Lyr/Chords Req: Lindy (Proximity String Quartet)

Subject: Lyr Req: 'Lindy' - Proximity String Quartet
From: Will Fly
Date: 02 Feb 10 - 08:53 AM

"Lindy" was recorded by the Proximity String Quartet around 1929, though it's a much older song in the minstrel tradition. I've been trying to decipher the words and have got about 40% of them so far.

If anyone knows of a source for the lyrics, or has them, I'd be grateful. There's a sound file of the song here:

Lindy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'Lindy' - Proximity String Quartet
From: GUEST,DWR
Date: 02 Feb 10 - 08:41 PM

Will, I do have it by The Hotmud Family, and a great version it is, too. It's from an old LP that has never made to CD. In fact, to my knowledge, NONE of their stuff has been reissued. That's nearly a crime.

I will give it a go later. I don't anticipate a problem understanding their version. I'm not one of those who can give you lyrics in under three minutes. Just hope that it doesn't take three years.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'Lindy' - Proximity String Quartet
From: Will Fly
Date: 03 Feb 10 - 09:42 AM

Hi DWR - thanks for the reply. While Mudcat was offline just now, I discovered the Cylinder Digitization and Preservation Project run by the University of California at Santa Barbara. I found "By The Watermelon Vine" by the Edison Male Quartette in their collection, otherwise known as "Lindy Lou" - recorded in 1905 - and the words were as clear as a bell! It's not quite the same tune in parts - but near as damn.

So don't take time doing this. If I remember I'll transcribe the words from this version and add it to the DT. Thanks for the kind offer.

Subject: Lyr Add: BY THE WATERMELON VINE (LINDY LOU)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 04 Feb 10 - 03:30 PM

Here are the lyrics from the sheet music, which is viewable online at Brown University's web site:

(There are additional copies at Indiana University, The Levy Collection, Maine Music Box, Mississippi State University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and National Library of Australia.)


BY THE WATERMELON VINE (LINDY LOU)
Words and Music by Thos. S. Allen
Boston, Mass.: Walter Jacobs, 1904.

1. Down Louisiana where the Mississippi's flowing,
Oh, oh, Miss Lindy,
On the old plantation where the cotton am a-growing,
Oh, oh, my Lindy Lou,
As I sit a-thinking when my days work am through,
I think of you, for you're my Lindy Lou,
And you'll always find me when I've nothing to do,
Singing the same old song.

CHORUS: Lindy, Lindy, sweet as the sugar cane,
Lindy, Lindy, say you'll be mine.
When the moon am a-shining,
Then my heart am a-pining.
Meet me, pretty Lindy, by the watermelon vine.

2. When the moon am shining, and the darkies am a-singing,
Oh, oh, Miss Lindy,
Over to the big house where the banjos am a-ringing,
Oh, oh, my Lindy Lou,
In the melon patch we sit as cute as can be,
Just you and me, on the trunk of a tree,
And just like the nightingale I'm happy and free,
Singing the same old song. CHORUS


[The Proximity Quartet sings only the chorus and one verse, but their verse seems to be a composite of the first half of verse 1 above and the second half of verse 2.]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'Lindy' - Proximity String Quartet
From: Will Fly
Date: 04 Feb 10 - 03:34 PM

Many thanks Jim - very kind of you. I'll compare this with the clearer version by the Edison Male Quartette (1905 cylinder) and see how the words match up. I was contemplating singing this, but the words are stereotypical minstrel-like (the 1905 cylinder recording is described as a "coon song" - oh dear...), and they'll need straightening up for the average audience, I think.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'Lindy' - Proximity String Quartet
From: GUEST,Albert
Date: 18 Dec 10 - 12:07 AM

Hi people,
Thanks to your postings I have the verses for 'Lindy, sweet as the sugar cane', a song sung by a couple of now-deceased elderly aunts. As I am a novice on the instrument (and to this website) I wonder if anybody can help with chords for the ukulele?
Thanks,
Albert

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Lindy (Proximity String Quartet)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 19 Dec 10 - 06:13 PM

Someone more musically literate than I should be able to work out the chords from the sheet music (see my link above) or from the recording at the Honking Duck web site (see the link in the first message).

Let's refresh this thread and see what happens.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Lindy (Proximity String Quartet)
From: GUEST,Albert
Date: 21 Dec 10 - 06:08 PM

Thanks Jim; I'll keep a lookout. All the best for the Christmas season.
Albert