Sweet Marie

DESCRIPTION: The man longs for Marie, but finds it hard to tell her: "Sweet Marie, come to me, Come to me, Sweet Marie, Not because your face is fair, love, to see, Every daisy in the dell Knows my secret very well, Yet I dare not tell Sweet Marie... ."
AUTHOR: Words: Cy Warman / Music: Raymond Moore
EARLIEST DATE: 1893 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: love
FOUND IN: Australia US(So)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Meredith/Covell/Brown-FolkSongsOfAustraliaVol2, pp. 229-230, "Sweet Marie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Browne-AlabamaFolkLyric 155, "Sweet Marie" (1 text plus mention of 2 more)
Geller-FamousSongsAndTheirStories, pp. 70-74, "Sweet Marie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11353
RECORDINGS:
Walter Morris, "Sweet Marie" (Columbia 15115-D, 1927)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Sweet Marie (Parody)"
SAME TUNE:
Sweet Marie (the Racing Mare) (Meredith/Covell/Brown-FolkSongsOfAustraliaVol2, p. 229)
The Klondiker's Return (File: CAFS2678)
Swet Marie (Parody) (File: Brne156)
NOTES [237 words]: I am told that "[This] song was featured in the 1947 movie 'Life with Father' (William Powell, Irene Dunne, Elizabeth Taylor) based on the memoirs of Clarence Day, Jr... (articles first appeared in The New Yorker in the 1920s and were later published as three books: God and My Father, Life with Father, Life with Mother). Prior to becoming the movie (and later a TV series in the 1950s), 'Life with Father' was written as a play and opened on Broadway in 1939.
"Percy French did a parody of the song with Sweet Marie becoming a racehorse. That song is available in "The Songs of Percy French" selected and edited by James Healy (Ossian Publications/Mercier Press--1986/1996)."
That's James N. Healy, editor, The Songs of Percy French, 1955-1962, revised edition 1986 (I use the 1996 Ossian paperback), pp. 10-11, "Sweet Marie." It is also in James N. Healy, Percy French and His Songs, The Mercier Press, 1966, pp. 12-13, which says that the "Music [is] based on an old American Tune."
Raymond Moore was a nineteenth century singer who apparently was very popular as a performer. Cy Warman apparently came to him and asked him to perform "Sweet Marie," which Warman had written in honor of his wife. Warman eventually came up with a tune and sang it as part of the musical comedy "Africa." Ironically, it was no great success when Moore sang it -- but when he quit the play, his replacement made it a hit. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.5
File: MCB229

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