Red Wing (I)

DESCRIPTION: Red Wing, "a pretty little Indian maid," is in love with a brave, but he has died in battle. "Now the moon shines down on pretty Red Wing... So far beneath the stars her love is sleeping, While Red Wing's weeping her heart away."
AUTHOR: Words: Thurland Chattaway / Music: Kerry Mills
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (copyright)
KEYWORDS: Indians(Am.) death battle
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SW)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Bush-FSofCentralWestVirginiaVol4, pp. 50-52, "Redwing" (1 text plus a fragment, 1 tune)
Fife/Fife-CowboyAndWesternSongs 50, "Red Wing" (1 text, 1 tune)
Logsdon-WhorehouseBellsWereRinging 39, pp. 207-210, "Red Wing" (2 texts, 1 tune; the "A" text is "Red Wing (I)" while the "B" text is one of the bawdy parodies)
DT, REDWNG*
Roud #4784
RECORDINGS:
George W. Ballard & chorus "Red Wing" (CYL: Everlasting 1150, n.d.)
Homer Christopher & Raney Van Vink, "Red Wing" (OKeh 45097, 1927)
Dudley & McDonough "Red Wing" (Victor 17233, 1912)
Redd Evans & his Billy Boys, "Red Wing" (OKeh 4836, 1923)
Fox Chasers, "Red Wing" (OKeh 45477, 1930)
Frankie & Johnny, "Red Wing" (Conqueror 7976, 1932)
Mississippi John Hurt, "Redwing" (on MJHurt05) (fragment)
Buell Kazee, "Red Wing" (Brunswick 210, 1928; Supertone S-2057, 1930 [as Buell Kazee & Sookie Hobbs])
Kendall & Kelly, "Red Wing" (Chamption 15582, 1928)
Fred Potter, "Red Wing, An Indian Fable" (CYL: Edison [BA] 541, n.d.)
Frederick H. Potter w. the New York Military Band, "Red Wing" (CYL: Edison [BA] 1543, c. 1912)
Riley Puckett, "Red Wing" (Columbia 15226-D, 1928; rec. 1927)
George Reneau, "Red Wing" (Vocalion 14896, 1924)
Walter Scanlan, "Red Wing" (Edison 52063, 1927)
[Frank] Stanley & [Henry] Burr "Red Wing" (Columbia 3681, 1907; Columbia A468, 1909) (CYL: Albany 1366, n.d.) (CYL: Columbia 33163, 1907, on Protobilly) (Standard 3681, n.d.)
Stone Mountain Entertainers [Blue Ridge Highballers], "Red Wing" (Broadway 8159, c. 1930; rec. 1927)
Floyd Thompson & his Hometowners "Red Wing" (Vocalion 5331, c. 1929)
Frank Welling & John McGhee "Red Wing" (Conqueror 7976, 1932)
Art Wenzel & his Ragtime Cowboys, "Red Wing" (Pan Am 027, n.d.)
Doc & Cy Williams & the Border Riders, "Red Wing" (Wheeling DW 1008, 1949; on Protobilly)
Male duet, "Red Wing" (Busy Bee A-128, c. 1907)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Red Wing (II)"
cf. "Union Maid" (tune)
cf. "Battle of the Falkland Islands" (approximate tune)
SAME TUNE:
Red Wing (II) (File: EM214)
Wreck of No. 3, The (Daddy Bryson's Last Ride) (File: LSRa274I)
The Moon Shines Bright on Charlie Chaplin (File: BrPa040B)
Union Maid (by Woody Guthrie) (Greenway-AmericanFolksongsOfProtest, p. 300; Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 132; DT, UNIONMD; recordings on Almanac4, PeteSeeger01, PeteSeeger41, PeteSeeger48)
(Charlie Chaplin parody) (Meredith/Covell/Brown-FolkSongsOfAustraliaVol2, pp. 211-212; see under "Red Wing (II"))
Come Over and Play With Me ("O, little boys, come over and play with me") (Harbin-Parodology, #162, p. 46)
NOTES [67 words]: For more on composer Kerry Mills, see the notes on "Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis."
Edward Foote Gardner, Popular Songs of the Twentieth Century: Volume I -- Chart Detail & Encyclopedia 1900-1949, Paragon House, 2000, p. 282, estimates that this was the seventh most popular song in America in 1908, peaking at #3 in January 1908 (#1 for the year being Will D. Cobb and Gus Edwards' "Sunbonnet Sue"). - RBW
Last updated in version 6.5
File: FCW050

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