Annie Lisle

DESCRIPTION: "Down where the waving willows 'Neath the sunbeams smile... Dwelt sweet Annie Lisle." "Earthly music cannot waken Lovely Annie Lisle." "Toll bells of Sabbath morning, I shall nevermore Hear...." "Dearest Mother, I am going. Truly: 'God is love.'"
AUTHOR: H. S. Thompson (source: sheet music)
EARLIEST DATE: 1857 (source: Wikipedia)
KEYWORDS: love death burial
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Mabel-Waltz-Songster, p. 63, "Annie Lisle" (1 text)
Walking-Down-Broadway-Songster, p. 35, "Annie Lisle" (1 text)
Dime-Song-Book #6, p. 27, "Annie Lisle" (1 text)
Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #46, p. 4, "Annie Lisle" (4 references)
Fuld-BookOfWorldFamousMusic, p. 102, "Annie Lisle -- (Far Above Cayuga's Waters)
Roud #13750
RECORDINGS:
Shannon Quartet, "Annie Lisle" (Victor 19466-A)
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, Crawford.EB.2022, "Annie Lisle," W. S. Fortey (Seven Dials), n.d.
SAME TUNE:
Far Above Cayuga's Waters (File: FSWB049)
Far Above Cayuga's Waters (Parodies) [File: EM348]
NOTES [111 words]: According to Jon W. Finson, The Voices That Are Gone: Themes in Nineteenth-Century American Popular Song, Oxford University Press, 1994, p. 90, "'Annie Lisle' occupied a central place in the nineteenth-century repertory, and its melody is still so popular that it appears retexted in various school songs, most notably including 'Far Above Cauyga's Waters' or 'Hark! The Sound of Tarheel Voices.'" For such a popular song, though, actual traditional collections are few.
The statement "God is love" is from 1 John 3:8. I personally fail to see its relevance to the tale of a girl dying young, but no doubt I am an old cynic who dislikes randomly killing people. - RBW
Last updated in version 7.1
File: MWSo063

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