"Wildwood Flower," of course. The tune would have made Bach proud, the story is classic, and the diction and metaphor absolutely perfect: "You've gone and neglected your pale wildwood flower." "Single Girl, Married Girl," which I can never hear without tearing up (or coming very close -- depends on my mood). No one has ever written a lyric that is more succinct or more straightforward: "Single girl, single girl, she goes to the store and buys,/ Married girl, married girl, she rocks the cradle and cries." "Keep on the Sunny Side," which is perfectly cheerful until it goes all faux-religious in the last verse. If, on the other hand, you're looking for heartfelt religion, there's "No Hiding Place Down Here," which was later and better realized by Dorothy Love Coates and the Gospel Harmonettes. And also the very wistful and lovely "Oh, I'm thinking tonight of my blue eyes/ Who is sailing far over the sea/ I'm thinking tonight of my blue eyes/ And I wonder if he ever thinks of me." But my favorite, nowadays, is, "Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone." The lyrics are Victorian/goopy, written (by A. P.) in a highly artificial off-the-wall literary and poetical style -- but yet, when accompanied by guitar and autoharp, and song by Mother Maybelle, against all odds it comes out quintessentially beautiful. "Will You Miss Me" taps into the common fantasy of observing our own funeral. Her'e's the lyric: Stanza 1: "When death shall close these eyelids,/ And this heart shall cease to beat,/And they lay me down to rest/ In some ?flowery ?boundary ?tree (the words are unintelligible). (2) Perhaps you'll plant a flower/ By my poor unworthy grave;/ Come and sit along beside me/ Where the roses nod and wave. (3) One sweet thought my soul shall cherish/When this fleeting life has flown/ This sweet thought will cheer when dying/ Will you miss me when I'm gone? (4) When these lips shall never more/Press a kiss upon my brow,/ But lie cold and still in death/ Will you miss me then as now?" Chorus (after every stanza): "Will you miss me,/ Will you miss me when I'm gone?" In its lugubriousitude, "Will You Miss me" is very like the great Londonderry air, "Danny Boy."
There's something luxurious about a good gloomy wallow.
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