Darling, I Have Come to Tell You (Farewell Nellie, Little Bunch of Roses, Many Miles Apart, Don't This Road Look Rough and Rocky)

DESCRIPTION: "Darling, I have come to tell you, Though this message breaks my heart, That, before the night is over, We'll be many miles apart." The singer may leave a bunch of roses, or request that the other remember him, or complain that she has broken his heart
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1920 (Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5)
KEYWORDS: love betrayal flowers separation nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 689, "Goodbye"; 700, "Little Bunch of Roses"; 705, "Many Miles Apart" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
Roud #16012
RECORDINGS:
The Carter Family, "Farewell Nellie" (Decca 5677, 1937)
(Lester) Flatt & (Earl) Scruggs, "Don't This Road Look Rough and Rocky" (Columbia 21334)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "When Rocks and Hills Divide Us" (lyrics)
NOTES [100 words]: This song is very difficult; it shares lines with so many lost love songs that it could perhaps be argued that it is not even an independent song in its own right, although the first verse quoted in the description is fairly distinct. But the rest of the song varies greatly. I put it in the Index mostly to establish it as the source of the well-loved bluegrass song "Don't This Road Look Rough and Rocky," made famous by Flatt & Scruggs but first performed with that chorus by the Blue Sky Boys. I do not know if the Blue Sky Boys added the chorus or if they found the whole thing in tradition. - RBW
Last updated in version 4.5
File: BrS5689

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