Wildwood Flower

Infobox Standard
title=Wildwood Flower
comment=


image_size=
caption=
writer=
composer=Joseph Philbrick Webster
lyricist=Maud Irving
published=1860
written=1860
language=English
form=
original_artist=
recorded_by=Carter Family
performed_by=

"Wildwood Flower" is an American song, best known through performances and recordings by the Carter Family. However, the song predates them. The original title was "I'll Twine 'Mid the Ringlets". The song was written in 1860, with words by Maud Irving and music by Joseph Philbrick Webster (1819-1875). [http://www.pdmusic.org/webster/jpw60itmtr.txt "I'll Twine 'Mid the Ringlets"] on PDMusic.org.] The tune was used by Woody Guthrie for the verses of his song "The Sinking of the Reuben James" (about the USS "Reuben James"). Guthrie's song had a tune of his own devising on the chorus.Rod Smith, [http://web.archive.org/web/20021201201843/http://www.sussexfolk.freeserve.co.uk/ency/uvwxyz.htm Rod's Encyclopedic Dictionary Of Traditional Music] , retrieved 1 December 2002 by the Internet Archive.]

Although originally a parlor song, the song had undergone quite a bit of the folk process by the time the Carter Family recorded it. For example, the original first verse was:

: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 emerald hue,:And the pale aronatus with eyes of bright blue.

The better-known Carter Family version begins:

:Oh, I'll twine with my mingles and waving black hair,:With the roses so red and the lilies so fair,:And the myrtle so bright with the emerald dew,:The pale and the leader and eyes look like blue. [Dorothy Horstman, Interview with Maybelle Carter, Nashville, Tennessee, September 6, 1973; also two versions of the song. Reprinted in "Sing Your Heart Out", Country Boy, New York, 1976, pp. 201-202 Lyrics as reprinted ibid., p. 202]

Other variants exist; for example Iris DeMent sings "…The pale emanita and hyssop so blue…". Joan Baez sings "pale amaleder", but retains the original reference to "raven black hair." Most other singers (Roger McGuinn, for instance) substitute "amaryllis and violets so blue" here. Fact|date=February 2007

Plant expert Ed Hume reports that he is unaware of a plant known as "aronatus". [Ed Hume, [http://www.humeseeds.com/dec00qa.htm Finding Rare Flowers] , retrieved 22 December 2005.] It is likely that this is actually Eragrostis, also known as "lovegrass'.

Another famous mondegreen stems from a later verse:

:I will dance, I will sing, and my laugh shall be gay:I will charm every heart in this crowd I survey

Most contemporary singers render that second line,

:I will charm every heart; in his crown, I will sway.

The final two lines of each verse provides the song's title and central theme:

:But I'll long to see him regret the dark hour:He's gone and neglected his pale wildwood flower.

The song has also become a standard instrumental piece for guitarists of all skill levels. In 1955, Hank Thompson and Merle Travis recorded an instrumental that reached number 5 on the Country charts. [Dick Spotswood, "Wildwood Flower", [http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/me/20001214.me.14.rmm audio commentary] from [http://www.npr.org/programs/specials/vote/list100.html#W "The NPR 100"] , 14 December, 2000.] In 1960, Joan Baez included it on her Vanguard debut album " Joan Baez".

In 1974, Don Bowman appropriated the tune as a background for "Wildwood Weed", a monologue about marijuana.Michael Allen, "'I Just Want to be a Cosmic Cowboy'": Hippies, Cowboy Code, and the Culture of a Counterculture", in "The Western Historical Quarterly", Vol. 36, No. 3, Autumn 2005.] Performed by Jim Stafford, it peaked at number 7 on the "Billboard" Country chart. ["Billboard" ranking of August 24 1974 is cited at [http://obg.babyblue.jp/billboard/1974.htm] ]

In the 2005 film "Walk the Line", Reese Witherspoon, playing June Carter, sings "Wildwood Flower" song solo while strumming her autoharp. The film also features an instrumental version performed on guitar by Bill Frisell. Jean Ritchie recorded a version in 1955 and Hobart Smith in 1963, as did Mike Ness did in 1999.

US band Trans Am included a somewhat unconventional rendition of Wildwood Flower on their EP Who Do We Think You Are.

Notes

Trivia

Wildwood Flower is also part of the soundtrack of Take This Hammer (http://www.take-this-hammer.com), a movie about the building of dry stack stone walls.