'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: CarterNut
Date: 28 Jul 98 - 12:26 AM

With "Will the Circle...", when the Carter Family recorded it in 1935 it was under the title "Can the Circle...". On the database there is an extra verse which I never knew. I just learned the main four that everyone has heard.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 27 Jul 98 - 10:05 PM

Ferrara- I just got through entering the whole song for the next DT edition. If I can get this @#$%$$##@ Windows to cut and paste from a DOS program, I'll post the rest.

Subject: Lyr Add: I DIDN'T RAISE MY BOY TO BE A SOLDIER^^^
From: Ferrara
Date: 27 Jul 98 - 09:21 PM

Just have one verse & chorus of this:

Ten million soldiers to the wars have gone
Who will never return again
Ten million mother's heart will break
For the one who died in vain
Weighted down with sorrows of the lonely years
I heard a mother murmur through her tears:

CHORUS: I DIDN'T RAISE MY BOY TO BE A SOLDIER,
I brought him up to be my pride and joy.
Who dares to put a musket on his shoulder,
To shoot some other mother's pride and joy?
Let nations arbitrate their future troubles,
It's time to put the sword and gun away.
There'd be no war today, if mothers all would say,
I DIDN'T RAISE MY BOY TO BE A SOLDIER.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Barbara
Date: 27 Jul 98 - 12:16 PM

Ah, my friend, the secret is brackets: [ ]
If you put the words inbetween 'em the WHOLE thing is searched, whereas if you DON'T use 'em, DT searches for individual words.
And, as far as a computer is concerned "can" is nothing like "will". It gives you all and only what you ask for.
Blessings,
BArbara

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: BSeed
Date: 27 Jul 98 - 01:56 AM

Amazing! I ask for Will the Circle Be Unbroken, get a message there are no hits, and it's listed under Can the Circle Be Unbroken? How come sometimes when I try to find a song, I get a list of songs with one word from the title --and that word, like or not, is THE.

Subject: Lyr Add: EVERY BUSH AND TREE (Otis Pierce)^^
From: Jack mostly folk
Date: 27 Jul 98 - 01:47 AM

Great Mother Tear jerky stuff, my alltime favorite is an Otis Pierce song covered by Jim Ringer called "Every Bush and Tree"

EVERY BUSH AND TREE
(Otis Pierce)

I hear the soft wings a blowin
in every bush and tree
I know my mothers a' waiting
in her heavenly home for me.

I was born in old Missouri
my family was poor
My mother's name was Laura
and my daddy's name was Joe

Momma , she called me to her bedside
saying Son I've got to go
We'll go and meet again up yonder
Where the parting will be no more (repeat 1st)

Now Daddy went back home to North Fork
And he left us here all alone
The sheriff came by one evening
And he took us to an orphan's home

So come all you orphan children
Who stays down here below
We'll go and meet again up yonder
Where the parting will be no more(repeat 1st)

If you need the music or example on tape, write me...
Jack the mostly folk guy.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE DYING MOTHER^^
From: CarterNut
Date: 26 Jul 98 - 11:03 PM

The Dying Mother
Performed by the Carter Family and recorded For ARC in Chicago, Ill. in 1940.

On a cold winter's eve as the snowflakes were falling,
In a low humble cottage a poor mother lay;
Although wrecked with pain as she layed there contented,
With her Savior, her Friend and peace with Him made.

Ch. We will all meet again on that great Judgement morning,
The books will be open, the roll will be called;
Oh how sad it will be if forever we're parted,
While some rise to Glory while others stand the Fall.

Oh that mother of yours has gone o'er the river,
And you promised you'd meet her while knelt by her bed;
As the death sweat rolled off and fell down on her pillow,
Oh, her mem'ry still lives although she is dead.

You remember the kiss and the last words she uttered,
Oh the arms that embraced you are with you no more;
As you stand by her grave teardrops fall on her casket,
And you vowed there to meet her on that happy shore.


Enjoy. More to come later.

John

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Dale Rose
Date: 26 Jul 98 - 07:55 PM

Earlier today, I posted (in a thread of its own) another Chas. K. Harris song, FOR SALE, A BABY, 1903. It is certainly right there at the top of the tear-jerker category.

Subject: Lyr Add: A MOTHER'S LOVE IS A BLESSING (Keenan)^^
From: Brack&
Date: 24 Jul 98 - 04:30 AM

A Mother's Love's A Blessing (T. P. Keenan)

An Irish boy was leaving,
Leaving his native home,
Crossing the broad Atlantic,
Once more he wished to roam,
And as he was leaving his mother,
Who was standing on the quay,
She threw her arms around his waist,
And this to him did say,

Chorus
A mother's love's a blessing,
No matter where you roam,
Keep her while she's living,
You'll miss her when she's gone,
Love her as in childhood,
Though feeble, old and grey,
For you'll never miss a mother's love,
Till she's buried beneath the clay,

And as the years go onwards,
I'll settle down in life,
And choose a nice young colleen,
And take her for my wife,
And as the babes grow older,
And climb around my knee,
I'll teach them the very same lesson,
That my mother taught to me.

Chorus

A song my mother taught me. Regards Mick Bracken ^^

---

Click to play

---

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Barbara
Date: 24 Jul 98 - 01:52 AM

Yep, computers are amazing, what they do and what they don't. They only give you what you ask for. I searched for just 'unbroken' and discovered that the song in the database is called 'CAN the Circle Be Unbroken'. Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: Lyr Add: CAN THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN?^^^
From:
Date: 24 Jul 98 - 01:17 AM

i'm amazed that this isn't on the database:

Will the Circle Be Unbroken

        G                G7        C               G
  I was standing by my window on a cold and cloudy day
  As I watched the hearse come rollin' for to carry my
      D7      G
     mother away/

Chorus (same tune)
Will the circle be unbroken, by and by, Lord, by and by?
There's a better home a-waitin' in the sky, Lord, in the sky.

Oh, I told the undertaker, "Undertaker, please drive slow
'Cause that body you are haulin', Lord, I hate to see her go.

Well, I followed close behind her, tried to hold up and be brave,
But I could not hide my sorrow as they laid her in her grave.

I went back home, my home was lonesome, since my mother, she was gone.
All my brothers and sisters crying, what a home so sad and lorn.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From:
Date: 24 Jul 98 - 12:57 AM

/songster bob--doc watson sings "When the Work's All Done This Fall" on Doc Watson on Stage (with Merle Watson). A fine album: Brown's Ferry Blues, Don't Let Your Deal Go Down, Life Gets Teejus, Don't It?" and so on.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Bill D
Date: 23 Jul 98 - 07:27 PM

"I DIDN'T RAISE MY BOY TO BE A SOLDIER"../seems to me it fits, though from Mom's point of view...

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: CarterNut
Date: 23 Jul 98 - 12:10 PM

The "Faded Coat of Blue" mentioned above is one of my favorites. I learned it from the Carter Family Victor 78 distibuted by Montgomery Ward. It is such a stirring song.

Subject: Lyr Add: SUPPER TIME^^
From: Bill in Alabama
Date: 23 Jul 98 - 06:49 AM

Phillip:
I certainly didn't mean to imply that we in the mountains had a monopoly on anything--except hard-headedness and distrust any form of government. As musicians, our family was an eclectic bunch, and anything that we heard which appealed to us or touched us entered our repertoire.

Here are the words as I recall them:

Many years ago in days of childhood,
I used to play 'til evening shadows come;
Then winding down that old familiar pathway,
I'd hear my mother call at setting sun:

CHORUS: Come home, come home, it's suppertime;
The sun is sinking fast.
Come home, come, it's suppertime;
We're going home at last.

Years later, I was standing by her bedside,
And angel wings were winnowing the air.
She heard the call for suppertime in heaven,
And now I know she's waiting for me there. CHORUS

In memory, I can see her standing yonder,
And her familiar voice I hear once more;
The supper table's ready up in Heaven--
It's suppertime upon the golden shore. CHORUS

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Philip Hudson
Date: 22 Jul 98 - 05:35 PM

Bill in Alabama: You didn't have to be in the mountains to sing "Supper Time". I had it in a song book but I lent it to one of my many brothers and I can't remember which one. - Philip Hudson in Texas

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Bill in Alabama
Date: 21 Jul 98 - 12:53 PM

Nathan's entry reminded me of a great old hymn which we used to sing in the mountains: "SUPPER TIME." Before Dick gives me hell about not posting the words immediately, let me say that I'll get to as quickly as I can.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 21 Jul 98 - 12:39 PM

On the DT: "FADED COAT OF BLUE"

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Philip Hudson
Date: 21 Jul 98 - 10:41 AM

RE: message from [e-mail] Date: 06-Jul-98 - 10:36 PM

"My tear-jerker favorite is Ernest Tubb's "Soldier's Last Letter". I have been singing it for over 15 years, and it still chokes me up every time I do!" I like that one too. I heard it on public TV this week in an Ernest Tubb's special. I don't know all the words but I do know the tune. If KristBenj or someone else would post the words or point to them in a data base, we would appreciate it. - Philip Hudson

Subject: Lyr Add: TELL MOTHER I'LL BE THERE^^
From:
Date: 20 Jul 98 - 11:34 PM

Old hymnals are a great source of Mother songs, often having a section in the topical index dedicated to Mother. One that is still in print and has at least 7 mother songs is Heavenly Highway Hymns (Stamps-Baxter Music, P.O. Box 4007, Dallas, TX 75208).

Here is one of my favorites. I may post more later.

TELL MOTHER I'LL BE THERE
(Charles M. Fillmore)

When I was but a little child how well I recollect
How I would grieve my mother with my folly and neglect;
And now that she has gone to heav'n I miss her tender care:
O Savior, tell my mother I'll be there

Chorus:
Tell mother I'll be there in answer to her pray'r
This message, blessed Savior, to her bear.
Tell mother I'll be there, heav'n's joy with her to share
Yes, tell my darling mother I'll be there!

Tho I was often wayward, she was always kind and good;
So patient, gentle, loving, when my ways were rough and rude;
My childhood griefs and trials she would gladly with me share
O Savior, tell my mother I'll be there

When I became a prodigal, and left the old rooftree
She almost broke her loving heart in mourning after me;
And day and night she prayed to God to keep me in his care;
O Savior, tell my mother I'll be there

One day a message came to me, it bade me quickly come
If I would see my mother ere the Savior took her home;
I promised her, before she died, for heaven to prepare;
O Savior, tell my mother I'll be there
--Charles M. Fillmore

Subject: Lyr Add: MOTHER WOULD COMFORT ME^^
From: rich r
Date: 20 Jul 98 - 10:50 PM

From the Civil War come several of these songs. George Root's "JUST BEFORE THE BATTLE MOTHER" is in the database along with a 20th century humorous parody. The following song by C.C. Sawyer is less well known. It is supposedly based on an incident wherein a Yankee soldier from New York was wounded and captured. He was taken to a hospital where the attendant told him there was nothing more that could be done and that he must die. Purportedly his last words were the title of the song.

MOTHER WOULD COMFORT ME
[by C.C. Sawyer (186?)]

Wounded and sorrowful, far from my home,
Sick among strangers, uncared for, unknown
Even the birds that used sweetly to sing
Are silent and swiftly have taken the wing
No one but Mother can cheer me today
No one for me could so fervently pray;
None to console me, no kind friend is near,
Mother would comfort me if she were here.

CH:
Gently her hand o'er my forehead she'd press
Trying to free me from pain and distress
Kindly she'd say to me, "Be of good cheer.
Mother wil comfort you, Mother is here!"

If she were with me, I soon would forget
My pain and my sorrow, no more would I fret
One kiss from her lips, or one look from her eye,
Would make me contented, and willing to die!
Gently her hand o'er my forehead she'd press
Trying to free me from pain and distress;
Kindly she'd say to me, "Be of good cheer,
Mother will comfort you, Mother is here!"

CH

Cheerfully, faithfully, Mother would stay
Always beside me, by night and by day;
If I should murmur or wish to complain
Her gentle voice would soon calm me again.
Sweetly a Mother's love shines like a star ,
Brightest in darkness, when daylight's afar;
In clouds or in sunshine, pleasures or pain,
Mother's affection is ever the same.

CH

Excuse me while I go get tissue.

rich r

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Songster Bob
Date: 20 Jul 98 - 03:22 PM

Great! I drop in for the first time in weeks and get an extra verse to one of my favorite songs ("Lightning Express"). Talk about timing!

The list of mother-in-tear-jerking songs should include "WHEN THE WORK'S ALL DONE THIS FALL," where it's the wandering son who dies before he can get back to his home in Dixie. I don't know if it's in Digitrad or Cowpie, but it likely is. If not, maybe someone who knows it can get it included.

I'll see if I can come up with others.

Songster Bob

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Barbara
Date: 20 Jul 98 - 02:42 PM

Thanks, Bill!
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: Lyr Add: PLEASE MISTER CONDUCTOR^^
From: Bill in Alabama
Date: 20 Jul 98 - 06:42 AM

The Lightning Express
(as sung by Garland Foster [1877-1960] to his grandson [me])

The Lightning Express from the Depot so grand was just pulling out on its way;
All of the people that were on board seemed to be happy and gay;
Except for a lad in a seat by himself, holding a letter he had--
'Twas plain to be seen by the tears in his eyes that the contents of it made him sad.
The stern old conductor came through the car, taking tickets from everyone there;
When he came to the young boy's side, he gruffly demanded his fare.
'I have no ticket,' the boy replied, ' but I'll pay you back someday.'
'I'll have to put you off at the next station,' he said,' but he stopped when he heard the boy say:

CHORUS (see below)

'My mother was ailing before I left home, and needed a doctor's care;
I came to the city, employment to seek, but I could not find any work there.
Today a letter from Sister arrived, 'come home mother's dying' did say.
That's why I must make this ride, sir, though I haven't the money to pay.'
A little girl in a seat close by said, 'To put that boy off is a shame!'
And taking his hat a collection she made that soon paid his way on the train.
'I'm obliged to you miss, for your kindness to me..' 'You're welcome,' she said, 'Never fear."
Each time the conductor came through the car, these words seemed to ring in his ear:

CHORUS: Please, mister conductor, don't put me off of your train--
The best friend I have in the whole wide world is waiting for me in pain.
Expected to die any moment, and may not live through the day--
I want to bid mother good-bye, sir, before God takes her away.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Barbara
Date: 17 Jul 98 - 08:29 PM

Puh-leeze Mister Conductor,
Don't put me offa this train
The very best friend that a boy ever had
Is waiting for me in vain,
Ex-pected to die any moment
She may not live through the day
I've got to bid Mother goodbye, sir
Before God takes her away.

There. That's the chorus, which is all I know, so, Bill, how about some verses?? I looked in DT and didn't find it, and I agree, it's a classic.
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Bill in Alabama
Date: 17 Jul 98 - 03:38 PM

The song which I learned as The Lightning Express when I was learning songs from Grandpaw back in East Tennessee is available in the Levy Sheet Music collection under the title Please Mr. Conductor Don't Put Me Off. In my humble opinion, The Blue Sky Boys' rendition of this song is one of the best tear-jerkers I have ever heard.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: DWDitty
Date: 17 Jul 98 - 01:38 PM

Although some may say it is the antithesis of a Mother Song, MOTHERLESS CHILDREN has always been a favorite of mine. I particularly like Dave Van Ronk's rendition.

Subject: Lyr Add: HELLO, CENTRAL, GIVE ME HEAVEN^^
From: Greg F.
Date: 16 Jul 98 - 09:14 PM

Thanks to all who contributed to this- really appreciated! Since I started this lot off, thought I should make a contribution- however over-sentimental and maudlin, it does capture the turn-of-the {last} century pretty well.

Cheers!! Greg

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: Martin Ryan.
Date: 12 Jul 98 - 06:27 PM

The old Oirish standard "MOTHER MACHREE" would surely qualify! It used be almost compulsory at the maudlin end of pub-sessions in Ireland years ago. Then it died out - or so I thought! At a well-known Irish Music Summer School last week I heard it belted out in a fine "bass-barreltone voice" (As Joyce, I think, said).

Mentioning the Willie Clancy Summer School: Lots of instrumental sessions around but one of the pubs in the town was effectively a "singers only" session - from about 11 in the morning till after midnight! You could wander in, hear a huge range of songs and singers, at any time of the day. Great!

Regards

Subject: Lyr Add: HOLD FAST TO THE RIGHT^^
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 12 Jul 98 - 03:27 PM

Hold Fast to the Right
(Robert & Bill Brumley)

  
	E	       A		   E  
Kneel down by the side of your mother, my boy  
	     B7		        E  
You have only a moment I know  
        E	         A	       E  
But stay 'til I give you this parting advice  
       B7		   E  
It is all that I have to bestow.  

(Chorus)
Hold fast to the right, hold fast to the right
Wherever your footsteps may roam
Oh, forsake not the way of salvation, my boy
That you learned from your mother at home.

You leave us to seek your employment, my boy
By the world you have yet to be tried
But in the temptations and trials you meet
May your heart to the Saviour confide.

I gave you to God in your cradle, my boy
And I've taught you the best that I knew
And as long as His mercies permit me to live
I shall never cease praying for you.

You will find in your satchel, a bible, my boy
It's the book of all others the best
It will help you to live and prepare you to die
And will lead to the gates of the blest.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Anne
Date: 10 Jul 98 - 03:20 AM

SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE A MOTHERLESS CHILD especially by Billie Holliday or Etta James.

Subject: Lyr Add: WHISPER YOUR MOTHER'S NAME^^
From:
Date: 10 Jul 98 - 12:54 AM

Ok Dick, calm down! Get Art to give you a double Laphraoig ;^} Here are the lyrics to Jimmie Rodgers' "Whisper Your Mother's Name" as I hear them on Rounder C-1058.

Whisper Your Mother's Name
(Sung by Jimmie Rodgers)

I was seated one day in a gilded cafe
In a window that looked on the street
A face caught my eye in a crowd passing by
And I hastedly sprang to my feet

It was my sister's sad face, I had left home to trace
Through her pride she had left us one day
And it brought back to me, as plain as could be
My mother as I heard her say

CHO

"If you should see your sister
do not reproach or blame
Tell her how we've missed her
I love her just the same
Say my darling the words that you've brought her
whether in pride or shame
Say that she's still my daughter
Whisper your mother's name"
(Yodel) EEE-yew-dee-oh-lee-oh-lady-ee-hee
yodeledee-yodeledee-hee

There were tears on her face as she passed by the place
and I hastedly sprang to her side
As we walked along I said, "Nell, we were wrong
We are sorry we wounded your pride
Your sweetheart is true and still waiting for you
We are willing now you should wed
If you'll only come back, you can marry your Jack
and please your dear mother who says"

CHO

Murray

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 09 Jul 98 - 08:48 PM

There's the tear-jerker mother/child song on the DT called "PUT MY LITTLE SHOES AWAY."

Subject: Lyr Add: MOTHER'S PARTING WORDS TO HER DAUGHTER^^
From: Chet W.
Date: 08 Jul 98 - 05:20 PM

Barbara and all, Still can't find my Washington Philips album, but here's a version from the Critton Hollow Stringband from their album "By and By", Flying Fish records, 1985.

A MOTHER'S PARTING WORDS TO HER DAUGHTER
(W. Phillips)

CHORUS

By and By, I'm going to see the king
By and By, I'm going to see the king
By and By, I'm going to see the king
Good Lord, I don't mind dyin' I'm a child of God

A mother called her daughter to her dyin' bed
She placed her hands upon her daughter's head
And grabbed her kindly in her arms
Said, I will not be with you very long

Oh daughter, Oh God is soon going to carry me home
But you must remember when I'm dead and gone
I must leave you now in this world alone
But you know that God will guide you safely home

Now you might do things that you don't consider no harm
But God in heaven knows when you've done wrong
So you better let dancing, card parties, all go by
So that you might be able to reach your home on high


Washington Phillips is a great source of this kind of song. His album on Yazoo records was released on CD, probably still orderable.

Good luck,Chet W.