“Belle Brandon”
Description
"'Neath a tree by the margin of the woodland... There I saw the little beauty, Belle Brandon, And we met 'neath the old arbor tree." The singer tells of carving their names in a tree. Now she is dead, and "sleeps 'neath the old arbor tree."
Notes
Randolph, probably based on Spaeth's _History of Popular Music in America_, p. 130, reports the publication of a song called "Bell Brandon" in 1860 (by T. E. Garrett and Francis Woolcott), and a report that sheet music was printed in 1854. He apparently did not know if they were the same song, and I have no way of checking the matter. - RBW
Broadside LOCSinging as100900: J. Andrews dating per _Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song_ by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
Broadsides
- LOCSinging, as100900, "Belle Brandon", J. Andrews (New York), 1853-1859; also as100890, "Belle Brandon"
- NLScotland, L.C.1269(154a), "Belle Brandon, The Beauty of the Valley," Poet's Box (Glasgow?), 1865
References
- Randolph 805, "Belle Brandon" (1 text)
- Fife-Cowboy/West 48, "Belle Brandon" (1 text, 1 tune)
- Roud #7423
- BI, R805