Sweet Birds

DESCRIPTION: "The birds are returning their sweet notes of spring... As I sit in the dream... For my darling far over the sea... Oh, say, does he truly love me?" "Sweet birds (x2), Oh, say that my lover is true." She recalls the day he left and promised to be true
AUTHOR: Thomas P. Westendorf and George Persley (Source: Charles K. Wolfe, cited by Mark Zwonitzer with Charles Hirschberg, _Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone: The Carter Family & Their Legacy in American Music_, Simon & Schuster, 2002)
EARLIEST DATE: 1876 (original publication)
KEYWORDS: bird love separation questions
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE,So)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 295, "Sweet Birds" (3 texts plus an excerpt and mention of 3 more)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 295, "Sweet Birds" (2 tunes plus text excerpts)
Browne-AlabamaFolkLyric 13, "Sweet Birds" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Roberts/Agey-InThePine #106, "Sweet Fern" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3766
RECORDINGS:
The Carter Family, "Sweet Fern" (Victor V-40126)
Richard Harold, "Sweet Bird" (Columbia 15426-D, 1929; rec. 1928)
File: Br3295

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