Lyr ADD: willow tree

Subject: willow tree
From: urban_gecko
Date: 03 Apr 02 - 02:53 PM

Evening folks

I am looking for lyrics to a song I heard (and performed) in the mid-60's... 1st verse (+or-):

On a cold, cold dark day
I thought I heard her sigh
Willow tree, willow tree
She did not say it so loud
Said it so doggone plain
Rambling was her notion
And I didn't even know her name
What makes a heart turn cold
Just before the dawn
Willow tree, willow tree

And it just gets fuzzier and fuzzier from there.

HTML line breaks added. --JoeClone, 5-Apr-02.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: willow tree
From: Mrrzy
Date: 03 Apr 02 - 03:09 PM

Ooh, I like it, and it sounds vaguely familiar... hauntingly so, in fact. Anybody?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: willow tree
From: Sorcha
Date: 03 Apr 02 - 04:04 PM

No luck, do you have any more clues? Where did you hear it? Male, female, group?

Subject: Lyr Add: THE WILLOW TREE (trad. English)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 05 Apr 02 - 10:25 AM

DigiTrad contains about 30 songs that contain the phrase "willow tree". "Willow Tree" is not the title of any of them. See the "Mudcat FAQ" - the first thread on the Forum page - for information about how to search DigiTrad.

This song, and the next one, are probably not the song you want, but since I ran across them while searching, and they don't seem to already be anywhere in the forum or DigiTrad, I may as well add them here:

Copied from http://www.btinternet.com/~radical/thefolkmag/hamer/hamer13.htm

THE WILLOW TREE
Sung by May Bradley, Shropshire

As I passed by a willow tree, willow tree,
That willow leaf blew down on me.
I picked it up, it would not break.
I passed my love, he would not speak.

Oh, speak, young man, and don't be shy, be shy,
I'm not a girl can pass you by,
For friends we met and friends we'll part,
Just take my hand but not my heart.

I wish your bosom was of glass, of glass,
That I could view it through and through,
Just view those secrets of your heart,
If I love one I can't love two.

Then give me back to the one I love, I love,
Oh, give, oh give him back to me,
If I only had that one I love,
How happy, happy should I be.

My love he is a sailor boy, sailor boy,
He sails the ocean through and through,
And when he gets so far away,
He hardly thinks no more of me.

Now give me back to the one I love, I love,
Oh give, oh give him back to me,
If I only had that one I love,
How happy, happy should I be.

Subject: Lyr Add: WILLOW TREE (sung by Ferlin Husky)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 05 Apr 02 - 10:29 AM

This one was recorded by Ferlin Husky.
Copied from http://www.luma-electronic.cz/lp/h/Husky/husky_someofmy.htm

WILLOW TREE
(Bettie Husky)
« © '62 Natson Music »

Willow tree, willow tree, you're weeping too.
Blue grows the willow tree outside my door.
It knows my heart will be happy no more.
Willow tree, willow tree, green leaves turned to blue.
Willow tree, willow tree, you're weeping too.

Poor little willow tree, blue as the sky,
The day that you left me I saw it cry..
Willow tree, willow tree...

Blue grows the willow tree watered with tears
It knows my heart will be yours through the years.
Willow tree, willow tree...
Willow tree, willow tree, you're weeping too.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: willow tree
From: Peg
Date: 05 Apr 02 - 10:35 AM

I found a lyric wth the words "All a green willow, wilow, willow, all a green willow, my darling."

Made up a tune for it; does anyone know of a recording?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: willow tree
From: masato sakurai
Date: 05 Apr 02 - 11:07 AM

Isn't that Desdemona's "Willow Song" (which is in the DT)?

~Masato

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: willow tree
From: GUEST,Graham
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 03:41 AM

From http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/WE_WEK.htm
WEEPING WILLOW TREE, THE. English, Morris Dance Tune (6/8 time). G Major. Standard tuning. A,A,ABABABAB. The melody was collected from the village of Headington, Oxfordshire, in England's Cotswolds, along with these words:

***

Oh, once they said my lips were red and now they're scarlet pale,
Oh, I was a silly girl to believe this flattering tale.
He vowed he'd never deceive me; I like a silly believed he,
The moon and the stars they shone so bright,
Over the willow tree.

(Quarry Men, c. 1950)

***

Oh, once they said my cheeks were red, but now they are drawn and pale,
When I like a silly girl believed his flattering tale.
He said he's never deceive me, and I like a silly believed he,
When the moon and the stars so brightly shone
Over the willow tree

(Journal, English Folk Dance & Song Society)

***

Bacon (The Morris Ring), 1974; pg. 190.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: willow tree
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 03:56 AM

Willow Tree (Headington tune above)was famously recorded on Morris On with Shirley Collins on vocals.
The May Bradley song (5 April 2002 above) was recorded by Eliza Carthy & The Ratcatchers on the Mercury-nominated Anglicana.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: willow tree
From: pavane
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 05:06 AM

Under the Willow Tree looks similar to the Morris song

Various versions:
Under the willow tree ("Don't you remember the vows so tender ...")
also Willow tree ("Oh take me to your arms, love ...")

"Why did you say my lips were red, and made the scarlet pale"
makes more sense, too

Under the Willow Tree

There are several other songs there, including The Willow Tree, and a parody of it, The Apple Tree

The willow tree ("O take me to your arms my love ...") starts the same as the other one, but is a different song

This is also another song:
The old willow tree ("One evening in the month of May, while strolling in the fields ...")
Performer: Coyne, Fred; Clindes, Pete

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: willow tree
From: pavane
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 06:02 AM

Forgot to say that these were found at the Bodleian Ballad collection

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: willow tree
From: GUEST,Guest. deeb
Date: 01 Aug 22 - 03:20 AM

To urban gecko

Strange. I had the exact same intentions, of finding that Willow tree song as you remember it. (A few slightly different words.)
And also sang and played it in the 60s/70s. Learned from a traveling friend who didn’t write it. Remembered it for about 20 years. No clue any more.
Hope someone else has more info.