Lonesome Dove (I - The Minister's Lamentation)

DESCRIPTION: "As I set in that lonesome grove, Set o'er my head a little dove, For its lost mate began to coo...." The singer recalls his lost wife and daughter, killed by consumption. But he thanks God who has taken them away, and hopes to see them in heaven
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1855 (Social Harp)
KEYWORDS: death religious bird family disease children wife
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE,So)
REFERENCES (10 citations):
Randolph 607, "The Lonesome Dove" (1 text, 1 tune)
Arnold-FolkSongsofAlabama, p. 46, "Lonesome Dove" (1 text, 1 tune)
Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety, p. 486, "The Dove" (1 text)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 305, "The Lonesome Dove" (1 text)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 305, "The Lonesome Dove" (1 tune plus a text excerpt)
Thomas-DevilsDitties, pp. 162-163, "The Lonesome Dove" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sharp-EnglishFolkSongsFromSouthernAppalachians 147, "The Lonesome Grove" (4 fragments, 4 tunes)
Gentry/Smith-ASingerAmongSingers, #49, "One Day, One Day" (1 short tect, 1 tune)
Cambiaire-EastTennesseeWestVirginiaMountainBallads, p. 77, "Lonesome Dove" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: James P. Leary, Compiler and Annotator, _Wisconsin Folklore_ University of Wisconsin Press, 2009, article "Kentucky Folksong in Northern Wisconsin" by Asher E. Treat, pp. 230-231, "As I Was Waling Through the Grove (1 text, 1 tune, conflated from versions sung by Pearl Jacobs Borusky and by Maud Jacobs and Mrs. M. G. Jacobs)
Roud #3637
RECORDINGS:
Almeda Riddle, "Lonesome Dove" (on LomaxCD1707)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Come All You Friends and Neighbors" (theme)
cf. "The Vulture (of the Alps)"
NOTES [34 words]: The Social Harp version of this song (1855) is credited to William C. Davis. This is certainly possible -- it is hardly a true folk song -- but since Davis might be an arranger, I do not list an author. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.4
File: R607

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