Lyr Req: Picture on the Wall

24 Mar 00 - 05:52 PM (#200941)
Subject: Picture on the Wall/Little Log Cabin
From: graywolf1980

Does anyone have the lyrics to Picture on the Wall and/or Little Log Cabin by the Sea by the Carter Family?

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Little Log Cabin here (click)

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24 Mar 00 - 06:12 PM (#200962)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Picture on the Wall/Little Log Cabin
From: Bill in Alabama

Styx--
I hope this helps; it's the sheet music to The Picture on the Wall: Click HERE

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24 Mar 00 - 06:41 PM (#200978)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Picture on the Wall/Little Log Cabin
From: Dale Rose

That might be the one he's looking for, but it is not the one I am thinking of. I had always heard it ascribed to Bud Landress, so it surprised me to think that it might be older, otherwise I might not have taken a look at it. He recorded it with The Georgia Yellow Hammers (just about MY favorite of the old time string bands!)on 8-9-27.

From the notes to The Georgia Yellow Hammers lp, Rounder 1032, 1979: This was the band's most successful recording; in 1953 Landress gave an account of its composition to an Atlanta newspaper writer. "Landress, who spent a good deal of his time farming, said he was inspired to write the song one night after he had plowed corn all day. After going to bed, he became fascinated with a picture hanging on the wall of his bedroom and the idea to make the song about it was born. The picture, however, was not one of his mother, about whom the song was written. He got out of bed, wrote the words and 'sawed out the tune' on his old fiddle. Several hours later when the composition was finished, he awakened his wife and sang it to her for an opinion, which probably wasn't very good at that time of night."

Now how much, if any, borrowing he might have knowingly or unknowing done from the earlier piece, I can't say. I do not read music, so I cannot compare that, either.

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24 Mar 00 - 06:44 PM (#200981)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Picture on the Wall/Little Log Cabin
From: Dale Rose

Oh, yeah ~~ lyrics! I will try to get around to them later, maybe this weekend, if no one else comes up with them.

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24 Mar 00 - 08:04 PM (#201017)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Picture on the Wall/Little Log Cabin
From: Stewie

The Carters recorded 'Picture on the Wall' on 23 February 1923. It is credited by Wolfe to Landress and almost certainly learned from the 1927 Yellow Hammers hit recording referred to by Dale - Wolfe says Sara recalled that they had learned it 'from an old record'. The lyrics are totally different from those in the song linked by Bill - the only similarity is that it is mother's picture on the wall in both.

'Little Old Log Cabin by the Sea' was from the Carters historic first session at Bristol, Tennessee 1 August 1927. A.P. had learned it from old gospel songbooks at the church where he used to sing in the choir. Do you have the lyrics to this one, Dale?

--Stewie.

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24 Mar 00 - 09:07 PM (#201039)
Subject: Lyr Add: THE PICTURE ON THE WALL
From: bseed(charleskratz)

"The Picture on the Wall"--copyright 1938 by the Stamps-Baxter Music Co.

There's an old and faded picture on the wall,
It's been hanging there for many, many years,
'Tis the picture of my mother,
And I know there is no other,
That can take the place of mother on thw wall.

(Chorus)
On the wall(on the wall), on the wall (on the wall),
How I love that dear old picture on the wall;
Time is swiftly passing by,
And I bow my head and cry,
But I know I'll meet my mother after all.

Now the children all have scattered, all have gone,
And I have a little fam'ly of my own,
And I know I love them well,
More than any tongue can tell,
But I'll hold that dear old picture on the wall.

Since I lost that dear old mother years ago,
There is none to which (sic) with troubles I can go;
As my guitar makes this chord,
I am praying to the Lord,
Let me hold that dear old picture on the wall.

--seed

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24 Mar 00 - 09:24 PM (#201047)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Picture on the Wall/Little Log Cabin
From: Stewie

Seed, with some minor changes (eg 'Cos I know ... in last line of chorus) that is what the Carters sing. They also perpetuate the suspect grammar in the last stanza.

--Stewie.

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08 Jun 03 - 08:29 PM (#964243)
Subject: Lyr Add: THE PICTURE ON THE WALL (J. P. Skelley)
From: Jim Dixon

Not the same song, but possibly an inspiration for the Landress/Carter song. Transcribed from the sheet music images at The Library of Congress American Memory Collection.

THE PICTURE ON THE WALL
(J. P. Skelley, 1880.)

It is old and faded now, but is still the same to me.
Its presence sheds a halo all around.
In my dark and cheerless room, when I gaze upon the face,
To me there is a solace to be found.
'Tis years and years ago since that loving face was here
In life to answer to my happy call,
But now I sit alone and think of brighter days
As I gaze upon the picture on the wall.

CHORUS: The faded picture of my mother,
It hangs above me on the wall.
How happy I would be could I nourish into life
The picture of my mother on the wall.

The world may call me cold. I am lonely, that is all.
My heart is still as warm as it can be.
But when the hand of Death takes a loving form away,
The heart can never beat so joyfully.
In vain I often sigh for the days that have gone by.
The picture seems so clearly to recall
How happy I would be could I nourish into life
The picture of my mother on the wall.

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08 Jun 03 - 09:33 PM (#964271)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Picture on the Wall/Little Log Cabin
From: masato sakurai

There're two "Picture(s) on the Wall" songs at American Memory.

(1) Pictures on the Wall / by W. J. Amies (Brooklyn: D.S. Holmes, 1873)

(2) The Picture on the Wall / by J. P. Skelly (New York: S.T. Gordon, 1880) [Jim's song]

~Masato

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09 Jun 03 - 12:40 AM (#964335)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Picture on the Wall/Little Log Cabin
From: GUEST,Q

There seems to be another picture on the wall. Not mentioned in this thread:
"Picture on the Wall," Henry Clay Work; in the DT. Haven't checked on this one yet. Begins "'Tis noon of night, the sable clouds hang weeping in the sky..."

"Pictures on the Wall" citation in American Memory is incomplete, the words are by George Cooper, and the music by Amis.

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09 Jun 03 - 01:17 AM (#964340)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Picture on the Wall/Little Log Cabin
From: masato sakurai

GUEST,Q, thanks. Henry Clay Work's piece (Click here) is:

Dedicated to Thomas Richardson Churchill, Boston, MA
"The Picture On The Wall" (1864)
Words adapted and Music composed by
Henry Clay Work, No. 27

~Masato

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10 Jun 03 - 01:44 PM (#965211)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Picture on the Wall/Little Log Cabin
From: GUEST,James Staton [e-mail]

I have been looking for the words to "picture on the wall" for at least 20 years, and I ran across this web site strickly by accident.

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