Yellow Rose of Texas, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer is going to see his "Yellow Rose" -- "The sweetest rose of color this (darkey) ever knew; Her eyes are bright as diamonds; They sparkle like the dew." He promises that "if I ever find her, we never more will part."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1858 (sheet music published by Firth, Pond & Co of New York)
KEYWORDS: love courting separation reunion
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (18 citations):
Jackson-PopularSongsOfNineteenthCenturyAmerica, pp. 253-257, "The Yellow Rose of Texas" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-SongsOfTheCivilWar, pp. 76-68, "The Yellow Rose of Texas" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-SoldierSongsAndHomeFrontBalladsOfCivilWar, pp. 28-29, "The Yellow Rose of Texas" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gilbert-LostChords, pp. 20-21, "The Yellow Rose of Texas" (1 text)
Hugill-ShantiesFromTheSevenSeas, p. 561, "The Yellow Rose of Texas" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 272, "The Yellow Rose Of Texas" (1 text)
Cox-FolkSongsSouth 128, "The Yellow Rose of Texas" (1 text)
Cohen-AmericanFolkSongsARegionalEncyclopedia2, pp. 516-517, "The Yellow Rose of Texas" (1 text plus a copy of one page of the sheet music)
Abernethy-SinginTexas, pp. 165-166, "Yellow Rose of Texas" (1 text, 1 tune)
Tinsley-HeWasSinginThisSong, pp. 190-195, "The Yellow Rose of Texas" (1 text, 1 tune)
Emerson-StephenFosterAndCo, pp. 37-38, "The Yellow Rose of Texas" (1 text)
Messerli-ListenToTheMockingbird, pp. 97-99, "The Yellow Rose of Texas" (1 text)
Fuld-BookOfWorldFamousMusic, p. 661+, "The Yellow Rose of Texas"
Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #2702, p. 183, "The Yellow Rose of Texas" (1 reference)
Dime-Song-Book #3/72, p. 8 and #3/62, p. 8, "The Yellow Rose of Texas" (1 text)
DT, YELLOWTX*
ADDITIONAL: Richard Hayward, Ireland Calling (Glasgow,n.d.), p. 4, "The Yellow Rose of Texas" (text, music and reference to Decca F-2872 recorded Feb 24, 1932)
William E. Studwell and Bruce R. Schueneman, _State Songs of the Unites States: An Annotated Anthology_, The Haworth Press, 1997, p. 66, "The Yellow Rose of Texas" (1 text, a somewhat cleaned up version of a nineteenth century text, tune on pp. 189-192)
ST RJ19253 (Full)
Roud #2800
RECORDINGS:
Gene Autry, "The Yellow Rose of Texas" (Victor 23792, 1933) (Banner 32771/Melotone M12700/Oriole 8233/Romeo 5233/Perfect 12912/Conqueror 8096, 1933; OKeh 04998/Vocalion 04998, 1938; Vocalion 5498, n.d.)
Lee Boswell, "The Yellow Rose of Texas" (Decca 5057, 1934)
Bill Boyd & his Cowboy Ramblers, "Yellow Rose of Texas" (Bluebird B-7088/Montgomery Ward M-7189, 1937; rec. 1936)
Milton Brown & his Musical Brownies, "Yellow Rose of Texas" (Decca 5273, 1936; Minerva M-14153, c. 1941)
DaCosta Woltz's Southern Broadcasters, "Yellow Rose of Texas" (Gennett 6143, 1927)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Yellow Rose of Texas" [instrumental] (on NLCR07)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 18(748), "The Yellow Rose of Texas", H. De Marsan (New York, N.Y.), 1864-1878
LOCSinging, sb40591b, "The Yellow Rose of Texas", H. De Marsan (New York, N.Y.), 1864-1878; also cw106920, "The Yellow Rose of Texas"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Yellow Rose of Taegu" (tune)
cf. "The Bouncing Girl in Fogo" (theme, lyrics)
SAME TUNE:
The Yellow Rose of Taegu (File: EM410)
The Hero of the Coast (File: BaRo156)
Song of the Texas Rangers (NOT Laws A8; War Songs and Poems of the Southern Confederacy, pp. 175-176)
NOTES [328 words]: Extremely popular with Southern troops in the Civil War, and frequently parodied, the first known publication of this piece occurred in 1858. That version appears to be a minstrel piece; in it, both lovers are "darkeys." The only attribution is to "J.K.," who was and still remains unknown.
According to William H. A. Williams, 'Twas Only an Irishman's Dream, University of Illinois Press, 1996, p. 37, the tune is quite similar to a piece called The Irish Mother's Lament"; he hints that this song is based on Irish elements.
It is interesting that, in the Civil War, the troops often sang, "She's the sweetest rose of color this SOLDIER (or, later, FELLOW) ever knew." This would hardly have been acceptable to the Southern gentry; it was miscegenation.
In the period after the Battle of Nashville at the end of 1864, when the southern soldiers of Texas General John Bell Hood's army had been decisively defeated and hoped to be placed under the command of Joseph E. Johnston ("Uncle Joe"), troops supposedly sang "And now I'm going southward, For my heart is full of woe; I'm going back to Georgia, To find my Uncle Joe... the gallant Hood of Texas Played hell in Tennessee." - RBW
James "Sparky" Rucker places this song in the period of the Mexican War [properly, the Texas rebellion - RBW, with thanks to Cirk R. Bejnar], stating that the "Yellow Rose" was Santa Anna's mulatto (American) girlfriend, who stole his battle plans before the battle of San Jacinto and delivered them to the American army. - PJS
Broadsides LOCSinging sb40591b and Bodleian Harding B 18(748): H. De Marsan dating per Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
Broadsides LOCSinging sb40591b and Bodleian Harding B 18(748) are duplicates.
The date and master id (GB-4029-2) for Hayward's record is provided by Bill Dean-Myatt, MPhil. compiler of the Scottish National Discography. - BS
Last updated in version 6.6
File: RJ19253

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