The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (song)

"The Trail of the Lonesome Pine"
Sheet music cover, 1913
Song
LanguageEnglish
Published1913
Songwriter(s)Composer: Harry Carroll
Lyricist: Ballard MacDonald

"The Trail of the Lonesome Pine" is a popular song published in 1913, with lyrics by Ballard MacDonald and music by Harry Carroll. It was inspired by John Fox Jr.'s 1908 novel of the same title, but whereas the novel was set in the Cumberland Mountains of Kentucky, the song refers to the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. In it, the singer expresses his love for his girl, June, who is waiting for him under the titular pine tree.[1] It was performed by Laurel and Hardy in the 1937 film Way Out West. This version became a UK Singles Chart hit in 1975, some years after both actors had died.[2]

History

It was recorded by Henry Burr and Albert Campbell on March 4, 1913, and was successful in America.[3][4] Elsie Baker and James F. Harrison's version also sold well in the same year.[1][4]

The song was featured in Laurel and Hardy's 1937 film Way Out West. It was performed by Laurel and Hardy[5] with The Avalon Boys and featured a section sung in deep bass by Chill Wills, lip-synced by Stan Laurel in the film,[6] with the last two lines in falsetto (sung by Rosina Lawrence) after Ollie hit Stan on the head with a mallet.[7] This stage routine was performed by actors Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly as part of the 2019 biographical film Stan & Ollie. In 1975, at a time when Laurel and Hardy films were popular on British television, the UK branch of United Artists Records produced an album of dialogue and songs, Laurel & Hardy – The Golden Age Of Hollywood Comedy, which included "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine". The song was released as a single and reached No. 2 in the UK Singles Chart, thanks largely to being championed by disc jockey John Peel on his Radio 1 evening show.[6][8] The song was also recorded by Vivian Stanshall and (as "Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia") by Tokyo Blade.

The song is featured in the stage play The Trail Of The Lonesome Pine, and is played during the opening credits of the 1936 film adaptation.

"The Trail of the Lonesome Pine" was the favorite song of Gertrude Stein.[9]

The song's melody and chorus has also been used for an American square dance in the "singing square" style, in which the dance caller's instructions are fitted to the melody and the dancers sometimes sing along on the chorus as they return to place at the end of each repetition of the group dance figure. [10]

Lyrics

The Trail of the Lonesome Pine
Albert Campbell and Henry Burr (1913)
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Verse 1

On a mountain in Virginia
Stands a lonesome pine
Just below is the cabin home
Of a little girl of mine
Her name is June, and very, very soon
She’ll belong to me
For I know she’s waiting there for me
‘Neath that lone pine tree

Chorus

In the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia
On the trail of the lonesome pine
In the pale moonshine our hearts entwine
Where she carved her name and I carved mine
Oh, June, like the mountains I’m blue
Like the pine I am lonesome for you
In the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia
On the trail of the lonesome pine

Verse 2

I can hear the tinkling waterfall
Far among the hills
Bluebirds sing each so merrily
To his mate in rapture trills
They seem to say, “Your June is lonesome, too”
Longing fills her eyes
She is waiting for you patiently
Where the pine tree sighs[11]

References

  1. ^ a b Tyler, Don (2007). Hit Songs, 1900-1955: American Popular Music of the Pre-Rock Era. McFarland. pp. 64–5. ISBN 9780786429462. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  2. ^ Gehring, Wes D. (1990). Laurel & Hardy : a bio-bibliography. New York: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-25172-X. OCLC 20694240.
  3. ^ "Columbia matrix 38672. The trail of the lonesome pine / Henry Burr; Albert Campbell". Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  4. ^ a b Cusic, Don (2011). The Cowboy in Country Music: An Historical Survey with Artist Profiles. McFarland. p. 234. ISBN 9780786463145. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  5. ^ Glancey, Jonathan (2011-11-28). "My favourite film: Way Out West". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
  6. ^ a b Warner, Alan. "Two movie clowns who sang about 'The Blue Ridge Mountains Of Virginia'!". Wizwas.com. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  7. ^ Gehring, Wes D. (2007). Film Clowns of the Depression: Twelve Defining Comic Performances. MacFarland. pp. 157–8. ISBN 978-0786483525. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
  8. ^ "Single Picks" (PDF). Record World. January 24, 1976. p. 12. Retrieved 2023-03-08.
  9. ^ Wells, Amy (2017). "Modernist Shepherdess: Gertrude Stein's Pastoral Sounds". E-rea - Revue électronique d'études sur le monde anglophone. 14 (2). doi:10.4000/erea.5692.
  10. ^ ""Trail of the Lonesome Pine - Don & Marie Armstrong"". Squaredancehistory.org. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
  11. ^ "Trail of the Lonesome Pine". Greatest American Songbook. 2018-06-19. Retrieved 2022-03-11.

Bibliography