“Little Rosewood Casket”

Description

The singer, dying for love, asks her sister to bring her love's letters, kept in the rosewood casket. Having heard them read, she prepares to die and asks that the letters, (ring), and other tokens be buried with her

Notes

Titled by the authors, "A Package of Old Love Letters," this title seems extinct in tradition. - RBW

There are two listings under RECORDINGS for Broadway 8056; one is credited to Vernon Dalhart & Co., the other to Sid Harkreader. At this date, I do not know which is correct. - PJS

[I think it's the Harkreader, but presumably the Dalhart is an error for some other Broadway disc, so I'm leaving the reference for now until someone can sort it out. - RBW]

Cross references

• cf. "The Last Token"

Recordings

• Wilma Lee & Stoney Cooper, "The Little Rosewood Casket" (Rich-R-Tone 415, n.d. but post-WWII)
• Vernon Dalhart "The Little Rosewood Casket" (Edison 51607, 1925) (Victor 19770, 1925) (Cameo 811, 1925; Romeo 333, 1927) (Broadway 8056-D, c. 1930) (OKeh 40488 [as Tobe Little], 1925) (Herwin 75506, mid-to-late 1920s) (Banner 6044/Domino 0199, 1927; Conqueror 7175, 1928; Conqueror 7750, 1931) (Champion 15906, 1930; Champion 45076, c. 1935; rec. 1928)
• Cal Davenport & his Gang, "Little Rosewood Casket" (Vocalion 5371, 1929)
• Arthur Fields, "Little Rosewood Casket" (Radiex 02272, 1926)
• Betty Garland, "Little Rosewood Casket" (on BGarland01)
• Sid Harkreader, "There's A Little Rosewood Casket" (Broadway 8056, c. 1930)
• Lulu Jackson, "Little Rosewood Casket" (Vocalion 1278, 1929)
• Bradley Kincaid, "The Little Rosewood Casket" (Gennett 6989/Supertone 9403, 1929); (Bluebird B-5895, 1935)
• George Reneau, "Little Rosewood Casket" (Vocalion 5057/Vocalion 14997/Silvertone 3044, 1925)
• Arnold Keith Storm, "Little Rosewood Casket" (on AKStorm01)
• Ernest Thompson, "The Little Rosebud Casket" (Columbia 216-D, 1924)

References

1. Belden, p. 220, "Little Rosewood Casket" (1 text)
2. Randolph 763, "The Little Rosewood Casket" (2 texts plus a fragment, 1 tune)
3. Randolph/Cohen, pp. 507-509, "The Little Rosewood Casket" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 763A)
4. McNeil-SFB1, pp. 123-126, "Little Rosewood Casket" (2 texts)
5. BrownII 273, "Little Rosewood Casket" (3 texts plus mention of 21 others )
6. JHCoxIIB, #28A-B, pp. 185-197, "A Little Rosewood Casket" (1 text plus an excerpt, 2 tunes)
7. MHenry-Appalachians, pp. 182-183, "Little Rosewood Casket" (1 text)
8. Shellans, p. 40, "Little Rosewood Casket" (1 text, 1 tune)
9. Meredith/Anderson, pp. 261-262, "The Little Rosewood Casket" (1 text, 1 tune)
10. Spaeth-WeepMore, p. 35, "The Little Rosewood Casket" (1 text, 1 tune)
11. Darling-NAS, pp. 276-277, "Little Rosewood Casket" (1 text)
12. Silber-FSWB, p. 182, "Rosewood Casket"; p. 269, "Little Rosewood Casket" (2 texts)
13. cf. Gardner/Chickering, p. 482, "The Rosewood Casket" (source notes only)
14. DT, RSEWOOD*
15. ADDITIONAL: Fred W. Allsopp, Folklore of Romantic Arkansas, Volume II (1931), p. 206, "(The Rosewood Casket)" (1 text)
16. Roud #426
17. BI, R763