|
On The Banks Of That Lonely River/Ten Thousand Miles Away/I Have An Aged Mother/Aged Mother
Traditional Old-Time Ballad and Bluegrass Song (attributed to I. M. Williams 1882)
ARTIST: Richard Matteson
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ln5HU2OEoY
Original 1882 Sheet Music: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mussm&file
Name=sm/sm1882/16100/16161
/mussm16161.db&recNum=1&itemLink=D?mussm:4:./tem
TAB:
CATEGORY: Traditional and Public Domain Bluerass Songs;
DATE: 1800s; Recorded 1931 by Buster Carter and Preston Young; 1936 by the Monroe Brothers
RECORDING INFO: On The Banks Of That Lonely River/Ten Thousand Miles Away [Me II-N11]
Carter Family. Carter Family, Vol. 1, Country Music Heritage CMH 107, LP (197?), trk# 8 [1930/05/23] (I Have An Aged Mother)
Redden, Fred. Folk Music from Nova Scotia, Folkways FM 4006, LP (1961), trk# A.02 (Banks of Claudy)
Riddle, Almeda. More Ballads and Hymns from the Ozarks, Rounder 0083, LP (1978), trk# 8
Riddle, Almeda. Abrahams, Roger D.(ed.) / A Singer and Her Songs. Almeda Riddle's Book o, Louisiana State U. Press, Bk (1970), p 41 [1964-67]
Trail, Mrs. J. F.. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume IV, Religous Songs and Others, Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p152/#697B [1941/10/05]
Wilson, Coral Almy. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume IV, Religous Songs and Others, Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p151/#697A [1932/04/04]
Texas Ruby. 1963 SP KING 5741 (US) - On The Banks Of The Lonely River / Hold Fast To The Right
OTHER NAMES: "On the Banks of a Lonely River" "On the Banks of that Lonely River"
"Ten Thousand Miles Away" "I Have An Aged Mother"
SOURCES: Folk Index; Meade
NOTES: Key G; "On the Banks of the Lonely River" also known as "Ten Thousand Miles Away" was published on a Broadside sheet music 1882 in as "composed by I.M. Williams." A haunting air was printed by Joshua Combs from his mother's singing on Troublesome Creek, Knott County, Kentucky, about 1889, "On the Banks of That Lonely River." The Combs book, "Syllabus of Kentucky Folk-Songs" 1911, is in my collection and that was what I used as a basis for my solo arrangement (Above).
"On The Banks of A Lonely River" was a big hit for Tarton and Darby on Columbia in 1930 possibly prompting the Carters to record the song for Victor later that year under teh title, "I have An Aged Mother."
BALLAD INDEX: Ten Thousand Miles Away (On the Banks of Lonely River)
DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls his aged mother "on the banks of a lonely river, Ten thousand miles away." He wishes he (were a little bird so he could be) with her. A letter from his sister says his mother has died; he wishes she were there. He prays for his mother
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1882 (broadside, LOCSheet sm1882 16161)
KEYWORDS: death mother loneliness separation age grief burial mourning family sister
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE,So) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Randolph 697, "Ten Thousand Miles Away" (1 text plus a fragment, 1 tune)
BrownII 170, "The Homesick Boy" (2 texts)
Roud #3514
RECORDINGS:
Asa Martin & Doc Roberts, "I Must See My Mother" (Champion 16568, 1933; Champion 45176, c. 1935; rec. 1932; on KMM [as Martin & Hobbs])
Fred Redden, "The Banks of Claudy" (on NovaScotia1)
BROADSIDES:
LOCSheet, sm1882 16161, "Ten Thousand Miles Away on the Banks of a Lonely River," Balmer & Weber (Saint Louis), 1882 (tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "To the West A While to Stay" (plot)
Notes: Several of Randolph's informants credited this to a Missouri musician named Hubbard. Given the general feebleness of the song, it is quite likely that it comes from such an obscure source. The presence of the North Carolina texts, however, argues that it is not local to the Ozarks. - RBW
Broadside LOCSheet sm1882 16161: "composed by I.M. Williams" whatever that means. Is it a coincidence that the publisher is so close to the Ozarks?
[NovaScotia1] begins "In youth I craved adventure To Australia I did stray, I left my home and mother For a fortune far away, She bade me not to leave her Or to return some day To the banks of far off Claudy Ten thousand miles away." This verse is missing from LOCSheet sm1882 16161, which begins with the letter verse, followed by the dream verse.- BS
On the banks of that lonely river,
Ten thousand miles away.
I have an aged mother,
Whose hair is turning grey.
Don't ask me why I'm weeping,
Don't ask me why I pray,
For I've an aged mother
Ten thousand miles away.
|