'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 28 Jul 98 - 08:52 AM

The other verse I've heard in "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" which I can't remember the source for:

We sang the songs of childhood
Hymns of faith that made us strong
Ones that Mother Maybelle taught us
Hear the angels sing along.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Bill in Alabama
Date: 28 Jul 98 - 11:33 AM

My folks sang a totally different, more general, almost hymn-like version, and the chorus was definitely WILL the Circle etc. I have often wondered if it was the source for the mother version. The tune and the chorus are the same; the first verse is-- There are loved ones in the Glory whose dear forms we often miss--/ When we've told our earthly story, will we join them in their bliss?/ Will the circle be unbroken...etc.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Bill in Alabama
Date: 28 Jul 98 - 11:46 AM

sorry about double-posting. I thought I had outgrown that.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Whippoorwill
Date: 28 Jul 98 - 03:38 PM

This is more a "friend" song than a "mother" song, but my mother used to sing it when I was a tadpole and we'd both cry. I only remember a few words of the chorus; maybe somebody can help. I didn't find it in the database:

I'm tying the leaves so they won't come down,
So Mary(?) won't go away.

As I recall, it was about a little girl who fell ill in the summer, and the doctor said she would die when the leaves fell. Her sister/friend tied the leaves to the tree so they couldn't fall. Anyone remember the rest?

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Philip Hudson
Date: 30 Jul 98 - 10:16 AM

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety To: Bill in Alabama Bill, all we lack of the Mountains of Alabama here in Texas are the mountains themselves. Everybody I know is an Alabama boy/girl or a Mississippi girl/boy. We are cut out of the same cloth. All my ancestors came through Alabama on the way to Texas. It took them two centuries to get from Virginia to here and a lot of the old folks wish they hadn't come this far, especially in this heat and drought that we are having.

Thanks for the Supper Time words. - Philip Hudson in Texas

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Bill in Alabama
Date: 30 Jul 98 - 10:41 AM

Philip:

I'm in Alabama now, but I'm originally from East Tennessee. That's where you'll fine the mountains I'm talking about. As I recall, Tennesseeans played a fairly signigicant role in Texas settlement also. The joke around home used to be that all the Tennesseeans who could read went to Texas early on, and left the state to the rest of us.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: The oldest living Heather
Date: 30 Jul 98 - 02:17 PM

I'm looking for the lyric to a Scottish (I think) my mother used to sing to me. She is from England. She now lives with me and at 88 I'ld like to learn this for her. It's called "THE LAST ROSE OF SUMMER"

Subject: Lyr Add: THE LAST ROSE OF SUMMER^^^
From: Bill in Alabama
Date: 30 Jul 98 - 03:13 PM

Hey, Heather; good to hear from you-- It's an Irish song, one of Thomas Moore's poems set to music.

THE LAST ROSE OF SUMMER
Thomas Moore

'Tis the last rose of summer left blooming alone,
All her lovely companions are faded and gone.
No flow'r of her kindred, no rosebud is nigh. . .
to reflect back her blushes, or give sigh for sigh!

I'll not leave thee, lone one, to pine on the stem:
Since the lovely are sleeping, go sleep thou with them;
Thus kindly I scatter thy leaves o'er thy bed,
Where thy mates of the garden lie scentless and dead.

Too soon may I follow, when friendships decay,
And from love's shining circle the gems drop away!
When true hearts are wither'd and fond ones are flown...
Oh! Who would inhabit this bleak world alone?

Hope you enjoy it... Bill Foster

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: BSeed
Date: 30 Jul 98 - 11:13 PM

There is a tearjerker, mother related, that I remember only as a poem my mother used to recite when we were on long car trips. I don't know if it had ever been set to music. It was called "LITTLE BLOSSOM" and in it a mother sends her daughter to the bar to bring home her father, who--in a drunken rage--strikes her and kills her. The poem ends with lines to the effect that although the father was punished, the real villain was honored and rewarded "because he was licensed to sell." Anyone ever run across that one (it's mother-related because my mother used to recite it, just as "The Cremation of Sam McGee" is father related: it was his contribution on the long trips.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Philip Hudson
Date: 01 Aug 98 - 05:14 PM

Bill in Alabama To a Texan, the Sand Mountain area of Alabama and Lookout Mountain in Tennessee look like real mountains. But I agree that East Tennessee has them bigger and better. A lot of my ancestors came to Texas to escape Reconstruction. They left Mississippi as Teachers, Lawyers and Doctors and landed in Texas walking behind a mule 14 hours a day to make ends meet. Their children got no education at all and their grandchildren scant. Only in my generation (I am 61) did we finally get back to where we were. Now we have doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers and bankers in the family again. The South did rise again.

Now tell me the words to a song that starts "There's an OLD SPINNING WHEEL in the parlor". I know snatches of hundreds of songs but hardly know any of then through and have no sources. - Philip Hudson

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Laura
Date: 03 Aug 98 - 12:34 AM

Growing up, my mom used to sing TURN AROUND to my sister and I. Talk about a tear-jerker. Anyway, I can't find any form of the words now, and I'm to play it at a friend's wedding in a couple of months. Can anyone help?

Subject: Lyr Add: TURN AROUND (Malvina Reynolds)
From: JB3
Date: 03 Aug 98 - 01:17 AM

Where are you going, my little one, little one
Where are you going, my baby, my own
Turn around and you're two, turn around and you're four
Turn around and you're a young girl going out of the door
Turn around, turn around,
Turn around and you're a young girl going out of the door

Where are you going, my little one, little one
Pony-tails and petticoats, where have you gone
Turn around and you're tiny, turn around and you're grown
Turn around and you're a young wife with babes of your own
Turn around, turn around,
Turn around and you're a young wife with babes of your own

That's my recollection of the song. Didn't I learn it from a Kodak commercial when I was a kid? No idea who wrote it. It's similar in theme to "Sunrise, Sunset" from Fiddler on the Roof, also popular at weddings.

Cheers

June

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Ferrara
Date: 03 Aug 98 - 01:40 AM

Bill in Alabama, Is there any hope of your remembering more verses of "Will the Circle ..." the way your family sang it? That's a wonderful verse.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: BSeed
Date: 03 Aug 98 - 02:10 AM

"Turn Around" was written by Malvina Reynolds, who also wrote "Little Boxes" and hundreds of other songs. She died in the 1970's. --seed

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: BSeed
Date: 03 Aug 98 - 02:17 AM

By the way, the second line of the second verse of "Turn Around" is "Little dirndls and petticoats, where have you gone." That's how Malvina wrote it. Kodak may have changed it because more people know what ponytails are than dirndls. --seed

p.s.: I met Malvina Reynbolds at a now long defunct folk music club in Berkeley (she lived in Berkeley most of her life)--the club was called the Jabberwock.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: The oldest living Heather
Date: 03 Aug 98 - 04:28 PM

To: Bill in Alabama

Thanks much for the poem. God, it's more depressing than I remembered! Her voice made it soothing.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Bert C.
Date: 04 Aug 98 - 11:45 AM

I believe the verse for "Circle" that Barbara posted on 7/28 came from the Dirt Band's "Circle II" album.

Subject: Lyr Add: JUST A FEW MORE DAYS^^
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 04 Aug 98 - 08:47 PM

That's right, Bert!

Here's another "Mother Song" as done on "Gospel Songs by The Carter Family in Texas, Volume 3" and also done by Suzanne Thomas of Dry Branch Fire Squad:

Just a Few More Days
As Done by The Carter Family

  
G  
Not so long ago one morning  
C			    G  
Mother called me to her bed  
  
Then she threw her arms around me  
		D7  
Listen to the words she said:  
	G  
    Darling I am going to leave you  
	C			  G  
	But you'll not be left alone  
  
	Jesus will protect and shield you  
		         D7	    G  
	After he has carried me home.  

(Chorus)
Just a few more days of sorrow
Just a few more days of pain
Just a few more days of cloud'ness
Just a few more days of rain
Then I'm going to live with Jesus
He has got a home prepared
Then I'll join the holy angels
Mother will be waiting there.

Sometimes I'm sorely tempted
Sometimes I am sorely tired
But to overcome I'm trying
Taking Jesus as my guide
Oh, sometimes the past seems rugged
But it only makes me praise
And I know if I keep trying
I'll see my mother some sweet day.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Laura
Date: 04 Aug 98 - 10:19 PM

Thanks for the words folks, they're really helpful!

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: BSeed
Date: 05 Aug 98 - 12:23 AM

And of course there's "ALL MY TRIALS"--or did someone already mention this one:

Hush little baby, don't you cry-- You know your momma is bound to die, All my sorrows, Lord, soon be over.

Is that one on the database?--seed

Subject: Lyr Add: YE CANNA SHOVE YER GRANNY^^^
From: Art Thieme
Date: 06 Aug 98 - 12:12 AM

YE CANNA SHOVE YER GRANNY

Oh, ya cannot shove your granny off a bus,
Oh, ya cannot shove your granny off a bus,
Oh, ya cannot shove your granny,
'Cause she's your mammy's mammy,
Oh, ya cannot shove your granny off a bus!

Got this from Sandy Paton---1959---on his old LP for Electra "The Many Sides of Sandy Paton". Sandy never liked this album very much, although I always thought it was a great recording. More than 30 years later he was visiting us in Illinois and I got him to sign it for me. (Didn't want to, but he did.)This record contains the FIRST recording of "Wild Mountain Thyme" on the American folk scene. They made Sandy cut a verse 'cause it would've been too long for radio play. Fred Hellerman--The Weavers---is the uptown-sounding guitar backing up Sandy here.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: BSeed
Date: 07 Aug 98 - 12:48 AM

That's a real tearjerker, all right. Right up there with

Grandmaw's in the cellar,
Oh, lordy, can't you smell her,
Baking biscuits on her danged old dirty stove.
In her eye there is some matter
That keeps dripping in the batter
And she whistles while the (sniff) runs down her nose.

--seed

Subject: Lyr Add: DON'T GO OUT TONIGHT, DEAR FATHER^^^
From:
Date: 07 Aug 98 - 08:25 AM

BSeed, I don't know 'Little Blossom' but I found a similar song in my database called 'Don't Go Out Tonight, Dear Father', which is on the Free Reed CD 'The Tale of Ale' that first came out as an LP in 1976. The notes (by Vic Gammon) say: "A temperance song from the mid-nineteenth century. Peter Davison has commented that 'temperance songs offer a perverse delight very different from the sober instruction their authors intended'. Such songs were often taken up by the music halls and sung with mock seriousness. [...] We include these temperance items to show we are not biased and to give the other side of the case."

DON'T GO OUT TONIGHT DEAR FATHER

Don't go out tonight dear father
Don't refuse this once I pray
Tell your comrades mother's dying
Soon her soul will pass away
Tell them too, of darling Willie
Him we also much do love
How his little form is drooping
Soon to bloom again above

Don't go out tonight dear father
Think oh think how sad 'twill be
When the angels come to take her
Papa won't be there to see
Tell me that you love dear mama
Lying in that cold cold room
You don't love your comrades better
Cursing there in that saloon

Oh dear father do not leave us
Think oh think how sad 'twill be
When the angels come to take her
Papa won't be there to see
Oh dear father do not leave us
Think oh think how sad 'twill be
When the angels come to take her
Papa won't be there to see

Morning found the little pleader
Cold and helpless on the floor
Lying where he madly struck her
On that chilly night before
Lying there with hands uplifted
Feebly uttering words of prayer
Heavenly father please forgive him
Reunite us all up there

Don't go out tonight dear father
Think oh think how sad 'twill be
When the angels come to take her
Father won't be there to see

The tune is a worthy match to the words. Sorry, but I have no means of reproducing it. Try to get the CD if you're really interested. Or maybe someone else has it? - Susanne

Subject: Lyr Add: LEAVING NANCY (Eric Bogle)^^
From: Moira Cameron
Date: 12 Aug 98 - 09:40 PM

Well, after e-mailing a friend and waiting for the response, I finally have the lyrics to the Eric Bogle song he wrote about leaving his mother. (I had mentioned it, oh--quite a while back--but I didn't have the lyrics.)

Here they are:

Leaving Nancy
Eric Bogle

In comes the train, and its long black shape
Stops with a shudder and screaming of brakes.
Parting is hard; my weary soul aches;
I'm leaving you, Nancy-O.

But you stand there so calm, determinedly gay,
And talk of the weather and events of the day.
But your eyes tell me all your tongue cannot say.
Good-bye, my Nancy-O.

Then come a little closer, put your head upon my shoulder.
Let me hold you one more time before the whistle blows.

The suitcase is lifted and stowed on the train,
A thousand regrets turn around in my brain.
The ache in my heart is a black seed of pain.
I'm leaving you, Nancy-O.

But you stand there so calm, so lovely to see,
The grip of your hand is an unspoken plea.
You're not fooling yourself, and you're not fooling me,
Goodbye, my Nancy-O.

Then come a little closer, put your head upon my shoulder.
Let me hold you one more time before the whistle blows.

But the whistle has blown, and the time is all gone,
And he who must leave you is standing alone.
There's so little time, and now it's all gone.
Good-bye, my Nancy-O.

And as the train starts gently to roll,
I lean out the window to wave and to call,
And I see the first tear trickle and fall.
Goodbye, my Nancy-O.

Then come a little closer, put your head upon my shoulder.
Let me hold you one more time before the whistle blows.

Then come a little closer, put your head upon my shoulder.
Let me hold you one last time before the whistle blows.

Subject: Lyr Add: M-O-T-H-E-R: A WORD THAT MEANS THE WORLD…
From: gargoyle
Date: 13 Aug 98 - 01:36 AM

Truly, I believed that THIS above all others would be the first one to be posted. A search of DT doesn’t show it there.

I PROMISE to learn ANSI and MIDI postings via the tutorials on this site. Future contributions will include the “correct” format.


Eva Tanguay’s Great “Mother” song
M-O-T-H-E-R: A word that means the world to me
(Words by Howard Johnson, music by Theodore Morse)
Copyright MCMXV (1915) by Leo Feist
Published Teller, Sons & Dorner, New York
London: Ascherberg, Hopwood & Crew, Limited

VERSE 1: I’ve been around the world, you bet, But never went to school.
Hard knocks are all I seem to get. Perhaps I’ve been a fool.
But still, some educated folks, supposed to be so swell,
Would fail, if they were called upon a simple word to spell.
Now, if you’d like to put me to a test,
There’s one dear name that I can spell the best:

CHORUS 1: “M” is for the million things she gave me.
“O” means only that she’s growing old.
“T” is for the tears were shed to save me.
“H” is for her heart of purest gold.
“E” is for her eyes, with love-light shining.
“R” means right, and right she’ll always be.
Put them all together, they spell “MOTHER,”
A word that means the world to me.

VERSE 2: When I was but a baby, long before I learned to walk,
While lying in my cradle, I would try my best to talk.
It wasn’t long before I spoke, and all the neighbors heard,
My folks were very proud of me, for “Mother” was the word.
Although I’ll never lay a claim to fame,
I’m satisfied that I can spell this name:

CHORUS 2: “M” is for the mercy she possesses.
“O” means that I owe her all I own.
“T” is for her tender sweet caresses.
“H” is for her hands that made a home.
“E” means ev’rything she’s done to help me.
“R” means real and regular, you see.
Put them all together, they spell “MOTHER,”
A word that means the world to me.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From:
Date: 13 Aug 98 - 07:03 AM

There is also the college fraternity song to the same tune:

"M" is for the many times you made me,
"O" is for the other times you tried but couldn't.
"T" is for the times....

It will taking some digging around (VERY deep) for the rest.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Bob Schwarer
Date: 13 Aug 98 - 08:30 AM

I haven't checked the entire thread, but a couple of great "mother" songs are:

NEVER HIT YOUR GRANDMA WITH A SHOVEL (it leaves a bad impression on her mind)

GRANDMA GOT RUN OVER BY A REINDEER

Bob S.

Subject: Lyr Add: MOTHER O' MINE^^
From: gargoyle
Date: 17 Aug 98 - 09:17 PM

Mother O' Mine
(Words by Rudyard Kipling, Music by Frank E. Tours)
Copyright by Chappel & Co. Ltd. MCMII
By permission of Miss Louis Sington, to whom Mr. Kipling assigned the exclusive rights of the original settings.

If I - were hang'd on the high -est hill,
Mother, o' Mine,
I know whose love - woulsd fol-low me still, -
Moth-er o'Mine. -

If I wer drown'd in the deep-est sea, -
Moth-er o' Mine,
I know whose tears would come down to me, -
Moth-er o' Mine, Moth-er o' Mine.

If I were damned of body and soul,
I know whose pray'rs - would make me whole
I know whose pray'rs - would me me whole
Moth -er o' Mine,
O, - Mother -er o' Mine.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Cameron
Date: 18 Aug 98 - 03:57 PM

A subcategory of the sentimental mother-ballads were songs about mothers and their daughters who had "fallen to shame". These were tremendously popular in the music halls along the Bowery in the 19th century.

I quote the following from Luc Sante's book _Low Life_, which I enthusiastically recommend to anyone interested in 19th century Americana, and the seamier side of New York City in particular:

"The kind of song that went over best with the thieves, murderers, extortionists and their assorted muscle was the sentimental ballad. The tune that supposedly launched Izzy Baline's career at Sualter's was Arthur Lamb and Harry von Tilzer's 'The Mansion of Aching Hearts':

She lives in the mansion of aching hearts,
She's one of the restless throng;
The diamonds that glitter around her throat,
They speak both of sorrow and song;
The smile on her face is only a mask
And many's the tear that starts,
For sadder it seems, when of mother she dreams,
In the mansion of aching hearts.

"The repertoire was topheavy with such laments of the strayed remembering their kindly old mothers. There was James Thornton's 'She May Have Seen Better Days':

While strolling along with the city's vast throng,
On a night that was bitterly cold,
I noticed a crowd who were laughing aloud
At something they chanced to behold.
I stopped to see what the object could be,
And there, on a doorstep, lay
A woman in tears from the crowd's angry jeers
And then I heard someone say:
She may have seen better days, when she was in her prime;
She may have seen better days, once upon a time.
Tho' by the wayside she fell, she may yet mend her ways.
Some poor mother is waiting for her who has seen better days.

"And Charles Graham's 'The Picture that is Turned Toward the Wall':

There's a name that's never spoken
And a mother's heart half broken,
There is just another missing from the old home, that's all;
There is still a mem'ry living,
And a father unforgiving,
And a picture that is turn'd toward the wall.

"And William B. Gray's 'She is More to be Pitied than Censured':

At the old concert hall on the Bowery
'Round the table were seated one night
A crowd of young fellows carousing,
With them life seemed cheerful and bright.
At the very next table was seated
A girl who had fallen to shame;
And the young fellows jeered at her weakness,
Till they heard an old woman exclaim:
She is more to be pitied than censured,
She is more to be helped than despised,
She is only a lassie who ventured
On life's stormy path, ill advised.
Do not scorn her with words fierce and bitter,
Do not laugh at her shame and downfall;
For a moment just stop and consider
That a man was the cause of it all.

"And 'Just Tell Them that You Saw Me,' by Paul Dresser, Theodore Dreiser's older brother; the lachrymose 'Just Break the News to Mother,' of Civil War vintage; 'A Violet for Her Mother's Grave'; 'A Bird in a Gilded Cage' about the sorrows of a kept woman; 'Mother was a Lady, or If only Jack were Here'; 'Gold Will Buy Most Anything but a True Girl's Heart'; 'Heaven Will Protect the Working Girl'; 'With All Her Faults I Love Her Still'; 'Just for the Sake of Our Daughter'; 'You Made Me What I am Today - I Hope You're Satisfied'; and the immortal 'Teach Our Baby that I'm Dead.' These songs must have performed some sort of expiatory function; the mind boggles at the spectacle of garrote artists weeping at songs about shame, white slavers sobbing at the tribulations of white slaves, ear-chewers remembering their white-haired mothers."

Cameron.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Alice
Date: 19 Aug 98 - 01:04 AM

Last year in a thread discussion, I brought up the song Mother Was A Lady, (I think as an example of a waitress, in working songs) and someone responded that there was an additional verse in which one of the drummers turned out to be her brother Jack that she was looking for. Does anyone have the rest of the lyrics?

alice in montana

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Dale Rose
Date: 19 Aug 98 - 04:21 AM

I just entered Mother Was A Lady in a new thread, copied from the 1896 sheet music. I have never heard any version that indicated that one of the drummers was her brother, only that the one tormentor knew him well. No telling what changes may have made over the last 102 years by those who sing it, though!

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: BSeed
Date: 19 Aug 98 - 03:35 PM

A note on Cameron's posting of "fallen" women tearjerkers: The verse is the first eight lines; the chorus begins with the title, "She is more to be pitied than censured."

There is another verse, about the girl's funeral, with the words of the chorus coming as the preacher's elegy. The song is on the digitrad (I looked it up last night and was planning to post it here, but Cameron beat me to it).

The song was in one of the books we had in the home when I was growing up in the thirties and forties. Another contemporary (1880s, I think) song you'd like if you like this sort is "Take Back Your Gold." Here's the chorus. If anyone has the verses, please add them. They're not in the trad.

Take back your gold, for gold will never buy me;
Take back your bribe and promise you'll be true.
Give me the love, the love that you denied me--
Make me your wife; that's all I ask of you.

--seed

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 19 Aug 98 - 11:36 PM

Digging deep into the fraternity depths, I've come up
with:

M is for the many times you made me;
O is for the other times you tried.
T is for those tourist cabiin parties,
H is for the hell we raised inside.
E is for the ease with which you had me
R is for the Wreck (sic) you made of me...

put them all together, they spell MOTHER
And a mother, brother, is what you've made of me

Now, for extra credit, does anyone remember the
sequel? It started F is for your foolish little letter,
and spelled out FATHER.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: BSeed
Date: 20 Aug 98 - 03:41 AM

Gawd, did I write elegy when I meant eulogy? They're gonna get me for that on the "Pedantry" thread.--seed

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 22 Aug 98 - 10:48 PM

The way I heard it on an album called "Bawdy Songs Go to College":

M is for the many times you made me
O is for the other times you tried
T is for those tawdry frat house weekends
H is for the hell that's in your eyes
E is for your everlasting passion
R is for the ruin you made of me

Put them all together, they spell M O T H E R
And that's just what I think I'm going to be.

Response:

F is for your friendly correspondence
A is for my answer to your note
T is for the tearful sad occasion
H is for your hope I'll be the goat
E is for the ease with which I made you
R is for the rube you think I'll be

Put them all together, they spell F A T H E R
And that's a rap you'll never pin on me.

(Pretty obnoxious song, n'est-ce pas?)

Subject: Lyr Add: GRANDPA AND HIS 'DEAR'^^
From: gargoyle
Date: 30 Aug 98 - 12:52 AM

Grandpa and his 'Dear'

Can anyone say what fun there is
In the thoughtless use of a gun
Which takes its aim at an innocent life,
And, lo! that life is done?

The merry, happy warblin birds
Though roguish they may be,
The song they sing is pleasanter far
Than the bang of a gun - to me

"When I was a boy, " said Grandpa Grey,
"I thought, ' Now, like a man,
I'll take my gun to the field, and bag
As many birds as I can'

"So off I went, and I banged away,
With no thought of the pain I gave,
Till I presently met a sweet young miss
Trying one bird to save.

It had fallen near with a wounded wing,
And the look in her face so sad
Went straight to my heart, and I felt ashamed
Of myself for a heartless lad.

"Well, after that, I never could aim
At an innocent bird again,
But-I took to hunting after the 'dear'
And I did not hunt in vain;
For I've captured one, and I've never-ceased
To love and cherish my 'dear;'
And if you want to see her boys,
Why, look at your grandmother here."

Subject: Lyr Add: MOTHER'S LAST SONG (Bryan Waller Proctor)
From: gargoyle
Date: 30 Aug 98 - 01:11 AM

THE MOTHER'S LAST SONG
(Bryan Waller Proctor)

Sleep! The ghostly winds are blowing!
No moon abroad - no star is glowing:
The river is deep, and the tide is flowing
To the land where you and I are going!
We are going afar,
Beyond moon or star,
To the land where the sinless angels are!

I lost my heart to you heartless sire,
("Twas melted away by his looks of fire)
Forgot my God, and my father's ire,
All for the sake of a man's desire;
But now wee'll go
Where the waters flow,
And make us a bed where none shall know.

The world is cruel - the world is untrue;
Our foes are many, our friends are few;
No work, no bread, however we sue!
what is there left for me to do,
But fly -fly
From the cruel sky,
And hide in the deepest deeps - and die!

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: gargoyle
Date: 05 Sep 98 - 02:13 PM

OUR MOTHERS

Voices from the Dust Bowl

Mrs. Mary Sullivan

Library of Congress Collection

Real Audio

Our Mothers

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Jack Hickman
Date: 05 Sep 98 - 08:24 PM

And then there's that classic Mother's Day poem:

My Mother:

She took me out of my nice warm cot
And sat me down on the cold cold pot
And made me go whether I had to or not
My Mother.

Jack Hickman

Subject: Lyr Add: WHEN I WAS A WEE WEE TOT
From: Barbara
Date: 06 Sep 98 - 12:58 AM

There's a tune to that, Jack, and a moral...

When I was a wee wee tot,
My mother put me on my wee wee pot
To see if I would wee or not,
Wee wee, wee wee, wee wee.

She took me from my wee wee pot
And put me in my wee wee cot
And there I wee wee'd quite a lot,
Wee wee, wee wee, wee wee.

She took me from my wee wee cot
And hit me on my wee wee bot
'Cause I'd not wee wee'd in the pot,
Wee wee, wee wee, wee wee.

Something like that anyway.
B*
Barbara

HTML line breaks added. --JoeClone, 27-Sep-02.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From:
Date: 07 Sep 98 - 03:18 PM

There is an old book of poetry entitled "Heartthrobs", which is a rich mine of such materials. I do not have it to hand, but remember a mother's reference to wine as "the adder's kiss". (Happily my own parents were not Prohibitionists and did not engage in such Calvinist austerities as water-drinking, but they did have the book about the house.)

Are there not any songs about wicked mothers, other than in the much older ballads like The Flower of Serving Men? Could Victorian mothers have been so uniformly sweet?

A few years back someone in Cape Breton released a 45 of a recitation about his greedy and ill-tempered mother, entitled "Tanks Ma, Bye". I distinctly remember that the mother took the last piece of pie for herself. This is similar to a song I once heard on a Grand Ole Opry repeat on PBS, where the singer complained that the reason he was so short was because his family would never let him eat the last potato.

Subject: Lyr Add: LITTLE BLOSSOM
From: GUEST,Newfiegirl...Little Blossem..
Date: 23 Oct 02 - 12:53 PM

LITTLE BLOSSOM

Oh dear, I'm so tired and lonesome! I wonder why Mamma don't come.
She told me to shut up my pretty blue eyes, and before I'd wake up she'd be home.
She said she was going to see Grandma. She lives by the river so bright.
I suspect that my Mamma fell in there, and perhaps she won't be home tonight.

I guess I'm afraid to stay up here without any fire or light,
But God's lit the lamps up in Heaven. I see them all twinkling and bright.
I think I'll go down to meet Papa. I suppose then he stopped at the store.
It's a great pretty store full of bottles. I wish he wouldn't go there anymore.

Sometimes he is sick when he comes home. He stumbles and falls up the stairs,
And once when he entered the parlor, he kicked at my poor little chair.
And Mamma was so pale and frightened, she hugged me up close to her breast.
She'd call me her poor little Blossom. I guess I've forgotten the rest.

But I remember that Papa was angry. His face was so red and so wild;
And I remember he struck at poor Mamma, and hurt his poor little child.
So out in the street went the baby, her little heart beating with fright,
Until she reached that gin parlor, all radiant with music and light.
But I love him and I guess I'll go find him. Perhaps he'll come home with me soon;
And then it won't be dark and lonely, waiting for Mamma to come.

Her little hand pushed the door open, though her touch was light as a breath.
Her little feet entered the parlor that leads but to ruin and death.
"Oh Papa," she cried as she reached him, though her voice rippled out sweet and clear,
"I thought if I come I would find you. Now I'm so glad that I'm here.

"The lights are so pretty, dear Papa. I think the music is sweet.
I guess it must be suppertime, Papa, for Blossom wants something to eat.
A moment his blared eyes gazed wildly, down into her face sweet and fair,
And then a demon possessed him, his grasp for the back of a chair.

A moment, a second, it was over, the work of defend was complete.
And poor little innocent Blossom lay quivering and crushed at his feet.
Then swift as a light, came his reason, and showed him the deed he had done.
With a groan that the Devil might pity, he knelt by the quivering form.

He pressed her pale face to his bosom. He lifted her fair golden head.
A moment the baby's lips trembled, and poor little Blossom was dead.
Then in came the law so majestic, and swore with his life he must pay.
He was only a fiend or a madman, to murder a child in that way.

The man who had sold him the poison made him a demon of hell.
Sure he must be loved and respected, because he had license to sell.
They may rob you of friends and of money, send you to predication and woe;
But as long as they pay for their license, the law must protect them, you know.

God pity the women and children who are under the judgment run
And hasten the day when against it neither heart, voice nor pen shall be dunned.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: wilco
Date: 23 Oct 02 - 05:56 PM

" One we hear around here all the time are "IF I COULD HEAR MY MOTHER PRAY AGAIN" and "MEDALS FOR MOTHERS."

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Genie
Date: 23 Oct 02 - 05:59 PM

How about "MY MOTHER'S BIBLE,"
"THAT WONDERFUL MOTHER OF MINE,"
or "TOO-RA-LOO-RA-LOO-RAL?"

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Genie
Date: 23 Oct 02 - 06:13 PM

Pal Of My Cradle Days

Lyr/Chords Req: Pal Of My Cradle Days

Also, there's the old Al Jolson hit "MY MAMMY," as well as "IN A SHANTY IN OLD SHANTY TOWN" and Dolly Parton's autobiographical "COAT OF MANY COLORS" and Paul McCartney's tribute to his own dear departed mother, "LET IT BE."

The second verse (chorus?) to M-O-T-H-E-R goes:
"M" is for the mercy she possesses,
"O" means that I owe her all I own.
"T" is for her tender, sweet caresses,
"H" is for those hands that made a home.
"E's" for everything she did to help me,
"R" means real and regular was she.
Put them all together, they spell "Mother,"
A name that means the world to me.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: SINSULL
Date: 23 Oct 02 - 08:41 PM

Rocking Alone In An Old Rocking Chair.
Pictures From Life's Other Side.
I Want To Shake Hands With Mother.
I Dreamed About Mama Last Night.

Subject: Lyr Add: HEAVEN IS NEARER SINCE MOTHER IS THERE
From: Nathan in Texas
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 11:13 PM

HEAVEN IS NEARER SINCE MOTHER IS THERE
Copyright 1937 by the Stamps-Baxter Music Company
Words by Blanche C. Patterson
Music by Luther L. Lovett

Dark are the windows, no flickering glow
Lights up the old house that we used to know;
But in the darkness a sweet face so fair
Smiles down from heaven for mother is there.

        Heaven is nearer since mother is there,
        Heaven is dearer since mother is there;
        Earth ties are broken and heav'n is more fair,
        Heaven is nearer since mother is there.

Oft when the shadows of eventide fall,
I seem to hear her voice tenderly call;
In words familiar, "Let us come now to prayer,"
I kneel in rev'rence and mother is there.

O how I miss her sweet voice and her smile,
Yet, I shall see her again after while;
With our dear Savior, I know she will wait
With a glad welcome just inside the gate

Subject: Lyr Add: HELLO CENTRAL, GIVE ME HEAVEN
From:
Date: 30 Oct 02 - 12:22 AM

WOULD ANYONE HAVE..... GUITAR CHORDS for
"HELLO CENTRAL GIVE ME HEAVEN"?????


HELLO CENTRAL, GIVE ME HEAVEN
(Charles K. Harris, 1901)

Papa, I'm so sad and lonely, sobbed a tearful, little child.
Since dear Mama's gone to heaven, Papa, darling, you've not smiled
I will speak to her and tell her that we want her to come home
Just you listen and I'll call her, through the telephone.

Chorus: Hello, Central, give me Heaven, 'cause my mother's there
You will find her with the angels, on the Golden Stair.
She'll be glad its me who's speaking, call her won't you please?
For I want to surely tell her we're so lonely here.

When the girl received this message coming o'er the telephone
How her heart thrilled in that moment, and the wires seemed to moan
I will answer just to please her, Yes, dear heart, I'll soon come home
Kiss me , mama, kiss your darling through the telephone

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,TAMMY IN MISSOURI
Date: 30 Oct 02 - 08:57 AM

I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO FIND THE LYRICS TO A SCOTTISH SONG FROM THE 1600'S NAMED BARBRA ALLEN. IF YOU CAN FIND I WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE IT. A FRIEND OF MINE IS VERY ILL AND HER MOTHER SANG IT TO HER WHEN SHE LITTLE AND SHE FORGOT THE WORDS TO IT.   

                                           THANK YOU

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 30 Oct 02 - 05:15 PM

It's in the DT. If a search for Barbara Allen doesn't get it, try Barbry Allen or Barbree Allen. Or search for (and use these square brackets) [came nigh him].

Dave Oesterreich