin
Date: 01 Apr 19 - 03:37 PM

Well, hell, I'm only 22-1/2 years late to this party.

Tim Jaques wrote:
"This is similar to a song I once heard on a Grand Ole Opry repeat on PBS, where the singer complained that the reason he was so short was because his family would never let him eat the last potato."

That would be "Take An Old Cold 'Tater And Wait", by Little Jimmy Dickens, a #7 country hit for him in 1949.

-P.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,keberoxu
Date: 01 Apr 19 - 03:46 PM

You left out the Al Jolson ad-lib at the end:


Mammy!
Mammy! don't you KNOW me?
It's your own little BAAAAA - by!



And yes,
I think the Baggage Coach Ahead qualifies.