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Hi, Excellent jam last night! The song of the week is 'Wildwood Flower' in the key of C. The chord progression for 'Wildwood Flower' is: 11511 11511 1141 11511 In the key of C: 1=C, 4=F, 5=G Notice that the 1st, 2nd, and 4th lines of the progression are each 5 measures long. This song has lyrics, but more often than not, it is played as an instrumental at bluegrass jams, and that is how I intend on playing it while it is the song of the week. When played as an instrumental at a bluegrass jam, Wildwood Flower is most often played either in the key of C or the key of G, with guitar players tending to prefer C and banjo players tending to prefer G. When Wildwood Flower is sung at a jam, one can expect it to be played in any of the 8 standard bluegrass keys: G, A, Bb, B, C, D, E, or F. Because the melody of the song has an unusually wide range (it spans an interval of a major 10th: that is, one whole octave plus a third of an octave), one may find it difficult to find a key that one can comfortably sing the song in, and once one has identified a comfortable key to sing it in, one may discover that that is the only key that one feels comfortable singing the song in. Most people I have heard sing Wildwood Flower use the same set of lyrics that the Carter Family recorded back in the 20's, but some of the lines in their set of lyrics make little sense; so, for those who would prefer to sing a set of lyrics that make more sense, here is an older set of lyrics for the song: I'll twine 'mid the ringlets Of my raven black hair, The lilies so pale And the roses so fair, The myrtle so bright With an emerald hue, And the pale aronatus With eyes of bright blue. I'll sing, and I'll dance, My laugh shall be gay, I'll cease this wild weeping Drive sorrow away, Tho' my heart is now breaking, He never shall know, That his name made me tremble And my pale cheek to glow. I'll think of him never I'll be wildly gay, I'll charm ev'ry heart And the crowd I will sway, I'll live yet to see him Regret the dark hour When he won, then neglected, The frail wildwood flower. He told me he loved me, And promis'd to love, Through ill and misfortune, All others above, Another has won him, Ah! misery to tell; He left me in silence No word of farewell! He taught me to love him, He call'd me his flower That blossom'd for him All the brighter each hour; But I woke from my dreaming, My idol was clay; My visions of love Have all faded away. The Carter Family lyrics are as follows: Oh, I'll twine with my mingles and waving black hair With the roses so red and the lilies so fair And the myrtles so bright with emerald dew The pale and the leader and eyes look like blue.Oh, I'll dance, I will sing and my laugh shall be gay I will charm ev'ry heart, in his crown I will sway When I woke from my dreaming, idols were clay All portions of love then had all flown away. Oh, he taught me to love him and promised to love And to cherish me over all others above How my heart now is wond'ring misery can tell He's left me no warning, no words of farewell. Oh, he taught me to love him and called me his flow'r That was blooming to cheer him through life's dreary hour Oh, I'm longing to see him through life's dark hour He's gone and neglected this pale wildwood flower. Here are some versions of Wildwood Flower to listen to, some instrumental, and some with vocals, and in a variety of different keys: Flatt & Scruggs - key of D instrumental https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7U3pD_0yX8 Ralph Stanley - key of G instrumental https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W2gbj9m-xg The Carter Family - key of Bb: original recorded version with vocals https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExALdMXGAhQ Mother Maybelle Carter - key of F# with vocals https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE80Ed59uCY key of F: instrumental https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sf_yAp-BJ0I key of E: instrumental https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIUZVRNGs_E Happy Pickin', Jason
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