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Lyr Req: Why Do You Weep Dear Willow

10 Sep 02 - 11:27 AM (#780463)
Subject: why do you weep,dear willow...
From: tar_heel

i was at a fiddler's convention over the week end and heard a young kid sing this song in folk song competition...i remembered the chorus,but not the verses...had not heard this song in many years...the kid sang it as his dad picked the guitar...brought the crowd to its feet....can anyone help me?...


10 Sep 02 - 11:55 AM (#780485)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: why do you weep,dear willow...
From: masato sakurai

Is this the one? "Why Do You Weep Dear Willow" [realaudio] sung by Molly O'Day from The Record Lady's All-Time Country Favorites (Real Country Page 33).

~Masato


12 Sep 02 - 02:58 PM (#782271)
Subject: Lyr Add: WHY DO YOU WEEP, DEAR WILLOW?
From: Jim Dixon

Transcribed from the RealAudio file that Masato linked to above.

WHY DO YOU WEEP, DEAR WILLOW?
(Blankenship/Davis)

I see a weeping willow. It seems to hide its face,
But it is only shielding my mother's resting-place.

CHO: Why do you weep, dear willow? Your branch it hangs so low.
Could it be you know a secret that other trees don't know?
You have no cause for weeping. Your sorrow's all for me.
Beneath your bowing branches, my mother's grave I see.

When I left my mother, her love was there for me.
I returned to find her sleeping beneath that willow tree. CHO.

While you sit and listen as I sing this song,
Try not to worry mother. She won't be with you long.
Always be kind to mother. Don't be a fool like me,
Or you will find her sleeping beneath that willow tree. CHO.

[I have labeled four lines as a "chorus" just because it repeats, but the melody is the same all the way through; it repeats every 2 lines. It's a bit monotonous!]

[As sung by Molly O'Day and the Cumberland Folks. Also recorded by the Maddox Brothers & Rose, Hylo Brown & The Timberliners, the Farmer Boys, and The Lost & Found.]


11 Feb 14 - 07:22 PM (#3600559)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Why Do You Weep Dear Willow
From: GUEST,goody

Another verse I heard is

I'll join you in your weeping; your sorrow now I see
But I know there is a Country where Mother waits for me.

Also Why do you weep, dear willow? Why do your branches hang low?
This is the way I remember the line from hearing the Carters and my mother and dad singing it long ago.


19 Dec 17 - 07:20 PM (#3894787)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Why Do You Weep Dear Willow
From: GUEST

Skeeter Davis sang this song live on the Grand Ole Opry many, many years ago. I’m sure there is recording from the Opry out there as I have heard it played already.