Lyr Req: The Water Lily (Henry Lawson)

Subject: the water lily
From: tar_heel
Date: 28 Nov 00 - 02:06 PM

needing to find the lyrics to this song....a recordiong by tom t. hall has been heard several times but havent been able to get a copy of it...

Subject: Lyr Add: THE WATER LILY (Henry Lawson)
From: IvanB
Date: 28 Nov 00 - 02:30 PM

Is it this one?

THE WATER LILY

A lonely wife
In her dreaming discerns
A lily-decked pool
with a border of ferns,
And a beautiful child,
with butterfly wings,
Trips down to the edge of the water and sings:
'come mamma! come!'
'Quick! follow me -
'Step out on the leaves of the water lily'

And the lonely young wife
Her heart beating wild
Cries, 'Wait till I come,
Till I reach you, my child!'
With the butterfuly wings
Steps out on the leaves of the lily and sings"
'Come, mamma! come!'
'Quick! follow me!'
'And step on the leaves of the water lily'

And the wife in her dreaming
Steps out on the stream,
But the lily leaves sink
And she wakes from her dream.
Ah, the waking is sad,
For the tears that it brings,
And she knows 'tis her dead baby's spirit that sings:
'Come mamma! come!'
'Quick follow me!'
Step out on the leaves of the water lily

-Henry Lawson

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the water lily
From: tar_heel
Date: 28 Nov 00 - 02:57 PM

thank you very much...ivan b.,it was the one...i owe u a big one...chuck hemrick!1

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the water lily
From: GUEST,mountain tyme
Date: 29 Nov 00 - 07:52 PM

Great song, profound with surprise ending, the best. Always brings tears. Very difficult to get thru the first few times. We've been doing this song for about a year or more on the radio and feed back has it that the song comes from Australia. ???? Can anyone second that? I've also heard it was "written" by Tom T. Hall. Tom T. did sing it with Ralph Stanley on Ralph's "Country album. I'm wondering how may titles it has and who the author is/was/when.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the water lily
From: alison
Date: 29 Nov 00 - 08:04 PM

Henry Lawson is a very famous Australian poet and writer.... it is definately his....

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the water lily
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 29 Nov 00 - 09:05 PM

G'day Mountain Tyme,

Without checking the complete Lawson collection, I think that is from the period when he was a writer for the early feminist (~/) magazine run by his mother Louisa Lawson. This would mean that he wrote it some time in the mid-1890s. Henry died in 1922, so the words are out of copyright - even under dubious American manipulations of the copyright law.

The usual tune is the one written by Priscilla Herdman and is, of course ©.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the water lily
From: DonMeixner
Date: 29 Nov 00 - 11:57 PM

The Water Lily, an album of songs mostly inspired by Henry Lawson is one of what I call perfect albums. And because perfection is subjective I am ofcourse correct in my estimation. The Water lily, The Bush Girl, Reedy River, and Do You Think That I do Not Know are among the finest songs I've ever heard.

Don

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the water lily
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 30 Nov 00 - 02:33 AM

G'day aagin all,

Don: I would have to agree with you about the quality of those particular songs. I presume that the album to which you allude is by Priscilla Herdman ... who does them very well.

Mountain Tyme: Henry's mother Louisa established The Dawn Club in Sydney, in May 1889, as a social reform club for women. This poem was printed in Dawn the journal of that club on 5 December 1890. It was then picked up by the Brisbane magazine Boomerang in April 1891 and anthologised by Sydney publishers Angus & Robertson in When I Was King and other verses, in 1905.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the water lily
From: IvanB
Date: 30 Nov 00 - 10:34 PM

Chuck, I lifted the lyrics directly from a website and, in reading them over, the second verse obviously doesn't flow properly. The fifth line, which is missing should be

'But the beautiful child'

I have the Herdman recording of it and agree with the others who've said what a great version it is (as well as the other songs on the album as well).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the water lily
From: Helen
Date: 01 Dec 00 - 05:58 PM

Tar Heel,

Let me know if you need the sheet music for this because I have it in a book which is a collection of Henry Lawson songs - lots of wonderful lyrics & songs in it - worth buying the book if it is still available. Many people have put his poems to tunes so there are various tunes to most of the poems in the book. It's by Chris Kempster, an Oz folkie. I'll give you the details if you are interested - but it's tucked away in storage now - accessible but not immediately accessible.

Helen

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the water lily
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 03 Dec 00 - 03:42 AM

G'day Tar Heel ... and Helen,

I also have my personal copies of Chris Kempster's Songs of Henry Lawson, Viking O'Neill, Victoria, Australia, 1989. These were only printed in a local (Australia) run of 2000 copies and have never been reprinted. I had 2 copies in the Bush Music Club stock last year, sold one to a US 'Catter and had arranged to sell the last one to a fellow Australian 'Catter ... but he never parted up the readies ... and it has since gone to a good home.

The book was a beautiful production, with a selection of 212 tunes - one tune mine for The Good Old Concertina(from some 350 tunes assembled) to 107 of Lawson's poems , historical notes and illustrations (with which I assisted). The small run was unfortunate as it pushed the price a bit too high for good sales and a re-print. I don't know if Chris intends to do anything further with the material assembled for the project.

Regards,

Bob Bolton