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Tune Req: Across the Blue Mountains
DigiTrad:
ACROSS THE BLUE MOUNTAIN
Related threads:
Lyr Req: Across the Blue Mountains (9)
Lyr Req: Across the Blue Mountains (Sally Rogers) (6)
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Subject: Across The Blue Mountains tune From: GUEST,Sheila Shigley Date: 26 Apr 02 - 03:44 PM Hello all! I've found good info for the lyircs but am seeking background on the tune for "Across The Blue Mountains" as sung by Suzanne/Georgia Rose Armstrong, Sara or Colleen Cleveland, etc. Here's a clip of Colleen singing: http://web.ukonline.co.uk/mustrad/articles/blue_mts.h tm [see section on Cleveland family]. Has anyone heard this tune used for other songs? Many thanks, and I'd be happy to share the lyrics info I've scavenged for this song with anyone interested! Best, Sheila |
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Subject: RE: Across The Blue Mountains tune From: Sorcha Date: 26 Apr 02 - 03:48 PM Link doesn't work......... |
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Subject: RE: Across The Blue Mountains tune From: Sorcha Date: 26 Apr 02 - 04:04 PM Ah, it's the space in "h tm". Try this:click here. |
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Subject: RE: Across The Blue Mountains tune From: Sorcha Date: 26 Apr 02 - 04:06 PM It's such a simple tune that it is similar to a lot of things. |
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Subject: RE: Across The Blue Mountains tune From: Dicho (Frank Staplin) Date: 26 Apr 02 - 04:14 PM Australian, Allegheny, or Oregon? If eastern US, try Sandy Paton. |
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Subject: Tune Add: ACROSS THE BLUE MOUNTAIN (R&L Williams) From: MMario Date: 26 Apr 02 - 04:19 PM MIDI file: BLUEMNTN.MID Timebase: 192 Name: ACROSS THE BLUE MOUNTAIN This program is worth the effort of learning it. To download the latest version of MIDItext and get instructions on how to use it click here ABC format: X:1
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Subject: RE: Across The Blue Mountains tune From: Dicho (Frank Staplin) Date: 26 Apr 02 - 04:36 PM Have heard the tune with other songs. Agree with Sorcha, it is much used. Need Masato to put some names here; I can't find them in my head right now. Eight nice lyrics on the site. It would be good to have the whole 140 that were recorded! |
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Subject: RE: Across The Blue Mountains tune From: Sorcha Date: 26 Apr 02 - 04:44 PM A couple of phrases are very slightly reminiscent of "Shenandoah", which would make sense if it were eastern US Blue Mountains.......... |
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Subject: RE: Across The Blue Mountains tune From: Dicho (Frank Staplin) Date: 26 Apr 02 - 05:50 PM The Riddle Song: I gave my love a cherry that had no stone.... |
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Subject: RE: Across The Blue Mountains tune From: Dicho (Frank Staplin) Date: 26 Apr 02 - 06:10 PM Traces back to Child No. 46 |
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Subject: RE: Across The Blue Mountains tune From: masato sakurai Date: 26 Apr 02 - 08:27 PM I think I heard the tune somewhere with another set of lyrics. Cowboy song? Anyway, there's an entry in the Traditional Ballad Index (Click here). ~Masato Across the Blue MountainDESCRIPTION: A married man asks (Katie) to marry him and go "across the Blue Mountain to the Allegheny." Katie's mother tells her to let him stay with his own wife. Katie answers, "He's the man of my heart." (The confused ending may tell of her poverty or abandoment)AUTHOR: unknown EARLIEST DATE: 1962 KEYWORDS: love courting travel abandonment infidelity mother children FOUND IN: US(SE) REFERENCES (2 citations): Abrahams/Foss, pp. 14-16, "Across the Blue Mountain" (4 texts, 1 tune) DT, BLUEMNTN CROSS-REFERENCES: cf. "High Germany" (floating lyrics) Notes: Abrahams and Foss note that the several versions of this song (they print four, all of which reportedly use the same tune) are from the same area -- central Virginia, on the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge. (The Alleghenies can indeed be seen from the crest of the Blue Ridge.) Their four versions were all collected in 1962, from an interesting list of sources: Florence Shiflett of Wyatt's Mountain; David Morris, also of Wyatt's Mountain; Effie Morris, of Shiflett Hollow; and Marybird McAllister, of Brown's Cove. The four versions fall into two types. The two from Wyatt's Cove end with a moralising conclusion (the girl ends up "lame" and perhaps abandoned, and regrets her ending. These stanzas have a slightly different feel from the rest of the song, and are much poorer poetry; one suspects a later addition. On the other hand, the other two versions do not have a proper resolution; the girl simply wishes she could be with the fellow and "valleys" (envys?) the woman who will be with him. Portions of the song seem older (e.g. all four versions have as their second verse the stanza "I'll buy you a horse, love, and a saddle to ride," which comes from "High Germany" or something similar). One suspects that a local Blue Ridge balladeer reshaped an older song to describe a now-forgotten local event. - RBW File: AF014 Go to the Ballad Search form The Ballad Index Copyright 2004 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle. |
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Subject: RE: Across The Blue Mountains tune From: masato sakurai Date: 26 Apr 02 - 08:51 PM The tune set by Sally Rogers and Carawan Family is "I Gave My Love A Cherry". ~Masato
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Subject: RE: Across The Blue Mountains tune From: Dicho (Frank Staplin) Date: 26 Apr 02 - 09:43 PM The "cherry" song is in the DT under the title "The Riddle Song." I have received my first volume (Yahoo!) of the new edition of Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (well-printed and with corrections). Child No. 46, Captain Wedderburn's Courtship, under C, Sheldon's Minstrelsy of the English Border, p. 555, includes the verse (6): "You must get me to my supper a chicken without a bone; You must get me to my supper a cherry without a stone; You must get me to my supper a bird without a ga, Before I go to Woodland's house and be a lady of your ha'." The usual answers are in the following verse, and then she riddles him back. The song, "Across the Blue Mountains," seems to be a small fragment of the original, with the riddles removed. |
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Subject: RE: Across The Blue Mountains tune From: Deckman Date: 27 Apr 02 - 05:38 PM I hope this is helpful. Back in the 1950's, or early sixties,I remember that Bonnie Dobson of Canada, recorded a song of this title. CHEERS, Bob |
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Subject: RE: Across The Blue Mountains tune From: Dicho (Frank Staplin) Date: 27 Apr 02 - 06:29 PM Sandy and Caroline Paton recorded this song. Sandy Paton tells about its collection in Virginia in the 1960s in thread 3646: Blue Mountain It has also been collected in Arkansas and has also been recorded as "One Morning in May." The song collected by the Patons is the one in the DT. |
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Subject: RE: Across The Blue Mountains tune From: Sandy Paton Date: 27 Apr 02 - 10:57 PM Paul Clayton collected the song from Maybird McAllister in Brown's Cove, Virginia, probably in the late 1950's. The only other report of the song with which I am familiar was from Mary Celestia Parler (Vance Randolph's wife) who asked me if I'd ever come across the song. She had found a version in Arkansas which she thought was unique, but I've never heard that one sung. Paul's collected original has been altered, inadvertently, as we all passed the song along, and yet all of us, Bonnie, Ed Trickett, Harry Tuft, the Armstrong family, me, and anyone else singing the song nowadays, have the song from that one informant: Maybird McAllister. Sandy |
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Subject: RE: Across The Blue Mountains tune From: ciarili Date: 27 Apr 02 - 11:04 PM I first heard Linda Williams sing this as a duet with her husband (name?) on Prairie Home Companion. It was even better than the recording they made, and pierced me right to the heart. Now I sing it myself, and that's one of the ones that everyone just stops dead to hear, except maybe the bartender! I don't even want to put accompaniment to it - it doesn't need it. Anyway, she's a great singer, so if you can get yourself a recording, you'll enjoy it. ciarili |
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Subject: RE: Across The Blue Mountains tune From: Deckman Date: 27 Apr 02 - 11:08 PM Thanks for the posting Sandy. It really adds to the continuity. CHEERS, Bob |
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Subject: RE: Across The Blue Mountains tune From: raredance Date: 27 Apr 02 - 11:31 PM Ciarili, right on about Robin & Linda Williams a capella version. They did it on a PHC show that was broadcast from Concordia College and I was lucky enough to be in the audience that night. The tune has been borrowed by Peter Ostroushko for the tile track on his "Sacred Heart" CD. It, too is gorgeous with Peter's mandolin interpretation. My fantasy is for Peter, Robin & Linda to team up on a version. rich r |
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Subject: Lyr Add: ACROSS THE BLUE MOUNTAIN From: masato sakurai Date: 27 Apr 02 - 11:41 PM ACROSS THE BLUE MOUNTAIN (sung by Marybird McAllister, Brown's Cove, Va., 1962) One morning, one morning, on morning in May I heard a married man to a young girl did say, "Oh rise you up pretty Katy and go along with me, Across the Blue Mountain to the Allegheny." "I'll buy you a horse, love, and a saddle to ride, I'll buy me another to ride by your side, We'll stop at every tavern and drink when we are dry Across the Blue Mountain goes Katy and I." It's up steps her mother and angry was she then, "Dear daughter, dear daughter he is a married man, Besides there's young men plenty more handsomer than he And let him take his own wife to the Allegheny." "Dear Mother, dear Mother, he's the man of my own heart And wouldn't that be an awful thing for me and my love to part? I'd valley all the women that ever I did see 'At crossed the Blue Mountain to the Allegheny." (From: Roger D. Abrahams and George Foss, Anglo-American Folksong Style, Prentice-Hall, 1968, p. 16) ~Masato |
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Subject: RE: Across The Blue Mountains tune From: Dicho (Frank Staplin) Date: 28 Apr 02 - 12:18 AM The version from Abrahams and Foss lacks the last two verses of the song in the DT. Were these verses also collected from "Marybird" McAlester? Masato, in verse four, the line "I'd valley ..." Is that correct? |
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Subject: RE: Across The Blue Mountains tune From: masato sakurai Date: 28 Apr 02 - 12:32 AM I'm not sure whether this is all Marybird sang. The Abrahams and Foss one is not a songbook. In two of the other versions, the verb is "valley" too. The authors comment (p. 17):
Other changes are more likely to have occurred not unconsciously but from misunderstanding or trouble with words like "tavern" and "valley." When asked about the meaning of the latter, informants demonstrated no common understanding of the word. The responses ranged from statements that it meant "to value" to it meant to "fight" or "whup em". ~Masato |
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Subject: RE: Across The Blue Mountains tune From: Dicho (Frank Staplin) Date: 28 Apr 02 - 12:42 AM Masato, in the south I have heard the expression "Let's valley them," meaning "whup" them, but that makes Katy a right pugnacious woman! But it fits with stopping at every tavern, etc. It just seemed odd to find it popping up in a song. |
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Subject: RE: Across The Blue Mountains tune From: Hilary Date: 28 Apr 02 - 02:50 AM I know the song from the Alan Burke recording, he says he learnt it from the sisters Georgia Rose & Suzannah Armstrong Park who had learnt in from their mother Jennifer Armstrong. Alan Burke definitely uses the word 'envy', rather than 'valley'. Envy makes sense with modern usage. Lovely song. Hilary |
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Subject: RE: Across The Blue Mountains tune From: Dicho (Frank Staplin) Date: 28 Apr 02 - 01:31 PM Is this the Irish Alan Burke? The song isn't listed on his cd "On the Other Hand," and I don't have the listing for "Tip of the Tongue." Any more information? |
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Subject: Lyr Add: ACROSS THE BLUE MOUNTAIN. (M. McAllister) From: Charlie Baum Date: 15 Jul 20 - 11:19 PM Most all the collectors track this song back to Marybird McAllister. There's actually a recording available of Marybird singing it: http://www.klein-shiflett.com/shifletfamily/HHI/GeorgeFoss/SONGS/song1.html Her words: One morning, one morning, one morning in May, I heard a married man to a young girl did say, "Oh, rise you up, pretty Katy, and go along with me Across the Blue Mountain to the Allegheny. "l'll buy you a horse, love, and saddle to ride. I'll buy me another to ride by your side. We'll stop at every tavern and drink when we dry. Across the Blue Mountain goes Katy and I." Oh, up steps her mother and angry was she then. "Dear daughter, dear daughter, he is a married man, Besides, there's young men plenty more handsome than he And let him take his own wife to the Allegheny." "Dear Mother, dear Mother, he's the man of my own heart, And wouldn't that be an awful thing for me and my love to part? I'd valley all the women if ever I did see 'At crossed the Blue Mountain to the Allegheny." But the notes go on to mention versions sung by her neighbors, and the ending is not a happy one (unlike some versions of it, such as the one in Mudcat at https://mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=125): Of Marybird McAllister's one hundred and sixty some odd songs remembered, this must have been her favorite. I cannot remember a visit with song swapping or a recording session that did not include a rendition of this song, or at least her inquiry, "Did I sing you the one about 'One morning in May I heard a married man to a young girl say'?" It was a song that seemed to be always in her mind, and while other songs might fade or become garbled in her memory "Across the Blue Mountain" was always there strong and clear. After hearing Marybird sing the song several times I began to inquire of her nearest neighbors if they too knew and sang the song. They all stated that they had heard Marybird sing it but that they did not sing it nor did they know anyone else who did. Since she seemed to be the only one who knew the song and since it so closely paralleled an event from her own life (her husband, Lem, deserted her and left Brown's Cove to 'cross the Blue Mountain' with a young girl only to return to Marybird seven years later) we began to suspect that she had made the song herself. For several years all inquiries about the song were fruitless. It failed to appear in searches through books of folksongs from the area. Then one day on my first trip in to Bacon Hollow I found three singers who knew and sang the song, David Morris, Florence Shiflett and her cousin Effie Shiflett Morris. Curiously their versions included an expansion of the story as in these additional stanzas: She traveled, she traveled till she became lame She turned back home and she thought it was a shame Living with a Dutchman he thought me to maintain And if I were back with my kin I would never come here again He left me, he left me, he left me alone He left me no house nor no money nor no home He left me no friend nor no relation a'nigh And when I think of my Mother I sit down and cry Later searches turned up another version in the manuscript archives of the University of Virginia. This one from the Buena Vista also contained the 'Dutchman' references and the moralistic ending. So the song with its local references, Blue Mountain(s), Allegheny and the German settlers so prevalent in the Shenandoah Valley, was probably made by some folk artist from the general region within the past hundred or one hundred fifty years and cast to the lovely, simple tune which is stylistically just like those songs of a much older vintage. "Across the Blue Mountain," then, is not Marybird's song except by adoption and association. Yet her version, a simple love song without pietizing, penalty and remorse, is so much more gracious and appealing that it still seems to be her own. --Charlie Baum |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Across the Blue Mountains From: leeneia Date: 16 Jul 20 - 03:57 PM I have a keyboard right at my computer, so I played the song noted on the site Charlie Baum just linked. The sheet music is not the same as the tune Marybird is singing. There's a ski resort in Ontario called Blue Mountain, and there a range called the Blue Mountains in Washington & Oregon. But there's no Blue Mountain in the Valley and Ridge. But if you are in the mountains, you will notice that the farther away they are, the bluer they look. No matter how long you walk, you will never reach the blue mountains. They get green (forest) or brown (desert) when you come close. Maybe crossing a blue mountain is as impossible as getting true love from a travelling married man. |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Across the Blue Mountains From: leeneia Date: 17 Jul 20 - 12:31 AM Here's a fine rendition. Silly me, I looked at the hair and the cowboy shirt with fringe and thought "That'll be awful." But it's not. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCdbNmXvP8g |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Across the Blue Mountains From: Charlie Baum Date: 17 Jul 20 - 04:33 AM Leeneia-- About the geography: In that part of Virginia, the first (easternmost) ridge of mountains is called the Blue Ridge, and ridges a little farther to the west (such as those up against the West Virginia border) are called the Alleghanies (spelled Allegany in New York and Maryland, Allegheny in Pennsylvania, and Alleghany in Virginia). And yes, Marybird's tune is a little different from what everyone else did with it. She was collected by Paul Clayton (Worthington), by Sandy Paton, and by George Foss, and most other renditions derive from one of those collectors. --Charlie Baum |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Across the Blue Mountains From: leeneia Date: 17 Jul 20 - 02:32 PM About the mountains - I know. |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Across the Blue Mountains From: GUEST Date: 19 Jul 20 - 01:59 PM When I first heard this, I was intrigued to hear a verse from High Germany slipped in there, especiallyas the song High Germany doesn't turn up in American collections. As someone has said, the tune is basically "I gave my love a cherry". Tradsinger |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Across the Blue Mountains From: GUEST,Ron Mullennex Date: 12 Jan 22 - 06:04 PM The Blue Mountain (not Blue Ridge Mountains) lies west of Philadelphia. Pioneers crossed it through one of the gaps to reach the Allegheny ( or to travel up the Shenandoah valley on the Great Wagon Road ). I don’t see any connection to the Blue Ridge Mountains range of WV and VA and points southwest, other than one of the areas where the song was collected. |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Across the Blue Mountains From: GerryM Date: 12 Jan 22 - 09:40 PM Across the Blue Mountains is track B1 on the 1972 album, Smoky Mountain Melodies, Bill Davis and his Singing Dulcimer, vocals by George-Anne Egerton. The whole album is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY6NG-9xcpE Here's the track listing: A1 East Virginia A2 John Henry A3 Who's Gonna Shoe My Pretty Little Foot A4 Skip To My Lou A5 Lady Mary A6 Tennesse Waltz B1 Across The Blue Mountains B2 Susan Girl B3 Hush Little Baby B4 New River Train B5 When You Hear Them Cuckoos Hollering B6 I'll Fly Away |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Across the Blue Mountains From: open mike Date: 12 Jan 22 - 09:42 PM Robin and Linda Williams.... Across the Blue Mountain |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Across the Blue Mountains From: leeneia Date: 15 Jan 22 - 04:43 PM Hi, Open Mike. That's the same performance I linked above. Music starts after one minute. It's beautiful singing and a beautiful melody on a dismal theme. Guest Ron Mullennex is perfectly correct. Google Maps shows a Blue Mountain in Pennsylvania, and there's a Blue Mountain Resort at Palmerton. Blue Mountain seems to be a long ridge, as is typical of the Appalachians. There's a reason why the geologists call that enormous crumpled zone "the Valley and Ridge". That abc file upthread needs work, but I think the melody's worth it. |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Across the Blue Mountains From: GUEST,Stevebury Date: 25 Jun 22 - 10:30 AM In 1935, Mercedes Steely collected a two-verse fragment titled 'Pretty Polly' from William W. Presley, in Ebenezer Community near Raleigh, North Carolina. ['Folk Songs of Ebenezer Community', masters thesis, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, 1936.] It appears to be an early version of 'Across the Blue Mountain'. (Thanks to Phil and Mimi on Ballad Zoom.) The tune is lovely, but is not the one commonly sung. The lyrics are: One morning, one morning, one morning in May I heard a married man to a single woman say, “Pretty Polly, pretty Polly, come go along with me, I’ll carry you down the river to Kentucky.” “I’ll buy you a horse and a saddle for to ride, I’ll buy me another and ride by your side; And if you are the lady I take you for to be, I’ll carry you down the river to Kentucky.” |
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