The following is lifted from "Where have All The Flowers Gone" by Pete Seeger (1993, Pete Seeger and Sing Out!)

"A love song I've sung more often is "Kisses Sweeter than Wine." Interesting story behind it . Leadbelly (Huddie Ledbetter) was living in New York in the 1940's. Once singing at a Greenwich Village party he heard an Irish artist, Sam Kennedy, singing a lonesome old Irish song, "Drimmin Down."

A sorrowful ditty I'll tell ye right now,
Of an old man that had but one cow.
He took her to the field to be fed,
And all of a sudden poor Drimmer dropped dead,
Oh — mush-a sweeter than thou.

Leadbelly liked the tune, but he wanted to sing it his own way. Some time later, at another crowded Greenwich Village party, he took Sam Kennedy aside into the bathroom, the only quiet place they could find. He said, "Sam., I'd like to sing your song, but I'm changing it a little, and I wonder if it is O.K. with you." Sam was very polite. He said, "Leadbelly, it's an old, old song. Everybody's got a right to sing it the way they want to. You sing it your way; I'll sing it my way." Leadbelly changed the rhythm. Also garbled the words.

Once I was humming through the melody as Leadbelly sang it. I was intrigued by the unusual chords Leadbelly used to accompany it. He'd played A major 7th, but sang it in A minor. But I couldn't remember his words. I found myself singing, "Oh oh, kisses sweeter than wine."

I knew it was a good idea for a chorus, but I wasn't skilled enough to figure what the heck to do with the rest of the song. I jotted the idea on a scrap of paper and dropped it in a file labeled 'song ideas 1949.'

It's a year later. Us four Weavers found ourselves in a most unexpected situation. Thanks to the enthusiasm of bandleader Gordon Jenkins, we'd recorded one of the songs of Leadbelly, who'd died penniless the year before.

"Goodnight Irene" sold more records than any other pop song since WWII. In the summer of 1950 you couldn't escape it. A waltz yet! In a roadside diner we heard someone say, 'Turn that jukebox off! I've heard that song 50 times this week.'

And the Weavers found ourselves on tour going from one expensive nightspot to another — the Thunderbird Hotel in Las Vegas, Ciro's in Hollywood. In Houston's Shamrock Hotel we were sitting around a swimming pool contemplating a letter from our manager, 'Decca Records wants to record some new songs. Please start rehearsing them.'

Lee (Hays) says, 'Pete get out your folder of song ideas; let's go through them, see if there's something we can work on. I'm humming this idea and that as I leaf through scraps of paper. I come to this. Lee said, 'Hold on, let me try it.'

Next morning he came back with about six or seven verses. As I remember we pared them down to five. Sometimes I only sing four verses and get away with it. It was a mild seller back in 1950 — a much better seller a few years later when country singer Jimmie Rodgers did it. But what makes me really happy is that it has become a standard with many people. The songwriter as a matchmaker!

Now, who should one credit on this song? The Irish, certainly. Sam Kennedy, who taught it to us. Leadbelly, for adding rhythm and blues chords. Me, for two new words for the refrain. Lee, who wrote seven verses. Fred and Ronnie, for paring them down to five. I know the song publisher, The Richmond Organization, cares. I guess folks whom TRO allows to reprint the song, (like Sing Out!, the publisher of this book) care about this too."

rich r