You've Been a Friend to Me

DESCRIPTION: "My bark of life was tossing down The troubled stream of time When first I saw your smiling face And youth was in its prime... If ever I have had a friend, you've been a friend to me." The singer complains about hard time but is grateful for friendship
AUTHOR: Original by Will S. Hays, adapted by A. P. Carter (source: Mark Zwonitzer with Charles Hirschberg, _Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone: The Carter Family & Their Legacy in American Music_, p. 131)
EARLIEST DATE: 1876 (Billy Pastor Songster)
KEYWORDS: hardtimes separation travel
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 687, "Faithful Friend" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: (no author listed), _Billy Pastor's Star Troupe Songster_, A. J. Fisher, 1876 (available in the Gordon Songster collection at the Library of Congress), p. 48, "You've Been a Friend to Me" (1 text)
Roud #17260
RECORDINGS:
The Carter Familly, "You've Been a Friend To Me" (Decca 5283, 1936; Montgomery Ward 8009, 1939 )
NOTES [16 words]: The Billy Pastor songster does not credit an author but says this was "Sung by John Roach." - RBW
Last updated in version 7.0
File: BrS5687

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography