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THE OLD ELLUM TREE (THE OLD ELM TREE) Sung by: Mrs. Almeda Riddle Recorded in Miller, AR 8/22/57 Click here to listen to the original recording And the willows bend o'er the running stream, Where alone my darling sat with me And told me she loved me 'neath the old ellum tree. Oh, love, dear love, my heart's one love, Some time I'll meet you in heaven above. There was nothing on earth so dear to me As the one that I loved beneath the old ellum tree. Although I sailed o'er the sea so wide, I meant to return and make her my bride; But cruel and false were the lies they told-- Said I was untrue and my love had grown cold, And with lies they won her away from me, That girl that I loved beneath the old ellum tree. Although another man held her dear, She was true to the vows that we whispered there; But her cheeks grew pale with heart's crushed pain, And the lovely lips never would smile again, And bitterly she wept when he could not see, And she wept for our love and she wept for me. She died and they parted her soft brown hair Off the pale dead face death had left so fair. Then they buried her, is what my mother wrote me, On a green, grassy knoll beneath our old ellum tree. Oh, love, dear love, my heart's one love, You're singing now with angels above, And there's nothing on earth now left to me But a lone little grave and an old ellum tree. Also found in Randolph, Vol. IV, #708, "The Old Elm Tree"; Belden, p. 221, "The Old Elm Tree." |
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All Songs Recorded by John Quincy Wolf, Jr., unless otherwise noted The John Quincy Wolf Folklore Collection Lyon College, Batesville, Arkansas Back to the Song Index Back to the Wolf Collection Homepage ©Copyright 2002 Lyon College |