In 1868 a song with the same title, written by George Cooper and W.F. Wellman Jr., was published by C.H. Ditson in New York. As you can see on the link below, this was another song.
Unlike what it says in the next YT, this version is by Riley Puckety and Clayton McMichen.
In 1939, bandleader Glenn Miller recorded and broadcast his swing instrumental arrangement of the tune with great success, and the number became one of the best known orchestrations of the American Big Band era. His version did not have the lyrics.
(c) Glenn Miller and his Orchestra (1939) (as "Little Brown Jug")
Nr 10 Hit USA Charts
Recorded April 10, 1939
Released on Bluebird B-10286
Listen here:
In the 1948 Famous Studios Screen Song animated short titled "Little Brown Jug", a "bouncing ball" cartoon, it is sung with the music credited to Winston Sharples and entirely new lyrics by Buddy Kaye.
"Little Brown Jug" starts around 4 minutes in the next YT
(c) Richie Blackmore (1965) (as "Little Brown Jug")
A few months later when Bartholomew moved to Imperial Records, he re-recorded the song under the new title, "Little Girl Sing Ting-a-Ling".
Listen here:
In the summer of 1954 Dave Bartholomew produced a version by The Spiders, which was titled "The Real Thing", which, lyrically, was clearly derived from "My Ding-A-Ling"
But the version which topped the charts was recorded live during the Lanchester Arts Festival at the Locarno ballroom in Coventry, England, on 3 February 1972.
"Wild Mountain Thyme" (also known as "Purple Heather" and "Will Ye Go, Lassie, Go?") is a Scottish folk song that was collected by Francis McPeake 1st, who wrote the song himself for his wife. The McPeake family claim recognition for the writing of the song. Francis McPeake is a member of a well known musical family in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
The lyrics and melody are a variant of the song "The Braes of Balquhither" by Scottish poet Robert Tannahill (1774–1810), a contemporary of Robert Burns. Tannahill's original song is about the hills (braes) around Balquhidder near Lochearnhead.
Like Burns, Tannahill collected and adapted traditional songs, and "The Braes of Balquhither" may have been based on the traditional song "The Braes o' Bowhether" (SEE NOTE on the bottom of this post)
Charles O'Boyle had invited a number of performers to meet Peter Kennedy for his first evening of music collecting in Belfast.
In particular Peter was struck by the song, "Will You Go, Lassie Go?", the tune of which was composed by Francie I, recorded it in a cupboard under the stairs, and, when he returned to London, persuaded George Martin and the Educational Dept. of The Gramophone Company to issue this track on a 10" LP called "Folk Song Today" (His Master's Voice DLP 1143)
On the back-sleeve we can read: "Their song is a version of "The Braes of Balquidder"
As I said above "Wild Mountain Thyme" is a reworded arrangement of "The Braes of Balquhither",
which also includes the lines "Let us go, lassie, go" and "And the wild mountain thyme".
"The Braes of Balquhither" was first published at Falkirk in 1814, together with "Jamie frae Dundee", "Blyth was she", "M’Pherson’s farewel", and "Highland Rover" - held in the British Library at shelfmark 11621.b.10.(35.)
The song was also published in 1815 in the 3rd edition of "Poems and Songs, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect" by Robert Tannahill.
"The Braes Of Balquhither" is on page 154, with "The Three Carls o' Buchanan" mentioned as accompanying air (which, some suggest. is the same melody that Francis McPeake used for "Wild Mountain Thyme")
A five-verse voice and piano arrangement was published by J.A. and W. Geib in New York circa 1818-1821. as we see below this is another melody, than the one used for "Wild Mountain Thyme"
The tune was most certainly not composed by McPeake, as it is and was an ancient Scots air even in Robert Tannahill's time!
Furthermore, in a BBC Radio interview in 1957, Francie McPeake Snr, admitted he learned the song from an Uncle, and made no claims to have written or composed it!
Robert Tannahill clearly wrote and published the lyrics, and they were included twice in Robert Archibald Smith's "Scotish Minstrel" (1821).
Vol I, p. 49 (appears in index as "Will ye go, lassie, go" to the air of "Braes o'Balquither".
"Will ye go, lassie, go" to the air of "Braes o'Balquither" from Vol I of the Scotish Minstrel, was most likely the source for Francis McPeake to write his adaption of "Wild Mountain Thyme".
But even before that, in 1816, the song was published as "Bochuiddar" or "Balquhidder" (song # 77 on page 38) in Captain S. Fraser's "Collection of Melodies of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland".
This is confirmed on page 112/113 in George Farguhar Graham's "The Songs of Scotland Adapted to Their Appropriate Melodies" (1850).
It says: "In Captain S. Fraser's Collection of Melodies of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, 1816, we find, No. 77, Bochuiddar - Balquidder - which is the air applied to Tannahill's song, with some slight differences, as found in vol. I, p. 49 of R.A. Smith's "Scottish Minstrel"
In the 1950's Elizabeth Cronin sang 2 versions (recorded by Alan Lomax in 1951 and Seamus Ennis in 1952).
In "The Songs of Elizabeth Cronin", the notes say the song was set to music by Robert Archibald Smith himself, which may or may not be quite accurate since it is known that Tannahill set the tunes himself to many of his other songs.
(c) John MacDonald (1974) (as "The Braes O' Balquhidder").
John MacDonald sang The Braes o' Balquhidder on his 1975 Topic album "The Singing Molecatcher of Morayshire".
Hamish Henderson commented in the album's liner notes:
A song by the Paisley weaver-poet Robert Tannahill (1774-1810), to an old air "The Three Carles o' Buchanan". This exquisite song became very popular in the 19th century throughout Scotland and Ireland. It was in the repertoire of the celebrated ballad-singer Mrs Elizabeth Cronin of Macroom, Co. Cork, and the version recorded by the McPeake family of Belfast—now known throughout the modern folk revival as "The Wild Mountain Thyme"—continues to enjoy widespread popularity. It belongs to a well-known class of courtship songs in which the lover appeals to his girl to leave the city and enjoy the pleasures of country life. These songs gained added pathos in the period of the Industrial Revolution, when so many of the Lowland towns turned into smokey hell-holes.
Quoting Sandy Paton on the Mudat Cafe: "I recorded it for Elektra Records in 1959 (and taught it to Judy Collins in that year when she and I worked together at the Exodus in Denver). I had learned it from a field recording made of the McPeakes which I found in the BBC Recorded Programmes Library which was then housed at the Cecil Sharp House in London".
Bob also performed the song in 1969 on the Isle of Wight Festival in the UK
And on June 22, 1988 in Cincinnati, Ohio
And here's Bob with Joan Baez live in 1975.
10 years after father and son McPeake recorded the first version of "Will You Go, Lassie, Go", they recorded another version, this time accompanied by grandson Francis McPeake III.
(c) McPeake Family (1963) (as "Will Ye Go Lassie Go?")
Recorded winter 1962 in London
Released on ep "Wild Mountain Thyme" on Topic-label
"The Black Velvet Band" (Roud number 2146) is a traditional folk song collected from singers in Australia, England, Canada, Ireland and the United States describing how a young man is tricked and then sentenced to transportation to Van Diemen's Land (Australia).
It was published as a broadside ballad by Swindells of Manchester some time between 1796 and 1853
An additional note says: Tune: "Tars Of The Blanch"
In this version the young man visited the little town of Barking and the girl with the black velvet band deceived him on Ratcliffe Highway, after which a judge sentenced him to a free passage to Van Diemen's Land.
Ratcliffe Highway is the old name for a road in the East End of London, now called The Highway, then one of three main roads leaving London. It was in a dangerous and run-down area of seedy businesses, dark alleys and dilapidated tenements.
An American song called "The Girl In The Blue Velvet Band", credited to Cliff Carlisle, has a similar plot and is loosely based on "Black Velvet Band". Here the young man is tricked by a beautiful girl with a Blue Velvet Band and then sent to San Quentin prison.
It was recorded by Bill Monroe, Doc Watson and Mac Wiseman among others, but Carlisle himself recorded it first in 1934.
(c) Cliff Carlisle (1934) (as "The Girl in the Blue Velvet Band")
Starting in the 1940's the first recordings of "The Black Velvet Band", which was most likely the ORIGINAL source for "The Girl in the Blue Velvet Band", were released.
In 1942, Helen Hartness Flanders recorded Fred Brackett performing the song in Stacyville, Maine, USA
"Loveless Love" / "Careless Love" is a traditional song of obscure origins.
It was one of the best known pieces in the repertory of the Buddy Bolden band in New Orleans, Louisiana at the very start of the 20th century, and has remained a jazz standard and blues standard. Hundreds of recordings have been made in folk, blues, jazz, country, and pop styles
Mentioned in 1911 in a transcription by Howard Odum in The Journal of American Folk-Lore, as "Kelly's Love", probably named after Chris Kelly, New Orleans trumpet player who like Buddy Bolden never recorded.
THE JOURNAL OF AMERICAN FOLK-LORE
Vol. XXIV. —JULY-SEPTEMBER, 1911— No. XCIII
FOLK-SONG AND FOLK-POETRY AS FOUND IN THE SECULAR SONGS OF THE SOUTHERN NEGROES BY HOWARD W. ODUM
In volume 24 - July/September 1911 - no 93 of the Journal of American Folk-Lore transcription it is song # 42 on page 286.
42. kelly's love
In "Kelly's Love" the note of disappointed love is sounded:
| : Love, Kelly's love, : | (three times)
You broke de heart o' many a girl,
You never break dis heart o' mine.
| : When I wo' my aprons low, : | (three times)
Couldn't keep you from my do'.
| : Now I weahs my aprons high, : | (three times)
Sca'cely ever see you passin' by.
| : Now I weahs my aprons to my chin, : | (three times)
You pass my do', but can't come in.
| : See what Kelly's love have done. : | (three times)
See what Kelly's love have done.
: If I had listened to what my mamma said, : | (three times)
And on page 256 Odum wrote: Likewise there
is abundant material for comparing with well-known folk-songs or
ballads of other origins. One may note, for instance, the striking
similarity between the mountain-song —
"She broke the heart of many poor fellows,
But she won't break this of mine" —
and the negro song " Kelly's Love," the chorus of which is,
"You broke de heart o' many a girl,
But you never will break dis heart o' mine."
Mentioned in 1915 in a transcription by E.C. Perrow in The Journal of American Folk-Lore, as "Careless Love", with a notation "From Mississippi; country whites; MS of R. J. Slay; 1909."
In volume 28 - April/June 1915 - no 108 of the Journal of American Folk-Lore transcription it is song # 3 on page 147.
As "Kelly's" and "Careless" have similar sounds, one is probably a corruption of the other; but which came first is not known.
In the book "Creating Jazz Counterpoint: New Orleans, Barbershop Harmony, and the Blues", there are also a few notes about the history of "Careless Love"
Antoine Domino(v/p), Dave Bartholomew(tp), Joe Harris)as), Clarence Hall(ts), Herbert Hardesty(ts), Alvin "Red" Tyler(bs), Ernest McLean(g), Frank Fields(b), Earl Palmer(d)
(c) Ma Rainey And Her Georgia Band (1928) (as "Blues Oh Blues")
Shirley Clay (tp) Kid Ory (tb) unknown (tu) Claude "Hop" Hopkins (p) unknown (bj) Ma Rainey (vo) unknown male talking
Recorded in Chicago, IL, circa August, 1927
Paramount 12566
Listen here:
Joshua White (1933) and Blind Willie McTell (1935) both recorded versions of "Lay Some Flowers on My Grave", which is melodically identical to "Careless Love". The lyrics are similar to "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean"
(c) Joshua White (1933) (as "Lay Some Flowers on My Grave")
Recorded November 13, 1933 in New York City
Released on Banner 32918, Conqueror 8271, Melotone m 12861, Oriole 8289, Romeo 5289
and Perfect 0264
Listen here:
(c) Blind Willie McTell (1935) (as "Lay Some Flowers On My Grave")
Recorded April 25, 1935
Released on Decca 7810
Listen here:
(c) Robert Johnson (1936) (as "Last Fair Deal Gone Down")
Recorded Novemer 27, 1936 in San Antonio, TX
Released on Vocalion 03445
Also issued on Perfect 7-04-60 (900 copies) and Oriole 7-04-60 (60 copies) in April 1937.
Papa Charlie Jackson uses the melody for his guitar-solo on "Mumsy Mumsy Blues"
Recorded February 1926 in Chicago
Released on Paramount 12366
Listen here (at 1 min and 25 sec YT below)
NOTE: musically speaking "Loveless Love" / "Careless Love" has also a little resemblance to "Fare Thee, Honey, Fare Thee Well" / "I'll See You In The Spring, When The Birds Begin To Sing".
