Lyr Req: Kitty Wells (Bishop)

Subject: Kitty Ellen
From: GUEST,Puffenkinty
Date: 01 Feb 04 - 08:30 PM

Does anybody know anything about the song
"Kitty Ellen"? It is NOT a version of Barbra Allen.

My grandfather sang it to me when I was very small.
I remember it was about a man who loved a lovely
girl. The only line I
remember is

"When I heard that she was dead,
I laid my banjo down and cried."

I think he learned it when he traveled to the South.

Thanks

Subject: RE: lyr req: Kitty Ellen
From: Sorcha
Date: 01 Feb 04 - 11:19 PM

NO luck at all. Help?

Subject: RE: lyr req: Kitty Ellen
From: Amos
Date: 01 Feb 04 - 11:41 PM

I think this is what you're looking for.

Regards,

A

---

KITTY WELLS
Sung by: Mrs. E.P.J. Garrott
Recorded on 7/4/61

   

   You ask what makes this darky weep,
Why he, like others, is not gay,
What makes the tears roll down his cheeks
From early morn 'til close of day?

Chorus: When the birds was singing in the morning,
And the myrtle and the ivy were in bloom,
And the sun o'er the hilltop was a-dawning-
'Twas then they laid her in the tomb.

(Comment by Mrs. Garrott: "And I don't know what the next verse is, but . . . )

But death came in my cabin door,
And took away my joy and pride,
And when I found she was no more,
I laid my banjo down and cried.

(Chorus)

(Comment by Mrs. Garrott: "Now there's another verse in there, and the end, that I just don't know.   It comes in with "They buried my sweet Kitty Wells," but I just don't remember. Do you remember that?")

    Also found in Brown, Vol. III, #411.

All Songs Recorded by John Quincy Wolf, Jr.

The John Quincy Wolf Folklore Collection
Lyon College, Batesville, Arkansas

Found at http://www.lyon.edu/wolfcollection/songs/garrottkitty1254.html

Subject: Lyr Add: KITTY WELLS
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 03 Feb 04 - 08:09 AM

Transcribed from the sheet music at The Library of Congress American Memory Collection.

KITTY WELLS
Composed by T. Brigham Bishop. Arr. by S. T. Gordon. 1861.

You ask what makes this darkie weep,
Why he like others am not gay,
What makes the tear flow down his cheek
From early morn till close of day.
My story, darkies, you shall hear
For in my mem'ry fresh it dwells.
'Twill cause you all to drop a tear
On the grave of my sweet Kitty Wells.

CHORUS: While the birds were singing in the morning,
And the myrtle and the ivy were in bloom,
And the sun on the hill was a-dawning,
It was then we laid her in the tomb.

I never shall forget the day
That we together roamed the dells.
I kissed her cheek and named the day
That I should marry Kitty Wells.
But death came in my cabin door
And took from me my joy my pride,
And when I found she was no more,
Then I laid my banjo down and cried. CHORUS

I often wish that I was dead
And laid beside her in the tomb.
The sorrow that bows down my head
Is silent in the midnight gloom.
The springtime has no charms for me,
Though flowers are blooming in the dells,
For that bright form I do not see.
'Tis the form of my sweet Kitty Wells. CHORUS

[A song sheet published by De Marsan attributes this song to Thomas Sloan Jr. of Newark N. J.]

Subject: RE: lyr req: Kitty Ellen
From: masato sakurai
Date: 03 Feb 04 - 09:20 AM

Ellen Muriel Deason married Johnny Wright in 1937. She was given the name Kitty Wells by her husband in 1943. Johnny got the name from the song "Kitty Wells", recorded by the Pickard Family.