Lyr Req: Broken Engagement + Missing in Action

Subject: Lovers Farewell and Missing In Action
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Feb 02 - 03:08 PM

I am looking for the words to these two old songs that my grandmother sang. I am not sure if the titles are right but here are some of the words:

1. They were standing by the window as the breezes kissed their cheeks,
And he waited long in silence, waited long for her to speak.
Then at last she answered softly as she raised her tear-stained eyes
With a look so full of anger that it filled him with surprise.

It goes on to tell how he left her and she died and then when he passed her casket he realized he loved her.

2. The second song is about a soldier who is thought to dead, but escapes and returns. He finds his wife has remarried and never lets her know he is alive. Here are some of the words to that.

The warship had landed and I went ashore.
The fighting was over for me ever more.
I had been wounded. They took me for dead,
Stone for my pillow and snow for my head.

I kissed her picture and whispered goodbye.
My poor heart was breaking. my eyes they were dry.
I knew it was too late for her now to learn.
I knew she must never know I had returned.
I'm a vagabond dreamer drifting alone
Because there was no one to welcome me home.
The face of my darling, no more I shall see.
For missing in action forever I'll be.

If anyone knows the lyrics to these songs, or the correct titles, I would really appreciate the help.
Thank you!

HTML line breaks added. --JoeClone, 7-Feb-02.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lovers Farewell and Missing In Actio
From: MMario
Date: 05 Feb 02 - 03:25 PM

the second is 'Warship That Landed" and can be found at the the Max Hunter collection

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lovers Farewell and Missing In Actio
From: GUEST,Guest / Laura
Date: 05 Feb 02 - 03:36 PM

Thank you so much! Those are the lyrics that I was looking for. I remembered some of them once I read it. Thanks again....you made my day.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lovers Farewell and Missing In Actio
From: MMario
Date: 05 Feb 02 - 03:40 PM

I had no luck on the others though - sorry.

Subject: Lyr Add: WARSHIP THAT LANDED
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 07 Feb 02 - 05:53 PM

Copied from the Max Hunter Collection. (Link given above) I made a few adjustments to spelling and punctuation.

WARSHIP THAT LANDED
(From the singing of Ollie Gilbert, Mountain View, Arkansas, 1969.)

The warship had landed and I was ashore.
The fighting was over for me evermore.
I was wounded. They left me for dead
Stone for my pillow, and snow for my bed.

The enemy found me and took me away.
They made me a prisoner of war, so they say.
But God in his mercy was with me one day.
The gates were left open, and I ran away.

I returned to my old home, my sweet wife to see.
The home that I'd built for my darling and me.
The door it was open and there on a stand
Was a picture of her and a man.

The clothes she was wearing told the sad tale.
My darling was wearing a new bridal veil.
There was a letter. In these words it read:
"Missing in action." She thought I was dead!

I kissed her picture and whispered goodbye.
My poor heart was broken; my eyes they were dry.
I knew it was too late for her now to learn.
I knew she must never know I had returned.

Wayworn I wander. Forever I roam,
For there is no one to welcome me home.
The face of my darling no more I shall see.
Missing in action forever I'll be.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lovers Farewell and Missing In Actio
From: GUEST,Stoney
Date: 07 Feb 02 - 09:37 PM

Looks suspiciously like "Missing in Action" by Ernest Tub. Look that one up.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lovers Farewell and Missing In Actio
From: Wolfgang
Date: 08 Feb 02 - 04:13 AM

Identical with 'Missing in action' for which Ernest Tubb is listed as author on a couple of internet sites.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lovers Farewell and Missing In Actio
From: GUEST,Arkie
Date: 08 Feb 02 - 10:48 AM

Aunt Ollie, as Ollie Gilbert was known in Mountain View, Arkansas and at one time she may well have been an Aunt to most of the folks in Mountain View, was a remarkable lady who knew hundreds of songs. She was as apt to sing a 300 year old ballad as the latest hit from the radio. "Missing In Action" was one of those songs she picked up from the radio. In her later years, Aunt Ollie wrote the titles to all the songs she knew on a roll of adding machine tape and allowed guests to choose what they wanted to hear from the written list. Many of her songs have been preserved in the Max Hunter collection and at the Ozark Folk Center in Mountain View.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lovers Farewell and Missing In Actio
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 08 Feb 02 - 11:50 PM

Learned "Missing in Action" from a 78rpm record. The lyrics were substantially as Jim has transcribed, 'though I reacall the final verse starting,

A vagabond dreamer forever I'll roam ...

Subject: Lyr Add: BROKEN ENGAGEMENT
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 10 Feb 02 - 08:22 AM

Your first song is called "Broken Engagement." I found 5 versions of it. The first 2 seem rather confused to me, as if two songs have been conflated, or verses left out, or something.

1. Copied from http://www.silcom.com/~peterf/ideas/carter1.htm

BROKEN ENGAGEMENT
(Carter Family)

They were standing by the window
As the breeze did kiss her cheek.
He had waited long in silence,
Waited long for her to speak.

Then at last she whispered softly
As she raised those tear-stained eyes,
With a look so full of anger
That it filled him with surprise:

"Oh, they say you love another,
That you never did love me.
If those words be true, my darling,
I'll forever set you free."

"Oh, they're true, my dear," he answered.
"By the shining stars above,
When they told you my intentions
Then they told you of my love.

"When we meet, we meet as strangers.
On the streets, just pass me by.
But don't think that I don't love you,
For to save your life, I'd die."

"Oh, he's gone," her pale lips quiver,
"Left me standing at the gate.
Tell, oh, tell him for me, sister,
That his message came too late."

"Goodbye, darling. I must leave you."
As he grasped those outstretched hands,
Covered them with burning kisses,
Saying, "God will understand."

He was standing by her casket
As he looked upon her face.
Then he realized that he loved her
And no one could take her place.

2. Copied from http://www.nsknet.or.jp/~motoya/B/Broken_engegement.html

BROKEN ENGAGEMENT

They were standing by the window
On the night he kissed her cheek.
He had waited long in silence,
Waited long for her to speak.

When at last he whispered softly
As the cool breeze kissed her head.
She had waited long to tell him
What they told her he had said.

"Oh, they say you love another,
That you never did love me.
If these words be true, my darling,
I'll forever set you free."

"They are true," he hardly answered,
"As the sun and stars above.
When they told you my intentions,
Then they told you of my love."

He turned deathly pale and angry
Left her standing by the gate.
Sent a message by her sister
But the message came too late.

God in Heaven sent an Angel
To relieve her ache and pain.
She went drifting off to Heaven
On an Angel's snow-white wing.

He was standing by her casket
As he looked upon her face.
Then he realized he loved her
And no one could take her place.

3. Copied from http://www.luma-electronic.cz/lp/c/Collins/collins_songsilove.htm This one has the most coherent story, but it still has a few phrases that are puzzling. I added punctuation and corrected a few obvious errors. (I suspect the person who transcribed this was not a native English speaker.)

BROKEN ENGAGEMENT
(Wayne P. Walker - Max Powell - M.C. Rhodes)
« © '53 Cedarwood Publishing »

They were standing by a window as the night winds kissed her cheek,
And he'd waited long in silence, waited long for her to speak.
Till at last she murmured sadly as she raised her tearful eyes
With a look so full of anguish that it filled him with surprise:
"I have promised you, my darling, so that I may tell you all.
Hear those vows by angels driftin' (?) are forever past recall.
For they say you love another, that you never did love me.
If those cruel words are true, dear, I'll forever set you free."

"Yes, it's true," he answered hostly, (?) "true by yonder stars above.
To deceive I nearly tended when I told you of my love.
Fare thee well," he added gently, and he seized her outstretched hands,
Covered them with burning kisses, whispering, "God will understand."
God in mercy sent an angel to relieve her from all care,
For he knew the way what (?) sorrow was far more than she could bear.
She was taken home to heaven to the mansions of the blest,
Where the sad heart knows no aching and the weary are at rest.

I found a couple more versions of "Broken Engagement" that don't include the death scene. I add them here for completeness:

4. Copied from http://www.guitaretab.com/gtab/t/12248

BROKEN ENGAGEMENT

They were standing in the moonlight
When he kissed his love goodbye.
He had broken their engagement
And she asked the reason why.

"I have someone else, my darling,
And she means the world to me.
That is why I'm asking of you
Forgive me, please, and set me free."

Then she whispered oh so sadly
As the tears they filled her eyes,
And his heart was full of pity
For he took her by surprise:

"If it's true you love another
Better, dear, than you love me,
Dear, I want you to be happy.
I'll forever set you free.

"Though you leave me for another,
I hope we'll meet again someday
In that far off home up yonder.
There our love won't end this way."

5. Copied from http://hammer.prohosting.com/~coollz/webb-broken.htm

BROKEN ENGAGEMENT

They were standing in the moonlight
When he kissed his love goodbye.
He had broken their engagement,
For to her he told a lie.

"I have someone else, my darlin'.
I know I proved to be untrue.
That is why I'm asking of you,
Will you please forgive me, too?"

Though his heart was full of pity,
For he took her by surprise,
Then she murmured, oh so sadly
As the tears they filled her eyes:

"If it's true you love another,
That you never did love me,
Dear, I want you to be happy.
I'll forever set you free.

"Though you leave me broken-hearted,
I hope we'll meet again someday
In that far-off home up yonder.
There, our love won't end this way."

Some version of "Broken Engagement" has been recorded by Webb Pierce, the Cox Family, Tommy Collins, and the Louvin Brothers. The oldest recorded version is probably the one by Kelly Harrell and the Virginia String Band, in 1925-26.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lovers Farewell and Missing In Actio
From: GUEST,Guest / Laura
Date: 10 Feb 02 - 10:10 PM

Jim, Thank you for the lyrics to these song. The first version of Broken Engagement is the one that I remember my grandma singing. Also the version you posted of Warship that Landed is the one that she sang too (except the last verse). Thank you for taking the time to find them and type in the information for me. This site has really been helpful. I appreciate you and the others that found the lyrics for me. Thanks again! Laura