The Yellow Rose of Texas - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

"The Yellow Rose of Texas" is a traditional folk song

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

. The original love song

Love song

A love song is about falling in love and the feelings it brings. Anthologies of love songs often contain a mixture of both of these types of song. A bawdy song is both humorous and saucy, emphasizing the physical pleasure of love rather than the emotional joy...

has become associated with the legend of how an indentured servant

Indentured servant

Indentured servitude refers to the historical practice of contracting to work for a fixed period of time, typically three to seven years, in exchange for transportation, food, clothing, lodging and other necessities during the term of indenture. Usually the father made the arrangements and signed...

named Emily Morgan "helped win the battle of San Jacinto

Battle of San Jacinto

The Battle of San Jacinto, fought on April 21, 1836, in present-day Harris County, Texas, was the decisive battle of the Texas Revolution. Led by General Sam Houston, the Texian Army engaged and defeated General Antonio López de Santa Anna's Mexican forces in a fight that lasted just eighteen...

, the decisive battle in the Texas Revolution."

Origin

The Center for American History at the University of Texas has an unpublished early handwritten version of the song, perhaps dating from the time of the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836. The author is unknown; the earliest published version, by Firth, Pond and Company of New York and dated September 2, 1858, identifies the composer and arranger as "J.K."; its lyrics are "almost identical" to those in the handwritten manuscript, though it states it had been arranged and composed for the vaudeville performer Charles H. Brown.

The soundtrack to the TV miniseries James A. Michener's Texas
James A. Michener's Texas
James A. Michener's Texas is a 1994 ABC television movie directed by Richard Lang and starring Patrick Duffy as Stephen Austin, Stacy Keach as Sam Houston, Chelsea Field as Maddie Quimper, Rick Schroder as Otto McNab, Grant Show as William Travis, David Keith as Jim Bowie, John Schneider as Davy...

dates a version of the song to June 2, 1933 and co-credits both the authorship and performance thereof to Gene Autry

Gene Autry

Orvon Grover Autry , better known as Gene Autry, was an American performer who gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies and on television for more than three decades beginning in the 1930s...

and Jimmy Long. However, Don George reworked the original version of the song, which Mitch Miller

Mitch Miller

Mitchell William "Mitch" Miller was an American musician, singer, conductor, record producer, A&R man and record company executive...

made into a popular recording in 1955

1955 in music

-Events:*January 1 – RCA Victor announces a marketing plan called "Operation TNT." The label drops the list price on LPs from $5.95 to $3.98, EPs from $4.95 to $2.98, 45 EPs from $1.58 to $1.49 and 45's from $1.16 to $.89...

that knocked Bill Haley's "(We're Gonna) Rock Around The Clock" from the top of the Best Sellers chart in the U.S. Miller's version was featured in the motion picture Giant.

Legendary account

The song is based on a Texas legend from the days of the Texas War of Independence

Texas Revolution

The Texas Revolution or Texas War of Independence was an armed conflict between Mexico and settlers in the Texas portion of the Mexican state Coahuila y Tejas. The war lasted from October 2, 1835 to April 21, 1836...

. According to the legend, a woman named Emily D. West

Emily D. West

Emily D. West , also known as Emily Morgan, is a folk heroine whose legendary activities during the Texas Revolution have come to be identified with the song "The Yellow Rose of Texas".-Biography:...

— a mulatto

Mulatto

Mulatto denotes a person with one white parent and one black parent, or more broadly, a person of mixed black and white ancestry. Contemporary usage of the term varies greatly, and the broader sense of the term makes its application rather subjective, as not all people of mixed white and black...

, and hence, the song's reference to her being "yellow

High yellow

High yellow, occasionally simply yellow , is a term for very light-skinned persons of Black descent. It is a reference to the golden yellow skin tone of some mixed-race people...

" — who was seized by Mexican forces during the looting of Galveston

Galveston, Texas

Galveston is a coastal city located on Galveston Island in the U.S. state of Texas. , the city had a total population of 47,743 within an area of...

seduced General Antonio López de Santa Anna

Antonio López de Santa Anna

Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón , often known as Santa Anna or López de Santa Anna, known as "the Napoleon of the West," was a Mexican political leader, general, and president who greatly influenced early Mexican and Spanish politics and government...

, President of Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

and commander of the Mexican forces. The legend credits her supposed seduction with lowering the guard of the Mexican army and facilitating the Texan victory in the Battle of San Jacinto

Battle of San Jacinto

waged in 1836 near present-day Houston. Santa Anna's opponent was General Sam Houston, who won the battle literally in minutes, and with almost no casualties.

Historical account

Historians assert that if West was with Santa Anna, it was not by her choice, nor did she play any part in deciding the battle. The seduction legend was largely unknown until the publication in the 1950s of a version based on William Bollaert's account. Bollaert, a British subject, spent two years in Texas—1842 to 1844—and was a prolific writer, publishing more than eighty articles on various subjects.
The basic facts appear to be that Emily West migrated to Texas from New York City in late 1835. Sources describe her as a teen or as a woman of twenty. According to one version of the legend, she became an indentured servant

Indentured servant

on the plantation of James Morgan near what was then called New Washington

New Washington

New Washington is the name of several places:United States:*New Washington, Indiana*New Washington, Ohio*New Washington, Pennsylvania*A former name of Morgan's Point, Texas during the early 19th centuryPhilippines:*New Washington, Aklan...

and is now Morgan's Point. Because of her indenture to Morgan, some historians say, she became known by his surname, as was the custom for indentured servants as well as slaves.

Santa Anna reportedly saw West in April 1836 when he invaded New Washington prior to the Battle of San Jacinto. Legend states that she was forcibly placed in his camp. Allegedly, Santa Anna was with her when Texan General Sam Houston

Sam Houston

Samuel Houston, known as Sam Houston , was a 19th-century American statesman, politician, and soldier. He was born in Timber Ridge in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, of Scots-Irish descent. Houston became a key figure in the history of Texas and was elected as the first and third President of...

's troops arrived, forcing him to flee without weapons or armor and enabling his capture the next day.

Lyrics

Original version, from the MS in the University of Texas archives

There's a yellow rose in Texas, that I am going to see,

No other darky [sic] knows her, no darky only me

She cryed [sic] so when I left her it like to broke my heart,

And if I ever find her, we nevermore will part.

Chorus:

She's the sweetest rose of color this darky ever knew,

Her eyes are bright as diamonds,they sparkle like the dew;

You may talk about your Dearest May, and sing of Rosa Lee,

But the Yellow Rose of Texas beats the belles of Tennessee.

When the Rio Grande is flowing, the starry skies are bright,

She walks along the river in the quite [sic] summer night:

She thinks if I remember, when we parted long ago,

I promised to come back again, and not to leave her so. [Chorus]

Oh now I'm going to find her, for my heart is full of woe,

And we'll sing the songs togeather [sic], that we sung so long ago

We'll play the bango gaily, and we'll sing the songs of yore,

And the Yellow Rose of Texas shall be mine forevermore. [Chorus]

More than 25 years later, the lyrics were changed to eliminate the more racially charged lyrics. "Soldier" replaced "darky." And the first line of the chorus was also changed to read, "She's the sweetest little flower...."

Civil War song

The song became popular with Confederate Army troops, especially those from Texas, though the last verse and the chorus are slightly different. It was sung after the defeat of Gen. John Bell Hood

John Bell Hood

John Bell Hood was a Confederate general during the American Civil War. Hood had a reputation for bravery and aggressiveness that sometimes bordered on recklessness...

's Army at the Battle of Nashville

Battle of Nashville

The Battle of Nashville was a two-day battle in the Franklin-Nashville Campaign that represented the end of large-scale fighting in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. It was fought at Nashville, Tennessee, on December 15–16, 1864, between the Confederate Army of Tennessee under...

in December 1864.

(Last verse)

Oh my feet are torn and bloody, and my heart is full of woe,

I'm going back to Georgia, to find my Uncle Joe,

You may talk about your Beauregard, and sing of General (or Bobby) Lee,

But the gallant Hood of Texas, played hell in Tennessee.

This refers to famous Confederate generals Joseph Johnston

Joseph E. Johnston

Joseph Eggleston Johnston was a career U.S. Army officer, serving with distinction in the Mexican-American War and Seminole Wars, and was also one of the most senior general officers in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War...

, P. G. T. Beauregard

P. G. T. Beauregard

Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard was a Louisiana-born American military officer, politician, inventor, writer, civil servant, and the first prominent general of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Today he is commonly referred to as P. G. T. Beauregard, but he rarely used...

, Robert E. Lee

Robert E. Lee

Robert Edward Lee was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War....

, and John Bell Hood

John Bell Hood

John Bell Hood was a Confederate general during the American Civil War. Hood had a reputation for bravery and aggressiveness that sometimes bordered on recklessness...

.

The chorus substitutes the word "darky" with "soldier". The same substitution is made throughout the song.

"The Yellow Rose"

In 1984, country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

artists Johnny Lee

Johnny Lee

Johnny Lee is an American country music singer. His 1980 single, "Lookin' for Love" not only spent three weeks at the top of the Billboard country singles chart in the second half of 1980 but also went to the Top 5 on the Pop charts, and Top 10 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary survey...

and Lane Brody

Lane Brody

Lane Brody is an American female singer-songwriter, active since the early 1980s, best known for her 1984 Billboard-topping country hit, "The Yellow Rose" , and for the Oscar nominated song "Over You" from the film "Tender Mercies". She is the first female in country music to have an...

recorded a song called "The Yellow Rose". This song, which retained the original melody of "The Yellow Rose of Texas" but wrote new lyrics for it, was used as the title theme to a TV series also entitled The Yellow Rose
The Yellow Rose
The Yellow Rose is an American television series. It was broadcast on the NBC network during the 1983-1984 season. It was produced by Paul Freeman....

and was a Number One country hit that year.

External links

MP3 file at Yellow Rose of Texas from amaranthpublishing.com
MIDI file and lyrics from Songs of Texas at Lone Star Junction: A Texas and Texas History Resource

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.