Origins: Birdie Birdie In The Tree

Subject: RE: Origins: Birdie Birdie In The Tree
From: Robert B. Waltz
Date: 23 Jul 23 - 06:11 AM

Joe Offer wrote: "Bob Waltz may be too shy to post the entry from the Traditional Ballad Index...."

Actually, I just didn't think the entry said all that much. :-)

But here is the version from "The Charm," which, if it is not the original, is surely as close as we're going to get. It is claimed by Bliss, but given the era, I'm not sure that's proof.

Little red-bird in the tree
In the tree, in the tree,
Little red-bird in the tree
Sing a song to me.
Sing about the roses
On the garden wall.
Sing about the bird-swing
On the tree top tall.

Chorus:
Little birdie in the tree,
In the tree, in the tree,
Little birdie in the tree,
Sing a song to me.

Similarly:
Little snowbird in the tree... Sing about the cloud-land 'Way off in the sky, When you go there calling, Do your children cry?

Little blue-bird in the tree... Sing about the mountain, Sing about the sea, Sing about the steamboats -- Is there one for me?

Little black-bird in the tree... Sing about the farmer, Planting corn and beans, Sing about the harvest -- I know what that means.

Subject: ADD Version: Little Birdies
From: Joe Offer
Date: 22 Jul 23 - 09:12 PM

LITTLE BIRDIES

CHORUS:
Little birdies in the tree, in the tree, in the tree,
Little birdies in the tree,
Sing a song for Baby.

Sing about the flowers on the garden wall,
Sing about the birds swinging in the treetop tall, Yip!
CHORUS

Sing about the farmers, planting com and beans, Sing about the steamship, I know what it means, Yip!
CHORUS

Grandma Deb to Kay: "You change the 'baby' to the name of the kid, /know, like Ellen or Bobbie."
This is a children's song. It is also known as "Little Birdies in the Tree." There are eleven entries for this in the Check-List. As "Sing a Song to Me," it appeared in The Arbor Day Manual, edited by Charles Skinner (Syracuse, 1896).

Source: Never Without a Song: The Years and Songs of Jennie Devlin, 1865-1952, page 227

MIDI of melody available on request. [e-mail]

Subject: ADD Version: Little Birdie In The Tree
From: Joe Offer
Date: 22 Jul 23 - 08:36 PM

Here's "Little Birdie in the Tree" performed by Ray Wood (vocals) in room under ramp of storage garage, Houston, Texas, on April 13, 1939.

https://www.loc.gov/item/lomaxbib000004/

Part of Southern Mosaic: The John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip (895)

LITTLE BIRDIE IN THE TREE

Little birdie in the tree, in the tree, in the tree
Little birdie in the tree,
Sing a song to me.

Sing about the robin,
Way up in the sky;
When you go out callin,
Do your children cry?

(Repeat first verse)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Birdie Birdie In The Tree
From: Joe Offer
Date: 22 Jul 23 - 08:13 PM

Bob Waltz may be too shy to post the entry from the Traditional Ballad Index, but I'm not. Bob posted the one-verse version from the Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore (Volume 3, #146), and that's all I have.

Little Birdie in the Tree

DESCRIPTION: "Little birdie in the tree, Singing a song to me, Singing about the roses, Singing about the tree; Little birdie in the tree, Singing a song for me."
AUTHOR: Philip P. Bliss (1838-1876)?
EARLIEST DATE: 1871 (Bliss, "The Charm: A Collection of Sunday School Music")
KEYWORDS: bird nonballad
FOUND IN: US(MW,SE)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 146, "Little Birdie in the Tree" (1 text)
Sackett/Koch-KansasFolklore, p. 127, "(Little red bird in the tree)") (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Philip Paul Bliss, _The Charm: A Collection of Sunday School Music_, John Church & Co., 1871 (available on Google Books), pp. 120-121, "Little Birdie in the Tree"
Roud #5259
NOTES [26 words]: For more on Philip Paul Bliss, see the notes to "Let the Lower Lights Be Burning." Thanks to Jim Dixon for pointing out the publication in The Charm. - RBW
Last updated in version 4.5
File: Br3146

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The Ballad Index Copyright 2023 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.

Subject: ADD Version: Little Birdie In The Tree
From: Robert B. Waltz
Date: 22 Jul 23 - 07:17 PM

Since this thread has somehow come back from the dead-for-a-decade, it's worth noting that the original verse quoted is not the same as "Little Birdie," the song quoted in the second post. "Little Birdie in the Tree" is a song first printed in 1871 in Philip P. Bliss's The Charm: A Collection of Sunday School Music; Bliss may have written it, but I can't prove it. It's Roud #5259, and has been collected in tradition eight or nine times. The version in the Frank Brown collection was something like

LITTLE BIRDIE IN THE TREE

Little birdie in the tree,
Singing a song to me,
Singing about the roses,
Singing about the tree;
Little birdie in the tree,
Singing a song for me.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Birdie Birdie In The Tree
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Jul 23 - 06:51 PM

Second part:

Hopping skipping all around
Here and there upon the ground
Come and these seed i strew
I have saved them all for you

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Birdie Birdie In The Tree
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Dec 13 - 12:20 PM

http://www.lyrster.com/come-back/birdie-birdie-in-the-tree,-come-and-sing-a-song-for-me/www.leoslyrics.com/the-stanley-brothers/little-birdie-lyrics/

_____________________________

Little Birdie

jbigras — Sat, 02/20/2010 - 23:15


   Little birdie, little birdie
   Come and sing me you song
   Got a short time to stay here
   And a long time to be gone

I'm a long way from old Dixie
And my old Kentucky home
Now my parents are both dead and gone
Have no place to call my home

Now I'd rather be a sailor
Way out upon the sea
Then to be at home a marred man
With a baby on my knee

For the married man he sees trouble
And the single boy sees none
I expect to live single
Til my days on earth are done

Now I'd rather be in some dark hollow
Where the sun don't ever shine
Then to see you love another
When you promised to be mine

Author: na
Version: The Bray Brothers
Discography: Not Available

That's from

http://www.lyrster.com/come-back/birdie-birdie-in-the-tree,-come-and-sing-a-song-for-me/bluegrasslyrics.com/node/488

Subject: Lyr Req: Birdie Birdie In The Tree
From: GUEST,Katie.M
Date: 20 Dec 13 - 10:41 AM

Hello there. I'm looking for a song that my grandfather sings to all his grandkids. He's born in 1938 if that makes a difference.
The lyrics, as far as I know, are:

Birdie, Birdie in the tree
Come and sing a song to me
Sing it loud and sing it long
Sing to me a birdie song


I've been looking for this song.. Or at least someone else who has heard it for a long time. I hope you guys can help. Thanks.