There's a Long, Long Trail

DESCRIPTION: The singer misses (his sweetheart), noting that "Nights are getting very lonely, days are very long." He remembers her in dreams. Chorus: "There's a long, long trail a-winding To the land of my dreams Where the nightingales are singing...."
AUTHOR: Words: Stoddard King / Music: Zo Elliot
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (sheet music); tune reportedly written 1912
KEYWORDS: separation loneliness nonballad campsong
FOUND IN: Britain(England) US
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Brophy/Partridge-TommiesSongsAndSlang, p. 216, "(no title)" (1 partial text)
Arthur-WhenThisBloodyWarIsOver, p. 54, "The Long, Long Trail" (1 text)
Colonial-Dames-AmericanWarSongs, pp. 180-181, "There's a Long, Long Trail" (1 text)
Fuld-BookOfWorldFamousMusic, pp. 573-574, "There's a Long, Long Trail"
Harbin-Parodology, #408, p. 101, "Long, Long Trail" (Harbin is unable to print this because of copyright, but lists the motions to be used in camp)
BoyScoutSongbook1997, p. 121, There's a Long, Long Trail" (1 short text)
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, pp. 51, 193, 251, 313, 393, "There's a Long, Long Trail" (notes only)
DT, LNGTRAIL
Roud #23525
RECORDINGS:
[?] Campbell & [Henry] Burr, "There's a Long, Long Trail" (Little Wonder 563, c. 1916)
Judy Cook, "There's a Long Long Trail A-Winding" (Fragment: Piotr-Archive #334, recorded 11/02/2022)
John McCormack "There's a Long, Long Trail" (Victor 64694, 1917)
SAME TUNE:
There's a Long, Long Worm A-Crawling/Green Worm ("There's a long, long/green worm a winding/crawling Upon the roof of my tent") (Harbin-Parodology, #238, p. 60; Pankake/Pankake-PrairieHomeCompanionFolkSongBook, p. 162)
The Long Long Nail ("There's a long, long nail a-grinding, Up through the sole of my shoe") (Harbin-Parodology, #237, p. 59; cf. Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, p. 251 and the Judy Cook recording cited above)
The Long-Tailed Cat/What a Long, Long Tail ("What a long, long tail our cat's got") (Harbin-Parodology, #49, p. 19; Pankake/Pankake-PrairieHomeCompanionFolkSongBook, p. 65)
You Can Tell a Man (Harbin-Parodology, #60, p. 21)
It's a Short, Short Life ("It's a short, short life we live here, So let us laugh while we may") (Harbin-Parodology, #63, p. 22; Rodeheaver-SociabilitySongs, p. 125)
My Hair ("There's a long, long trail a-winding Where my hair used to be") (Harbin-Parodology, #128, p. 39)
Mummy Song (cf. Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, p. 251)
There's a Long Long Trail to Camp (cf. Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, p. 251, 389)
You Can Tell a Scout (BoyScoutSongbook1997, p. 68)
NOTES [104 words]: Not a proper folk song, but its popularity in World War I argues for its inclusion here. Edward Foote Gardner, Popular Songs of the Twentieth Century: Volume I -- Chart Detail & Encyclopedia 1900-1949, Paragon House, 2000, p. 314, estimates that this was the third most popular song in America in 1916, although it was never higher than #6 for a particular month, in this case October 1916 (#1 for the year being Gus Kahn, Tony Jackson, and Egbert van Alstyne's "Pretty Baby"); p. 322 saying that it was the ninth-most popular song in 1918 (#1 for the year being J. Will Callahan and Lee G. Roberts's "Smiles"). - RBW. - RBW
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File: DTlngtra

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