Lyr Req: Indian Maid? / Silver Bell + Red Wing

Subject: Lyrics for Indian Maid ??
From:
Date: 12 Feb 97 - 09:36 PM

From memory, I have reconstricted part of Indian Maid (which may actually be known as Silver Belle). Can anyone provide the rest of the lyrics?

INDIAN MAID or SILVER BELLE reconstructed from memory, Mike Smolin

There once was an indian maid Who never was afraid of ... ...

By the light of a bright starry night sat a lonely indian maid, no lover¹s sweet serenade had ever won her.

In a canoe ... ... ... ... singing this refrain.

cho: (la da, da da da) my silver belle ...

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Indian Maid ??
From: Barry
Date: 12 Feb 97 - 11:24 PM

Try the New Christy Minstrals they might have recorded a long ways back. It's name might be Redwing....... My little Redwing my little Redwind, my ..are crying, my... is dying, my little Redwing, my little Redwing sorry that's all I have for you, hope it's some help.

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Indian Maid ??
From: Bill
Date: 13 Feb 97 - 03:46 AM

Howdy Mike,

I can't really help with the song you want, but i can tell you that only the first line is similar to Redwing (which you can easily find three versions of in DT under "Red Wing."

Good luck on the other one.

Allinkausay, Bill

Subject: Lyr Add: SILVER BELL (Madden/Wenrich)
From: Bill D
Date: 13 Feb 97 - 11:41 AM

The title is indeed Silver Bell. It seem to be primarily an instrumental tune these days, but a radio station here plays it occasionally---


SILVER BELL
Words, Edward Madden. Music, Percy Wenrich.
New York: Jerome H. Remick & Co., 1910.

1. Beneath the light of a bright starry night
Sang a lonely little Indian maid.
"No lover's sweet serenade
Has ever won me."
As in a dream, it would seem, down the stream,
Gaily paddling his tiny canoe,
A chieftain longing to woo
Sang her this song:

CHORUS: "Your voice is ringing,
My Silver Bell.
Under its spell,
I've come to tell
You of the love I am bringing,
O'er hill and dell.
Happy we'll dwell,
My Silver Bell."

2. For many moons, many spoons, many tunes
Woke the echoes of the still summer night,
As down the stream gleaming bright
They floated dreaming.
In his canoe, only two sat to woo
As they listened to the sigh of the breeze
That seemed to sing in the trees
This sweet refrain: CHORUS


(There--timeless lyrics, huh? *grin* I have to re-learn this every time I sing it; my mind simply will not absorb those phrases!)
Enjoy
Bill

HTML line breaks added in place of double spacing. --JoeClone, 11-Mar-02.

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Indian Maid ??
From:
Date: 10 Dec 98 - 06:44 PM

ok you hit it but think that it was sung by a male in the 50s and wasnt a popular item ive heard it several times but long time ago have some people looking for the origional; and havnt been able to find it. can remember the tune tho and it running circles in my head i have to find it.......

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Indian Maid ??
From: Dale Rose
Date: 10 Dec 98 - 09:50 PM

You can locate the sheet music at the Levy Sheet Music Site Just enter silver bell in the search box, and it will come up, along with about 6 other songs that use the phrase.

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Indian Maid ??
From: masato sakurai
Date: 09 Mar 02 - 04:52 AM

The above link doesn't work. Click on the title below.

Title: Silver Bell. Song.
Composer, Lyricist, Arranger: Words by Edward Madden.
Music by Percy Wenrich.
Publication: New York: Jerome H. Remick & Co., 1910.
Instrumentation: piano and voice (solo and ttbb chorus)
Form of Composition: strophic with chorus
First Line: Beneath the light of a bright starry night sang a lonely little Indian maid
First Line of Chorus: Your voice is ringing, my Silver Bell

~Masato

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Indian Maid ??
From: kendall
Date: 09 Mar 02 - 08:34 AM

I think this was also recorded by Doc Williams.

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Indian Maid ??
From:
Date: 16 Mar 03 - 02:11 PM

Whilst brousing the web I came across Mike's plaintive cry for assistance with the words to "Silver Belle". It may be of interest to Mike that for many years, this song has been very popular with one of our local Dixieland jazz bands here in the north of England (The Rea Brothers). I agree, it is a tongue twister but wonderful to listen to.

Best wishes - George D Watt

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Indian Maid ??
From:
Date: 21 Dec 03 - 02:59 PM

There once lived an Indian maid
A shy little prairie maid
Who sang a lay, a love song gay
As on the plains she whiled away the day.

She loved a warrior bold
This shy little maid of old
But bold and gay he rode one day
To battle far away.

Now the moon shines tonight on pretty Red Wing,
The breeze is sighing, the night bird crying,
For afar 'neath the moon her brave is sleeping
While Red Wing's weeping her heart away.


This is a version I learned in my childhood. If anyone else knows this version please let me know or correct me if wrong. Thanks.

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Indian Maid ??
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 21 Dec 03 - 04:26 PM

That's a completely different song from the one that was being discussed, though people do get confused sometimes because both mention Indian Maids (of course they feature in quite a few other songs as well). It looks as is someone else may have got confused, too (besides Barry back in 1997; this is rather an old thread), as all the links at the top of the page refer to Red Wing, written by Thurland Chattaway and Kerry Mills, rather than to Silver Bell (details given above).

SILVER BELL —DT entry. Writers uncredited, no tune given.

My Silver Bells

Silver Bells

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Indian Maid ??
From: GUEST,bridgmanallen
Date: 31 Dec 03 - 03:49 PM

I remember it as you do--my father sang it in the '40's. It continues-----some of the words:

She kept all the campfires bright
She watched for him day and night,
But when the braves returned,
The heart of Red Wing yearned.

Oh, the moon shines tonight on pretty Red Wing
The breezes sighing, the night birds crying
For far 'neath the stars her brave lies sleeping,
While Red Wing's weeping her heart away

Allen

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Indian Maid ??
From: Abby Sale
Date: 31 Dec 03 - 10:58 PM

Hmm. The thread opened with lines from both Indian Maid songs. Redwing likely developed it's bawdy version about five minutes after Thurland Chattaway and Kerry Mills wrote & copyrighted the boring 1907 text. The database has an abreviated bawdy text but the following is from HASH HOUSE HARRIER SONGBOOK (http://harrier.net) I believe it's taken straight from More Rugby Songs but I haven't checked.

    Pretty Redwing

    There once was an Indian maid,
    Who always was afraid,
    That some buckaroo would slip it up her flue,
    As she lay sleeping the whole night through.

    She had an idea grand,
    And she filled it up with sand,
    So no big buck in search of fuck,
    Could reach the promised land.

Ch. Oh, the moon shines bright on pretty Redwing.
    As she lay sleeping,
    There came a creeping,
    A cowboy quietly came creeping,
    His heart a leaping as he spied her.

    Redwing sprang to life,
    Whipped out her Bowie knife.
    With two quick cuts she severed his nuts
    And then she stabbed him in the guts.

    The cowboy he did die,
    Beneath the prairie sky.
    He stretched his luck in search of a fuck,
    For Redwing was too sly.

Ch. Oh, the moon shines bright on pretty Redwing,
    As she lies snoring there hangs a warning:
    The cowboy's balls are now adorning
    Her teepee awning for all to see.

    But to her big surprise,
    Her belly began to rise.
    And out of her cunt came a little runt
    Who had a strange look in his eyes.

    Poor Redwing was distressed,
    Until the Chief confessed.
    You can't pull the wool o'er Sitting Bull-
    At fucking I'm the best.

Ch. Oh, the moon shines bright on pretty Redwing.
    Within her teepee the kid makes peepee.
    And poor Redwing constantly is sleepy
    As she makes yippee with Sitting Bull.

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Indian Maid ??
From: GUEST,Do Dil Mil Rahe Hai
Date: 21 Jan 04 - 03:02 PM

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Indian Maid ??
From: Joe_F
Date: 21 Jan 04 - 06:24 PM

Irrelevant amusement: The chorus of "Silver Bell" harmonizes nicely with "Home, Sweet Home".

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Indian Maid
From: GUEST,Gladys
Date: 23 May 07 - 08:37 PM

Replying to earlier Post   gigito29

this is the way we sang Red Wing since childhood (it is said to
be the original version)



REDWING

There once was an Indian maid a shy little prairie maid
who sang all day a love song gay as through the fields she'd while the hours away.
She loved an Indian brave this shy little prairie maid
and then one day he rode away to battle far away..

{Chorus}
Oh the moon shines tonight on pretty Red Wing,
the breeze is sighing, the night birds crying,
For a far far away her brave is dying
and Red Wings's crying her heart away.

She watched for him day and night,
She kept all the campfires bright,
And under the sky,
Each night she would lie,
And dream about his coming by and by
But when all the braves returned the heart of Red Wing yearned
for far far away her warrior brave fell bravely in the fray.

{chorus}
Now the Moon shines tonight on pretty Redwing,
the breeze is sighing, the night birds crying,
for a far'neath his star her brave is sleeping,
while Redwing's weeping her heart away.


Gladys
:)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Indian Maid
From: GUEST
Date: 27 May 07 - 03:02 PM

Check out;

www.youtube.com/VJLVS

Folr a video of a couple of sisters singing this Little Indian Maid at her 50th Wedding Anniversary.

VJLVS

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Indian Maid / Silver Bell
From: GUEST,Phyllis
Date: 05 May 08 - 09:27 AM

Subject: RE: Lyr Req:Little Mohee
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Jul 08 - 09:14 PM

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Indian Maid / Silver Bell
From: Susan of DT
Date: 26 Jul 08 - 11:09 AM

Unnamed guest: put Mohee in the search box to bring up the words you want from the Digital Tradition.

In future: Select a consistent name to use (or better yet, join)
          And start a new thread for a new request (after using the
               search box to see whether it is already available).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Indian Maid / Silver Bell
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Oct 08 - 05:12 PM

My grandma used to sing a version of this, I'm wondering if anyone knows the rest.

There once was an indian maid
Who wasn't a bit afraid
to lay on her back
on the railroad track
and she'd watch the train
roll over her crack...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Indian Maid / Silver Bell
From: GUEST,angie
Date: 12 Dec 10 - 12:04 AM

my mother taught me this version but i dont quite remember it all so if you know this one maybe you can help me out there once was a lil indian maide layin up in the shade and she was so afraid that some buckaroo'd slippin up the flue and meddle in the promised land

one ole buck got wise slipped up between her thighs put a lil ..... on the end of (rule?) and stuck it right between her (eyes?) this made the lil indian mad she jerked out her huntin knife with one great slash cut his balls from his ass and run to buck for life

far o far o beneath the moon the buck is weeping while redwings keeping her heart from sigh

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Indian Maid / Silver Bell
From: Alice
Date: 12 Dec 10 - 12:57 AM

Silver Bell is completely different than Red Wing, as was stated up thread.

A mudcatter years ago sent me an audio file recording of an early recording of singers performing Silver Bell, but I no longer have it.

Here is the tune of Silver Bell as recorded by Chet Atkins and Hank Snow:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7oc25a6azM

I found this old recording on You Tube, even though I lost the audio file that had been sent to me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsfCzlbKZyQ

Above is Ada Jones and Billy Murray singing Silver Bell.

From the You Tube description...
"I uploaded this song because people ask about it in clips from the film "Stroszek."

The song is "Silver Bell," composed by Percy Wenrich with lyrics by Edward Madden. It's framed as an "Indian intermezzo," a musical genre about Indian maids being seduced by chiefs and cowboys.

This 1910 recording features Ada Jones and Billy Murray, the leading recording artists for songs produced in New York's Tin Pan Alley. Murray also sings part of the 19th century hit, "Home Sweet Home."


Alice in Montana

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Indian Maid? / Silver Bell + Red Wing
From: GUEST,bigdpg
Date: 21 Mar 12 - 07:51 PM

My version:   There once was an Indian maid'
who wasn't a bit afraid. to lay on her back, in any old shack and let a cowboy stick it up her crack. One day she was greatly surprised when her guts begin to rise, when in walked a nigger with a ring around his finger and his betwween his eyes.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Indian Maid? / Silver Bell + Red Wing
From: Mo the caller
Date: 22 Mar 12 - 06:28 PM

I don't think I've ever heard more than the chorus of Redwing. The verse has been replaced by the sung instructions for a square dance.

I'm surprised no-one has quoted
The moon shines bright on Charlie Chaplin
His boots are cracking
For want of blacking

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Indian Maid? / Silver Bell + Red Wing
From: GUEST,David Shulman
Date: 07 Aug 12 - 02:40 PM

Redwing by Thurland Chattaway 1907. music by Kerri Wells. Music adapted from "The Merry Peasant" 1848 by Robert Schumann Opus 68 Number 16

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Indian Maid? / Silver Bell + Red Wing
From: GUEST,Alan
Date: 02 Dec 12 - 03:40 PM

"The moon shines bright on Charlie Chaplin
His boots are cracking
For want of blacking" -

"and his little baggy trousers they need mendin'
before we send him
to the Dardanelles."

Sounds like a WWI troop song, and still sung in Norfolk UK.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Indian Maid? / Silver Bell + Red Wing
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 02 Dec 12 - 04:27 PM

Another WW1 song, quoted in Ernest Raymond's WW1 novel Tell England [1922], Were "The moon shines bright on Mrs Porter, And on her daughter, A regular snorter. She has washed her feet in dirty water. She didn't oughter. The Dirty cat!'

cf T S Eliot's The Waste Land -

Lines 196-202 of T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land are:

    196)    But at my back from time to time I hear
    197)    The sound of horns and motors, which shall bring
    198)    Sweeney to Mrs. Porter in the spring.
    199)    O the moon shone bright on Mrs. Porter
    200)    And on her daughter
    201)    They wash their feet in soda water
    202)    Et, O ces voix d'enfants, chantant dans la coupole!

{Line 196 refs Andrew Marvell's [1621-78] To His Coy Mistress. ~M~}

Eliot's note for line 199 was:

    I do not know the origin of the ballad from which these lines are taken: it was reported to me from Sydney, Australia.

Mrs. Porter was a madame of a Cairo brothel and she and her daughter were well known to Australian troops who created new (risque) lyrics to a popular ragtime song. Kenneth Asher on page 44 of his T.S. Eliot and Ideology, supplies the following text that the troops sung:

    O the moon shone bright on Mrs. Porter
    And on the daughter
    of Mrs. Porter.
    They wash their ____s in soda water
    and so they ougther
    To keep them clean

{From website "Exploring The Waste Land"}

~M~

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Indian Maid? / Silver Bell + Red Wing
From: and e
Date: 31 Mar 23 - 12:01 PM

LONDON TOWN
(Tune – Red Wing)

There once was an English maid
Who said she wasn't afraid to show her shank to some Yank
For the dough he paid.
For a little jack, she'd gladly share her shack and give him a treat
That can't be beat and after that a snack
Oh, the moon shines tonight on Picadilly
There's no red lights – but maids all frilly
As you walk around, you fool so silly
You can't escape their naughty charms

Oh Trafalgar Square, you'll also find them there –
They'll be on benches, buxom wenches
With peroxide hair
Lord Nelson is there too but doesn't know what to do
As he's in stone and up there alone
And cannot follow through!
Oh, there's no moon tonight in Trafalgar –
The girls will haunt you and some will taunt you.
Stone lions sit there, they are asleep,
But "she-wolves" creep all thru the nite.

Over in Hyde Park, as soon as it gets dark, the cuddlin' pairs
Leave their chairs on a little lark.
If a Bobby should, by chance, discover this romance –
Give the devil his due and carry thru,
Say you're teaching her to dance!
Oh, there's no moon tonite in Hyde Park
Among the trees you'll see some knees
On the grass they're sure to leave their mark –
In Hyde Park, In LONDON TOWN!

From The Songs of the Century being the songbook of the 100th Bomb Group (aka The Bloody 100th), dated to March 1945.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Indian Maid? / Silver Bell + Red Wing
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 31 Mar 23 - 07:41 PM

...It's framed as an "Indian intermezzo," a musical genre about Indian maids being seduced by chiefs and cowboys.

Origins: The Indian Intermezzo