"
Aura Lee" (also known as "
Aura Lea") is an
American Civil WarThe American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America...
song about a maiden. It was written by
W. W. FosdickW. W. Fosdick was a US American poet, writer and song lyricist, primarily remembered today as the one who wrote the original lyrics to the song Aura Lea to a melody composed by George R. Poulton. Fosdick was as a native of Cincinnati, Ohio and graduated from Transylvania University in Lexington,...
(words) and
George R. PoultonGeorge R. Poulton,celebrated musician and composer was born in Cricklade, Nr Cirencester, , England in 1828. He was baptised in St Mary's Church and was raised in the town until the age of seven when his parents, Charles and Hannah Poulton emigrated to Lansingburgh, New York...
(music).
The
Elvis PresleyElvis Aaron Presley was an American singer and actor. A cultural icon, he is commonly known simply as Elvis and is also sometimes referred to as The King of Rock 'n' Roll or The King....
song "
Love Me Tender"Love Me Tender" is a song sung by Elvis Presley, adapted from the tune of "Aura Lee" , a sentimental Civil War ballad with music by George R. Poulton and words by W.W. Fosdick. "Aura Lee" was published in 1861 and this Civil War song later became popular with college glee clubs and barbershop...
" (lyric by
Ken DarbyKen Darby was an American composer, vocal arranger, and conductor. He has shared in winning an Oscar three times and was nominated for three others:...
) is sung to a similar tune as "Aura Lee". A later Presley recording for the film
The Trouble with GirlsThe Trouble with Girls is a 1969 comedy film starring Elvis Presley. It was the only Elvis movie to have a subtitle in its name and is an odd mixture of music, comedy, and melodrama...
entitled "Violet (Flower of N.Y.U.)" also used the melody of "Aura Lee".
There is also a version of "Aura Lee" called "Army Blue" associated with the U.S.
"
Aura Lee" (also known as "
Aura Lea") is an
American Civil WarThe American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America...
song about a maiden. It was written by
W. W. FosdickW. W. Fosdick was a US American poet, writer and song lyricist, primarily remembered today as the one who wrote the original lyrics to the song Aura Lea to a melody composed by George R. Poulton. Fosdick was as a native of Cincinnati, Ohio and graduated from Transylvania University in Lexington,...
(words) and
George R. PoultonGeorge R. Poulton,celebrated musician and composer was born in Cricklade, Nr Cirencester, , England in 1828. He was baptised in St Mary's Church and was raised in the town until the age of seven when his parents, Charles and Hannah Poulton emigrated to Lansingburgh, New York...
(music).
The
Elvis PresleyElvis Aaron Presley was an American singer and actor. A cultural icon, he is commonly known simply as Elvis and is also sometimes referred to as The King of Rock 'n' Roll or The King....
song "
Love Me Tender"Love Me Tender" is a song sung by Elvis Presley, adapted from the tune of "Aura Lee" , a sentimental Civil War ballad with music by George R. Poulton and words by W.W. Fosdick. "Aura Lee" was published in 1861 and this Civil War song later became popular with college glee clubs and barbershop...
" (lyric by
Ken DarbyKen Darby was an American composer, vocal arranger, and conductor. He has shared in winning an Oscar three times and was nominated for three others:...
) is sung to a similar tune as "Aura Lee". A later Presley recording for the film
The Trouble with GirlsThe Trouble with Girls is a 1969 comedy film starring Elvis Presley. It was the only Elvis movie to have a subtitle in its name and is an odd mixture of music, comedy, and melodrama...
entitled "Violet (Flower of N.Y.U.)" also used the melody of "Aura Lee".
There is also a version of "Aura Lee" called "Army Blue" associated with the U.S. Military Academy. The tune is sung to lyrics specific to the academy; the original lyrics to that version were by George T. Olmstead, an 1865 graduate of the academy. It is the running theme music in the background of the 1954
John FordJohn Ford was an American film director of Irish heritage famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach and The Searchers and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...
film,
The Long Gray LineThe Long Gray Line is a 1955 drama film directed by John Ford. Inspired by the true life story of Marty Maher, Tyrone Power stars as the scrappy Irish immigrant whose 50-year career at West Point saw him transformed from dishwasher to non-commissioned officer and athletic instructor...
.
Aura Lee was memorably sung by
Frances FarmerFrances Elena Farmer was an American actress of stage and screen. She is perhaps better known for sensationalized and fictional accounts of her life, and especially her involuntary commitment to a mental hospital...
and a male chorus in the 1936 film,
Come and Get ItCome and Get It is a 1936 American drama film directed by Howard Hawks and William Wyler. The screenplay by Jane Murfin and Jules Furthman is based on the 1935 novel of the same title by Edna Ferber.-Plot:...
, based on
Edna FerberEdna Ferber was an American novelist, author and playwright.-Early years:Ferber was born in 1885 in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to a Hungarian-born Jewish storekeeper and his Milwaukee, Wisconsin-born wife, Jacob Charles and Julia Ferber...
's novel.
The television comedy
F TroopF Troop is a satirical American television sitcom that originally aired from 1965-1967 on ABC. It was originally broadcast in the United States from September 14, 1965 to finishing on April 6, 1967, producing a total of 65 episodes. The first season [34 episodes] was filmed in black-and-white, and...
used a variation of the song to welcome saloon singer Laura Lee in the episode "She's Only a Build in a Girdled Cage."
The tune was also used in
Trading PlacesTrading Places is a 1983 comedy film starring Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy and Jamie Lee Curtis. It was directed by John Landis and written by Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod. It was produced by Aaron Russo...
, with different lyrics, when Louis Winthorp's fraternity brothers serenade his fiancee, Penelope.
Lyrics
The lyrics as written by Fosdick:
- When the blackbird in the Spring,
- Neath the willow tree,
- Sat and rock'd, I heard him sing,
- Singing Aura Lea.
- Aura Lea, Aura Lea,
- Maid with golden hair;
- Sunshine came along with thee,
- And swallows in the air.
- Chorus:
Aura Lea, Aura Lea,
- Maid with golden hair;
- Sunshine came along with thee,
- And swallows in the air.
- In thy blush the rose was born,
- Music, when you spake,
- Through thine azure eye the morn,
- Sparkling seemed to break.
- Aura Lea, Aura Lea,
- Birds of crimson wing,
- Never song have sung to me,
- As in that sweet spring.
(Chorus)
- Aura Lea! the bird may flee,
- The willow's golden hair
- Swing through winter fitfully,
- On the stormy air.
- Yet if thy blue eyes I see,
- Gloom will soon depart;
- For to me, sweet Aura Lea
- Is sunshine through the heart.
- (Chorus)
- When the mistletoe was green,
- Midst the winter's snows,
- Sunshine in thy face was seen,
- Kissing lips of rose.
- Aura Lea, Aura Lea,
- Take my golden ring;
- Love and light return with thee,
- And swallows with the spring.
- (Chorus)
Allan ShermanAllan Sherman was an American television producer who became famous as a song parodist in the early 1960s. His first album, My Son, the Folk Singer , became the fastest-selling record album up to that time...
topicalized the song with this polio-based version:
- Every time you take vaccine
A vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains a small amount of an agent that resembles a microorganism...
, take it Aura LeeAlbert Bruce Sabin was an American medical researcher best known for having developed an oral polio vaccine.-Life:...
(pun on "orally")
- As you know the other way
Jonas Salk was an American medical researcher and virologist, best known for his discovery and development of the first safe and effective polio vaccine. He was born in New York City, where his parents were Russian-Jewish immigrants. Although they themselves lacked formal education, they were...
is more painfullyThe buttocks are rounded portions of the anatomy located on the posterior of the pelvic region of apes and humans, including many other bipeds or quadrupeds.-Anatomy:...
!"