Sweet Birds- Mrs. Keaton c.1890s (Sweet Fern
[This parlor song "Sweet Bird," was written by Thomas P. Westendorf and George Persley in 1876. It was recorded by the Carter Family as "Sweet Fern," a mishearing of the word "Birds." The Coon Creek Girls with Lily Mae Ledford also titled it after the Carters.
R. Matteson 2014]
SWEET BIRDS
1. O down in the meadow you're singing alone
While the moonlight is shining so clear.
O, down in the meadow, my sweet lonesome bird,
Your echo in the woodland I hear.
My love is away in a far distant land,
A land that lies over the sea;
O, fly to the singing your sweet little song,
And tell him to come back to me.
CHORUS:
Sweet bird, Sweet bird
O, tell my lover is true;
Sweet bird, sweet bird,
And then I'll be as happy as you.
2. O, tell me, sweet bird, is he thinking of me,
And the promise he made long ago?
He promised to come back from over the sea;
Or why do the years roll so slow?
3. Upon my finger he placed a gold ring
The day he was leaving his home
I promised to be his own little girl
And love him wherever he'd roam.
This song, remembered in fragmentary form by both L. L. McDowell and Mrs. McDowell was supplied in above words by Mrs. Earl Keaton, with the following exceptions: Mrs. Keaton had "Sweet Fern" instead of "Sweet Bird." She had "so lonesome" at the end, of the first line, instead of as above. She had "I know she's away" as the first words of the refrain instead of "My love is away." Also she had "I'll be just as happy" instead of "And then I'll be happy" as the last words of the refrain. The changes in her version were made from the combined memories of the McDowells, who both remembered the song from early youth. The tune is as they knew it.