Wildwood Flower 



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WILDWOOD FLOWER

MAYBELLE CARTER: The first time I heard this song, I was just a kid. My mother sang it and her mother sang it. It has been handed down for years and years. It's the most popular song, we ever recorded, and there's hardly a country group who doesn't use this song.

Dorothy Horstman interview, Nashville, TN, 6 Sep 1973, reprinted in Sing Your Heart Out, Country Boy, New York, 1976, pp. 201-202 Lyrics as reprinted ibid., p. 202 

Oh, I'll twine with my mingles and waving black hair

With the roses so red and the lilies so fair

And the myrtles so bright with emerald dew

The pale and the leader and eyes look like blue. 

Oh, I'll dance, I will sing and my laugh shall be gay

I will charm ev'ry heart, in his crown I will sway

When I woke from my dreaming, idols were clay

All portions of love then had all flown away. 

Oh, he taught me to love him and promised to love

And to cherish me over all others above

How my heart now is wond'ring misery can tell

He's left me no warning, no words of farewell. 

Oh, he taught me to love him and called me his flow'r

That was blooming to cheer him through life's dreary hour

Oh, I'm longing to see him through life's dark hour

He's gone and neglected this pale wildwood flower. 





I'LL TWINE 'MID THE RINGLETS (Maud Irving and J.P. Webster) (1860)

Lyrics as reprinted ibid., pp. 177-178

I'll twine 'mid the ringlets of my raven black hair

The lilies so pale and the roses so fair

The myrtle so bright with an emeral hue

And the pale aronatus with eyes of bright blue. 

I'll sing and I'll dance, my laugh shall be gay

I'll cease this wild weeping, drive sorrow away.

Tho' my heart is now breaking, he never shall know

That his name made me tremble and my pale cheeks to glow. 

I'll think of him never, I'll be wildly gay

I'll charm ev'ry heart, and the crowd I will sway.

I'll live yet to see him regret the dark hour

When he won, then neglected, the frail wildwood flower. 

He told me he loved me, and promis'd to love

Trough ill and misfortune, all others above

Another has won him; ah, misery to tell

He left me in silence, no word of farewell. 

He taught me to love him, he call'd me his flower

That blossom'd for him all the brighter each hour

But I woke from my dreaming, my idol was clay

My visions of love have all faded away.