Lyr Add: Undone in Sorrow (Ola Belle Reed)

Subject: Lyr Add: UNDONE IN SORROW (Ola Belle Reed)
From: harpgirl
Date: 17 Oct 04 - 11:39 AM

UNDONE IN SORROW
(Ola Belle Reed)

(capo to second fret and play in Emin)
banjo and guitar


Over yonder in the graveyard
Where the wild, wild flowers grow
Oh there they lay o'er my true lover (oh there they lay my own true lover)
She's gone from me forever more
Fairer than the sweetest flower
Restless as the wildest wind
Born with a love deep as the ocean
This was the girl that I did win
Left her there back in the mountains
To see the world, riches to gain
Oh when I returned no earthly treasures
Could ease this heart so full of pain

instrumental break

There so high upon that mountain
Beneath that little mound of clay
Oh, the girl that I returned to marry
So still among the flowers she lay
I'll go away and I will wander
Lay aside my earthly gain
Oh and I'll not end it, the man with riches

Undone in sorrow I remain
Undone in sorrow I remain


love, harpgirl

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Undone in Sorrow (Ola Belle Reed)
From: Dan Schatz
Date: 17 Sep 25 - 01:46 PM

21 years later, this song caught my ear, and it was so good to find lyrics here. Thank you, Harpgirl, for posting them!

I listened to Ola Belle Reed's recording and have a few corrections. I don't believe she wrote it; introducing the song she says, "this song is as old as the hills and it has the oldest flavor."

Here are the lyrics as I hear them:

Undone in Sorrow
as sung by Ola Belle Reed

Over yonder in the graveyard
Where the wild, wild flowers grow
Oh there lays my own true lover
She's gone from me forever more

Fairer than the sweetest flower
Restless as the wildest wind
Born with a love deep as the ocean
This was the girl that I did win

I left her there back in the mountains
To see the world, riches to gain
Oh when I returned no earthly treasures
Could ease this heart so full of pain

There so high upon that mountain
Beneath that little mound of clay
Oh, the girl that I’d returned to marry
So still among the flowers she lay

I'll go away and I will wander
Lay aside my earthly gain
And I'll not envy the man with riches
Undone in sorrow I remain

Undone in sorrow I remain


Dan Schatz

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Undone in Sorrow (Ola Belle Reed)
From: Reinhard
Date: 17 Sep 25 - 08:31 PM

There are two entries for Undone in Sorrow in the Roud Index as Roud 29537. Both state "Written by Ola Belle Reed".

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Undone in Sorrow (Ola Belle Reed)
From: Dan Schatz
Date: 18 Sep 25 - 08:22 PM

It does say that in the Roud index. I'm just trying to reconcile that with her recorded statement that "this song is as old as the hills." I couldn't find a copyright for it from a reputable source, but to be honest the search tools aren't good. (There is a sound recording copyright issued to a large collection of many artists, but not an actual song copyright.) However, the pre-1978 copyrights are not digitally searchable, so it's possible (even likely, given that there must have been earlier recordings) that there was a registered copyright earlier. Whether that's an actual song copyright is another question. And not everyone is careful about registering copyrights.

I figure there are three possibilities - (1) she wrote it and for whatever reason chose to say it was an old song, (2) it's a song from her family and she claimed it mainly to keep someone else from stealing it, as Jean Ritchie used to do for her family songs, or (3) it's an old song which she substantially reworked to the point where it was essentially a new song.

In any case, the song clearly came through her if not from her, and she gets full credit either way.

Dan