|
04 Jun 04 - 01:58 PM (#1200412) Subject: Lyr Req: Honky Tonk Angels From: Rabbi-Sol I am looking for the complete lyrics to the song "Honky Tonk Angels". This is the song that is sung to the same tune as the old Carter Family classic, "I'm Thinking Tonight Of My Blue Eyes". SOL ZELLER |
|
04 Jun 04 - 02:08 PM (#1200421) Subject: Lyr Add: WILD SIDE OF LIFE (A. Carter, W. Warren) From: Amos WILD SIDE OF LIFE (A. Carter, W. Warren) You wouldn't read my letter if I wrote you. You asked me not to call you on the phone; But there's something I'm wanting to tell you, So I wrote it in the words of this song. CHORUS: I didn't know God made honky-tonk angels. I might have known you'd never make a wife. You gave up the only one that ever loved you And went back to the wild side of life. Yes, it hurts me to know that you don't love me, Though I know our love's forever gone; And it killed my soul and pride, dear, inside me, When I saw you in that stranger's arms so long. CHORUS I'll just live my life alone with mem'ries of you, And dream of kisses you traded for my tears; And no one will ever know how much I love you; And I pray that you'll be happy through the years. CHORUS from http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Wild-Side-Of-Life-lyrics-Warner-Mack/46E082F07B738BF048256E5C0023FBE3 |
|
04 Jun 04 - 02:11 PM (#1200424) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Honky Tonk Angels From: Once Famous Roy Acuff's Great Speckled Bird was also sung to the same melody. |
|
04 Jun 04 - 02:21 PM (#1200435) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Honky Tonk Angels From: Rabbi-Sol Thank You Amos. Martin, can you give the the lyrics to the "Great Speckled Bird" ? Also, of the 3 songs written to this tune, can I assume the Carter Family one is the original, or am I wrong ? SOL ZELLER |
|
04 Jun 04 - 03:12 PM (#1200485) Subject: Lyr/Chords Add: THE GREAT SPECKLED BIRD (Guy Smith From: Once Famous Rabbi Sol Here you go. Please note that verses 2 & 3 along with 5 & 6 were not on the original recording by Roy Acuss and His Smoky Mountain boys. THE GREAT SPECKLED BIRD Recorded by Roy Acuff Words and music by (Reverend) Guy Smith 1. [G] What a beautiful thought I am [C] thinking Con-[D] cerning a great speckled [G] bird Remember her name is re-[C] corded On the [D] pages of God's Holy [G] Word. 2. All the other birds are flocking 'round her And she is despised by the squad But the great speckled bird in the Bible Is one with the great church of God. 3. All the other churches are against her They envy her glory and fame They hate her because she is chosen And has not denied Jesus' name. 4. Desiring to lower her standard They watch every move that she makes They long to find fault with her teachings But really they find no mistake. 5. She is spreading her wings for a journey She's going to leave by and by When the trumpet shall sound in the morning She'll rise and go up in the sky. 6. In the presence of all her despisers With a song never uttered before She will rise and be gone in a moment Till the great tribulation is o'er. 7. I am glad I have learned of her meekness I am proud that my name is on her book For I want to be one never fearing The face of my Savior to look. 8. When He cometh descending from heaven On the cloud that He writes in His Word I'll be joyfully carried to meet Him On the wings of that great speckled bird. |
|
04 Jun 04 - 03:27 PM (#1200497) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Honky Tonk Angels From: Midchuck Actually, the title of the one Amos gave the lyrics to is "The Wild Side of Life" - I think. There's also an "answer" song for a female singer entitled "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels," which may have been the most popular of the lot. Waylon Jennings and Jessie Colter did a great duet recording of TWSOL and IWGWMHTA, sort of interweaving the words. Peter. |
|
04 Jun 04 - 03:29 PM (#1200500) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Honky Tonk Angels From: Once Famous The original answer song version to Kitty Wells was by Hank Thompson. |
|
04 Jun 04 - 05:11 PM (#1200572) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Honky Tonk Angels From: GUEST wrong way around. Kitty answered Hank. |
|
04 Jun 04 - 05:19 PM (#1200576) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Honky Tonk Angels From: Sorcha Is 'Fraulien' the same tune also, or just similar? |
|
04 Jun 04 - 05:41 PM (#1200590) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Honky Tonk Angels From: Once Famous Yes, Guest. I read it in Hebrew. |
|
04 Jun 04 - 06:26 PM (#1200626) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Honky Tonk Angels From: Joybell We use a different second verse for this song and don't sing the third verse. Don't know where True-love got them. We sing the two songs as a set. Our words to "The Wild Side of Life": Verse 2, The glamour of the gay night life has lured you To the place where the wine and liquor flow Where you wait to be somebody's plaything And forget the only love you'll ever know. We had a Gay male fan who used to listen to us in a pub who always asked for this song and its answer. He used to yell "yes! yes!" at the first line of this verse and then cheer me through the whole of the answer. Joy |
|
04 Jun 04 - 09:28 PM (#1200707) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Honky Tonk Angels From: Joybell True-love got his version of "The Wild Side of Life" from a singer or an audience member in 1960 or 1962 - in Boston. He had heard bits of it since 1957. In 1957, while True-love was working at Yellowstone Park, a jazz piano player sang a line from it as an example of what he called "hiller music" - which he hated but was always asked for. Joy |
|
04 Jun 04 - 10:12 PM (#1200728) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Honky Tonk Angels From: Stewie Sol, Carter Family biographer, Mark Zwonitzer, has this note:
I hope the above quote is of interest to you. --Stewie. |
|
05 Jun 04 - 12:44 AM (#1200789) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Honky Tonk Angels From: Mark Clark The original Wild Side of Life, sung by Hank Thompson, had, as Joybell notes, only two verses. You can listen to the recording at Rose "The Record Lady". For those who've forgotten we had a great thread on this series of songs that ran for a couple of years. The thread is Who/what is THE GREAT SPECKLED BIRD?. Gene added several songs to the same melody that I hadn't heard before. - Mark |
|
05 Jun 04 - 11:08 AM (#1200944) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Honky Tonk Angels From: Margret RoadKnight Great version of "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" recorded by Ellen McIlwaine |
|
05 Jun 04 - 08:09 PM (#1201104) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Honky Tonk Angels From: Joybell Thanks Stewie and Mark. Interesting bits of information. Another small personal note: True-love used to introduce me as "Kitty Litter" when we were performing country songs, adding that it was because of what the cats did to me. It produced a comic distraction that we didn't really want and tended to upset people so I became "Little Idie Clare". Joy |
|
06 Jun 04 - 12:05 AM (#1201158) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Honky Tonk Angels From: Rabbi-Sol Stewie, You answered the question I was going to ask. I was going to ask whether all the Nashville folks paid royalties to the Carter family for use of the melody. Now it is apparent from your post that A.P. Carter did not compose the melody but borrowed it from another source. I suppose that would now put this melody in the public domaine. SOL ZELLER |
|
06 Jun 04 - 11:32 AM (#1201331) Subject: Lyr Add: IT WASN'T GOD WHO MADE HONKY TONK ANGELS From: Eve Goldberg Here are the lyrics to "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels," recorded by Kitty Wells -- I thought Kitty Wells had written it, but it sounds like it's by Hank Thompson. IT WASN'T GOD WHO MADE HONKY TONK ANGELS As I sit here tonight the juke box is playing That song about the wild side of life As I listen to the words that you are saying It brings memories of when I was a trusting wife CHO: It wasn't God who made honky tonk angels As you wrote in the words of your song Too many times married men think they're still single It has caused many a good girl to go wrong It's a shame that all the blame is on the women It's not true that only you men feel the same From the start most every heart that's ever broken Was because there always was a man to blame |
|
06 Jun 04 - 06:22 PM (#1201494) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Honky Tonk Angels From: Armen Tanzerian Second verse of The Wild Side of Life should read: (Now) the glamour of the gay night-life has lured you To the places where the wine and liquor flow, Where you wait to be anybody's baby And forget the truest love you'll ever know. I do love Hank Thompson's singing. I like to try his version of One Six-Pack to Go. WWLJDD? |
|
06 Jun 04 - 07:25 PM (#1201538) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Honky Tonk Angels From: Joybell Thanks Armen, True-love learned the version we sing from an oral source and perhaps it fitted well with his circumstances at the time. Always good to touch base at the source from time to time if you can. I rather like "plaything", though, so we'll probably still sing it that way. Joy |
|
20 Jun 04 - 01:10 PM (#1210979) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Honky Tonk Angels From: GUEST,LinLap14@aol.com I am looking for the printed melody to "I Am Thinking Tonight Of My Blue Eyes" I understand it is the same as "Honky Tonk Angels". Does anyone have the melody that I could print out and compare. Thank you. |
|
20 Jun 04 - 01:59 PM (#1211002) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Honky Tonk Angels From: Rabbi-Sol Are you looking for the lyrics or the sheet music ? I can provide you with the lyrics, but I do not have the sheet music. SOL ZELLER |
|
25 Mar 06 - 01:48 PM (#1702623) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Honky Tonk Angels From: Jim Dixon J. D. Miller actually wrote IT WASN'T GOD WHO MADE HONKY TONK ANGELS. |
|
25 Mar 06 - 09:38 PM (#1702859) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Honky Tonk Angels From: Bob the Postman Box Car Willie recorded a tribute song about and using this tune, alluding to its use in Speckled Bird/Blue Eyes/Honky Tonk Angels, et al. |
|
25 Mar 06 - 10:39 PM (#1702889) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Honky Tonk Angels From: Sandy Mc Lean Kitty didn't want to record that song because she did not agree with the Honky Tonk lifestyle, but she ageed to do it and the rest is history. |
|
26 Mar 06 - 03:38 AM (#1702980) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Honky Tonk Angels From: Purple Foxx This song was recorded by Cliff Richard who was later informed it was about a prostitute & responded by taking the possibly unprecedented step of banning his own record. |
|
26 Mar 06 - 11:18 PM (#1703538) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Honky Tonk Angels From: M.Ted It's not about a prostitute--it's about a barfly. |
|
11 Jun 10 - 04:00 PM (#2925686) Subject: RE: The Great Speckled Bird From: Haruo Although everybody says "The Great Speckled Bird" is by Roy Acuff, all he did was make the first recording of it. The author was a Rev. Guy Smith, according to Wikipedia (the reference there to Coe's "If That Ain't Country" is also worth noting and chuckling over, and there may actually be exegetical value to the Talk Page's note about squad vs. squab). A four-stanza version is in a shaped-note hymnal I recently acquired, New Hymns of Inspiration, and I have copied the melody line and lyrics from that book out into a PDF, here. Haruo |
|
12 Jun 10 - 03:58 AM (#2926055) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Honky Tonk Angels From: Haruo Sorry, I meant three-stanza, but the stanzaic metre is double that given above, so the three stanzas in the hymnal correspond to six of those above. One half-stanza (3A) in the hymnal, however, is not reflected in the lyrics above: Her wings shelter men of all nations, Of earth's every color and race. She has gathered them all in her keeping To present to the Lord face to face. Are these lines also by Guy Smith, and if not, who wrote them? The date of writing and the copyright status of the lyrics seem uncertain. |