Tie That Binds, The

DESCRIPTION: "Within a small room, cold and cheerless, There sits a young woman alone." She and her husband are separated; they have divided "One small stocking's for you, dear, One small shoe is for me." He returns, for the dead baby is "the tie that binds"
AUTHOR: Charles K. Harris (source: sheet music)
EARLIEST DATE: 1901 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: love separation husband wife baby reunion death
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Rainey/Pinkston-SongsOfTheOzarkFolk, pp. 52-53, "The Tie That Binds" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Charles K. Harris, _Chas. K. Harris' Complete Songster, Containing One Hundred and Fifty Latest Popular Songs: Successes of Mr. Harris and His Staff of Famous Composers_, F. J. Drake, 1903 (available on Google Books), pp. 140-142, "The Tie That Binds" (1 text)
Roud #18490
NOTES [74 words]: Rainey/Pinkston-SongsOfTheOzarkFolk describe their text as composite. It's more than that; it appears to have been turned into a wholly different form. Charles K. Harris's original is just two verses long -- but the verses are sixteen lines long! The Rainey version preserves most of the lyrics, but breaks them up into eight standard four-line stanzas. This obviously requires a melodic change also, although I don't know what was done to it. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: RPOF052

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