When asked why he credited his wife as co-songwriter along with Presley, Darby responded, "Because she didn't write it either." Darby also adapted the Civil War tune, which was in the public domain. The song was published by Elvis Presley Music. The song is credited to Presley and Vera Matson because of the publishing agreement reached for the assignment of royalties, but the principal writer of the lyrics was Ken Darby (Matson's husband). This amusing anecdote is also related there: The discrepancy is measured in months, weeks really. #Ken darby singers the battle cry of freedom movie#according to the wiki, ((song)) the song was indeed recorded for the movie, but released before the movie for marketing purposes - ie, to drum up business - and then the movie's name was changed to capitalize on the song's popularity. And whatever became of Debra Paget? :confused: Still, it seemed as though the screenwriter(s) had to stretch the story a bit to find a way to fit it in. I used to scratch my head and wonder why this love ballad was being used in a Civil War movie about two feudin' brothers, until I learned it was contemporary. Why share part of your royalties with the estate of a dead man, long forgotten? BTW, I think the song preceded the movie, which was thusly titled to capitalize on its popularity and that of its singer. A lot of fudging was being done at the time about songwriting credits, motivated by royalties as you mentioned (Did Alan Freed really write 1/3 of Maybellene?), so I wouldn't be too surprised if Poulton's name was left off altogether. I'll wager that the copyright for "Love Me Tender" had expired long before Elvis came along, and thus was in public domain. Doubt that you'll see Poulton's name attributed anywhere. A Wikipedia article gives lyric credit to Ken Darby, who was a backup vocalist for Bing Crosby and also worked on The Wizard of Oz. The new lyrics are attributed to Presley, but that's due to a contractual arrangement for royalty assignment. It's a beautiful and enduring melody, which is why new lyrics were written for Elvis's "slow dreamy ballad" debut in the movie that shared the song's title. I use Aura Lea in Civil War programs, and in programs of local music. Poulton died in 1867, age 38 an obituary attributed his death to "dissolute habits." Poulton, and lyricist W D Fosdick, published the song in 1861. The melody of Love Me Tender is Aura Lea, written right in my Rochester NY neck of the woods by George Poulton, expatriate Englishman, music teacher, composer, and disreputable person - one of the few American composers, I'd guess, to be tarred and feathered, and arrested for arson. But I heard that the melody of "Love Me Tender" dates to around the time of the Civli War. Sorry to get carried away a bit, but I hope this helps. A lot of the basic Foster minstrel repertoire is good period stuff as well. Girl I Left Behind Me and Garryowen were recognized marching tunes. One of the few anti-war songs that survives is Kittredge's Tenting Tonight - one of the all-time greats!ĭover Books' The Civil War Songbook has facsimile sheet music for 37 songs, and is a great source (if it's still in print - copyright 1977).Īs to tunes, a lot of the basic fiddle repertoire is good to go for the period. The Faded Coat of Blue comes from my neck of the woods, composed by John Hugh McNaughton of Caledonia NY. Kathy Barton and Dave Para have done a couple of albums of Civil War songs from Missouri, Rebel In the Woods and Johnny Whistletrigger, and they're great sources of unusual songs I got I Goes To Fight Mit Sigel from them. (His Going 'Cross the Mountains is another great song, about his grandfather's crossing into Tennessee to join the Union army.) Of course you end up with the tune being used for Battle Hymn of the Republic. Frank Proffitt, the North Carolina traditional singer, had a wonderful version. The really definitional Civ War melody is probably John Brown's Body in all its variations you can find literally dozens of sets of words. There's a great after-the-war Southern song, The Southern Girl's Reply, to the same tune. Foster's Hard Times Come Again No More was supposedly a favorite of Lincoln's and there's a great soldiers' parody, Hard Tack, Come Again No More.įrom the Rebel side, you can't go wrong with The Bonnie Blue Flag even if you don't want to sing all eleven verses (I usually make do with the first two and the last). Lots of George Root's music he was one of the premier Northern composersĪ song that's often mentioned as being sung by soldiers on both sides is Home, Sweet Home. I do a fair number of Civ War music programs here are ones I've used:
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