I'll Twine Mid the Ringlets aka Wildwood Flower Linda and Robin Williams

[@mystical1701]

Beautifully done! Really enjoyed hearing the correct lyrics of the song.

[@joliesletters1384]

The most beautiful arrangement I've heard ! COngratulations.

[@Bramicus]

Maybelle Carter got the song from her grandmother. She knew that she couldn't remember all the words correctly but she put together whatever lyrics she could in order to sing the song. As she once said in an interview, "My grandmother knew Wildwood Flower and I believe-and one time or another I think some of the words have kind of gotten mixed up till-they are supposed to have been something else or they got-because they don't make too much sense in a few places, you know, in the song." Here is a link to a research piece about "Maud Irving" who wrote the lyrics to the original song "I'll Twine 'Mid the Ringlets." The research includes a link to the 1860 sheet music with the actual original lyrics. I always sing the third verse last. www.ergo-sum.net/music/MaudIrving.html

[@leaaugusta9924]

Thank you for the link! I truly love this song but the lyrics have always bothered me.

[@goldencountry]

Thanks for sharing. I love the Wildwood Flower but wanted to hear the original lyrics and arrangement.

[@mssmssmssmss]

Beautiful!

[@ReverendNillerz]

The Carter Family lyrics made sense to me before I thought about it. "I'll twine with my mingles and waving black hair, with the roses so red and the lilies so fair" meant "I'll stretch out my messy curls and waving black hair with the roses and the lillies" Why? Well, it sounded to me like "Twining" means "Stretching out and playing with your hair like it were twine", and "Mingles" just naturally seems like where your hair, y'know... Mingles. "And the myrtle so bright with the emerald dew" I thought meant like, "white myrtle flowers with leaves covered in dew" "The pale amanita and eyes look like blue", I thought this was her saying that her eyes were blue, and she'd be doing all the above with some flower that I guess is called an Amanita (I'm no florist). So basically, the way my brain interpreted the Carter Family lyrics was, "I will go out and play with my black curly hair with roses and lilies and myrtle in the morning, and I'm taking my blue eyes with me" This isn't that far off from the original lyrics, in essence. Sue me.

[@samwheelock2469]

Very nice treatment of the 1860s Maud Irving and Joseph Webster composition.

[@PHJimY]

Lovely version...and at last it makes sense. Who is the wonderful mandolin player?

[@karensteudler1542]

THANK YOU SO MUCH

[@egalitarianist]

Composed 1860 by Joseph P. Webster to words by Maud Irving (probably a pseudonym). Webster composed many other popular songs and hymns around the time of the U.S. Civil War - including "Lorena" and "In the Sweet By and By". This is a really nice performance.

[@rjcadmin]

Nice, did you call this a "counter-ballad"?

[@grannyleona1]

THANK YOU!!!!! All these years that everybody has worshipped the Carter Family, I have literally hated the song that most of all showed Mother Maybelle's stupidity!!

[@travisbixby3095]

Leona, I just don't know. One of her daughters married Johnny Cash, who took real good care of MMC. That ain't stupid. Are you an arrogant arse?

[@grannyleona1]

+Travis Bixby So it's okay for the singer to say that the lyrics made no sense, but it's not okay for me to put in in clearer language? Have you ever read about all the copyrights that A.P. Carter stole, or the radio station in Mexico where he illegally blasted his "music" all over the U.S. against the laws here? He was a music thief, in addition to Mother Maybelle ruining this particular song. The only member of the family that could actually sing was Helen.

[@RyanCassidy]

Nice, did you call this a "counter-ballad"?