lyr add: Daisy Dean

01 Sep 98 - 06:47 PM (#36734)
Subject: Lyr Add: DAISY DEANE
From: Dale Rose

After entering the words to Nellie Dean from the Levy site for Joe, I got to thinking about similar songs back there in the corners of my mind and I came up with Daisy Deane, one of those really old fashioned tuneful tear-jerkers~~ actually not so much a tear-jerker as a sentimental love ballad for a lost loved one. So here it is, compliments of the Levy Sheet Music Site where you can go to find the tune, those of you who are fortunate to be able to read music, that is. I have heard only one version of this, by Grandpa Jones, a good number of years ago. He played it straight, without a trace of the mockery or condescension that you sometimes find when musicians of today attempt the old songs of sentiment. (And when is the last time that you saw the word outvieing in a song, or anywhere, for that matter?)

DAISY DEANE
Words and Music mostly by Lieut. T.F. Winthrop, 19th Regiment, and James R. Murray, 14th Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers, 1863.

'Twas down in the meadows, the violets were blowing,
and the springtime grass was fresh and green;
And the birds by the brooklet their sweet songs were singing,
When I first met my darling Daisy Deane.

Chorus
None knew thee but to love thee, thou dear one of my heart,
O thy memory is ever fresh and green
Tho' the sweet buds may wither and fond hearts be broken,
Still I'll love thee my darling Daisy Deane.

Her eyes soft and tender, the violets outvieing,
And a fairer form was never seen--
With her brown silken tresses, her cheeks like the roses,
There was none like my darling Daisy Deane.

Chorus
The bright flowers are faded, the young grass has fallen,
And a dark cloud hovers o'er the scene:
For the death angel took her, and left me in sorrow
For my lost one, my darling Daisy Deane.

Chorus

O, down in the meadows I still love to wander,
Where the young grass grew so fresh and green;
But the bright golden visions of springtime have faded
With the flowers, and my darling Daisy Deane.

Chorus

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01 Sep 98 - 11:56 PM (#36763)
Subject: RE: lyr add: Daisy Deane
From: Joe Offer

Please note that Dale has confessed to the fact that he spelled the name of Daisy Deane wrong when he started this thread. thread names are case in stone and cannot be changed, so he will have to live with the shame of his typographical error.
With your comments about mockery and condescension, Dale, you bring up an interesting point. I love sad, sentimental old songs like this, but many of them are SO sad they make me chuckle a bit. I suppose that sometimes I ham it up a bit when I sing songs like this, but I don't think of it as mockery. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think these songs were written to be sung for pleasure.
My son made a discovery when he was about 15. He said, "dad, now I no why people like to sing the blues. The songs sound so sad, but singing them makes you feel so good."
I think the same goes for the sentimental songs - I think they can be sung for fun, without mockery or sneering. It reminds me of my years in the seminary. We used to like to gather around a piano with a quartet that called themselves the "Rolling Lambs," and we'd drink beer and sing gospel songs. Now, they weren't the kind of songs we Catholics would sing in church, but we loved those songs nonetheless - even though we did sing them for fun.
Now, before chapel at night, we'd gather in the vestibule and smoke cigarettes and sing Engelbert Humperdinck songs - now, THAT was mockery.
-Joe Offer-

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