View source for The Yellow Rose of Texas (song)

"'''The Yellow Rose of Texas'''" is a traditional [[American folk music|American folk song]] dating back to at least the 1850s. Members of the [[Western Writers of America]] chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.<ref name="Top100">{{Cite web|title=The Top 100 Western Songs |author=Western Writers of America |year=2010|authorlink=Western Writers of America |publisher=American Cowboy|url=http://www.americancowboy.com/culture/top-100-western-songs|archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6RjFQXqGy|archivedate=10 August 2014|deadurl=yes}}</ref> Several versions of the song have been recorded, including by [[Elvis Presley]], [[Willie Nelson]]<ref>{{cite website|url=http://stillisstillmoving.com/willienelson/willie-nelson-sings-on-jimmy-sturrs-greatest-hits-of-polka/|title=Willie Nelson sings on Jimmy Sturr’s ‘Greatest Hits of Polka’}}</ref> and [[Mitch Miller]].

==Origin==
The earliest known version is found in ''Christy's Plantation Melodies. No. 2'', a songbook published under the authority of [[Edwin Pearce Christy]] in Philadelphia in 1853. Christy was the founder of the [[blackface]] [[minstrel show]] known as the [[Christy's Minstrels]]. Like most minstrel songs, the lyrics are written in a cross between the dialect historically spoken by [[African American Vernacular English|African-Americans]] and standard [[American English]]. The song is written in the [[First-person narrative|first person]] from the perspective of an African-American singer who refers to himself as a "[[List of ethnic slurs#D|darkey]]," longing to return to "a yellow girl," a [[High yellow|term]] used to describe a light-skinned bi-racial woman born of African-American and white progenitors.<ref name="TSHA Handbook">{{Citation| last =Dunn| first =Jeffrey D| author-link =| last2 =Lutzweiler| first2 =James| author2-link =| title ="YELLOW ROSE OF TEXAS," Handbook of Texas Online| place = University of Texas at Austin| publisher =Texas State Historical Association| origyear =2010| year =2014| url =http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/xey01}}</ref> <!-- The song is an homage to [[Emily D. West]], an indentured servant who was mistress to Mexican President [[Antonio López de Santa Anna]] during the [[Texas Revolution]], and her service in support of the rebel Texans. -->

The soundtrack to the TV miniseries ''[[James A. Michener's Texas]]'' dates a version of the song to June 2, 1933 and co-credits both the authorship and performance to [[Gene Autry]] and Jimmy Long.<!-- Not "Jimmy D. Long", the Louisiana politician. -->  [[Don George]] reworked the original version of the song, which [[Mitch Miller]] made into a popular recording in [[1955 in music|1955]] that knocked [[Bill Haley]]'s "[[Rock Around the Clock|(We're Gonna) Rock Around The Clock]]" from the top of the Best Sellers chart in the U.S.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.steynonline.com/content/view/2414/28/|title=SteynOnline|work=steynonline.com}}</ref>  Miller's version was featured in the motion picture ''[[Giant (1956 film)|Giant]]'', and reached #1 on the U.S. pop chart the same week ''Giant'' star [[James Dean]] died.  [[Stan Freberg]] had a simultaneous hit of a [[parody]] version in which the bandleader warred with the snare drummer, [[Alvin Stoller]], who also featured prominently in Miller's arrangement. ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' ranked Miller's version as the No. 3 song of 1955.<ref>[[Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1955]]</ref>

==Lyrics==
Earliest known version, from Christy's Plantation Melodies. No. 2:
{{poemquote|There's a yellow girl in Texas
That I'm going down to see
No other darkies know her
No darkey, only me
She cried so when I left her
That it [[Texan English#like't'a|like to]] broke my heart,
And if I only find her
we never more will part

Chorus:

She's the sweetest girl of colour
That this darkey ever knew
Her eyes are bright as diamonds
And sparkle like the dew
You may talk about your Dearest Mae
And sing of Rosa Lee
But the yellow Rose of Texas
Beats the belles of Tennessee

Where the Rio Grande is flowing
And the starry skies are bright
Oh, she walks along the river
In the quiet summer night
And she thinks if I remember
When we parted long ago
I promised to come back again
And not to leave her so

[Repeat chorus]

Oh, I'm going now to find her
For my heart is full of woe
And we'll sing the songs together
That we sang so long ago
We'll play the banjo gaily
And we'll sing our sorrows o'er
And the yellow Rose of Texas
shall be mine forever more

[Chorus]}}
The "Dearest Mae" and "Rosa Lee" referenced in the song are the titles of two other songs also appearing in Christy's Minstrels songbooks.<ref name="TSHA Handbook"/>

Twenty-five years later, the lyrics were changed to eliminate the more racially specific lyrics, with "soldier" replacing "darkey"; and the first line of the chorus, "She's the sweetest rose of color" (a reference to the [[free people of color|African-European free people of color]]) changed to "She's the sweetest little flower ..."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tamu.edu/faculty/ccbn/dewitt/adp/archives/yellowrose/yrlyrics.html|title=The Yellow Rose of Texas Song Lyrics|work=tamu.edu}}</ref>

"Dearest Mae" is replaced with "Clementine" in some variant versions of the song.

==Civil War song==
This song became popular among [[Confederate Army|Confederate]] soldiers in the [[Texas Brigade]] during the [[American Civil War]]; upon taking command of the [[Army of Tennessee]] in July 1864, General [[John Bell Hood]] introduced it as a marching song.<ref name="Lanning">Lanning, Michael Lee. ''Civil War 100: The Stories Behind the Most Influential Battles, People and Events in the War between the States''. Sourcebooks, Incorporated 2006. {{ISBN|978-1-4022-1040-2}} p. 306.</ref> The final verse and chorus were slightly altered by the remains of Hood's force after their crushing defeat at the [[Battle of Nashville]] that December:

(Last verse)
{{poemquote|And now I'm going southward, for my heart is full of woe
I'm going back to Georgia, to find my Uncle Joe
You may talk about your Beauregard, and sing of Bobby Lee
But the gallant Hood of Texas he played hell in Tennessee}}

The modified lyrics reference famous Confederate military commanders [[Joseph E. Johnston|Joseph Johnston]], [[P. G. T. Beauregard]], and [[Robert E. Lee]]. Texan veterans sang it openly to mock Hood's mishandling of their Nashville campaign.<ref name="Walker">Walker, Gary C. ''The War in Southwest Virginia 1861-65''. A&W Enterprise 1985. {{ISBN|0-9617896-9-7}} p. 130.</ref>

In this version of the chorus, "soldier" replaced "darkey." The same substitution is made throughout the song.

==Popular hit==
In September 1955, for six weeks, [[Mitch Miller]] had a [[Billboard (magazine)|''Billboard'']] [[List of Billboard number-one singles of 1955|number one hit]] with "The Yellow Rose of Texas",<ref>{{cite book|last1=Whitburn|first1=John|title=Top 40 Hits 1955 to present|date=1983|publisher=Billboard Publications, Inc|location=New York|isbn=0851122450|page=188}}</ref> and 13 months later, Miller's hit version was used for a key scene in the 1956 Texas-based film ''[[Giant (1956 film)|Giant]]''. Miller's lyrics used "rosebud" and no words - except the term "yellow" - to indicate either Rose or the singer was a person of color.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/mitch_miller/the_yellow_rose_of_texas.html|title=MITCH MILLER lyrics - The Yellow Rose Of Texas|work=oldielyrics.com}}</ref> The 1955 song became a [[Music recording sales certification|gold record]]. The song achieved the #2 position in the UK and the #1 position in Australia.

==Other versions==
* [[Bing Crosby]] recorded the song in 1955<ref>{{cite web|title=A Bing Crosby Discography|url=http://www.bingmagazine.co.uk/bingmagazine/CBS.html |website=BING magazine|publisher=International Club Crosby|accessdate=December 10, 2017}}</ref> for use on his [[The Bing Crosby Show (1954–1956)|radio show]] and it was subsequently included in the CD ''So Rare: Treasures from the Crosby Archive'' (2010).<ref>{{cite web|title=allmusic.com|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/so-rare-treasures-from-the-crosby-archive-mw0001987154|website=allmusic.com|accessdate=December 10, 2017}}</ref> 
* [[Gene Autry]] & Jimmy Long - recorded for Melotone Records on March 1, 1933, catalog No. 12700.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Online Discographical Project|url=http://www.78discography.com/Mel12500.htm|website=78discography.com|accessdate=December 10, 2017}}</ref>
* [[Mantovani]] (1959)
* [[Michael Holliday]] - a single release in 1955.<ref>{{cite web|title=45worlds.com|url=http://www.45worlds.com/78rpm/record/db3657|website=45worlds.com|accessdate=December 10, 2017}}</ref>
* [[Pat Boone]] (1961)
* [[Ronnie Hilton]] - this reached the No. 15 spot in the UK charts in 1955. <ref>{{cite book|title=British Hit Singles & Albums|date=2004|publisher=Guinness World Records|location=London|isbn=1-904994-00-8|page=235}}</ref>
* [[Roy Rogers]] (1942)

==Nursery rhyme==
There is also a children’s text, following the same tune, with different lyrics:{{citation needed|date=May 2014}}

{{poemquote|The Yellow Rose of Texas
And (the) Man of Laramie
Invited Davy Crockett
(oh) to have a cup of tea

(oh) The tea was so delicious
They had another cup
And poor old Davy Crockett
Had to do the washing up}}

=="The Yellow Rose"==
{{Main|The Yellow Rose (song)}}
In 1984, [[country music]] artists [[Johnny Lee (singer)|Johnny Lee]] and [[Lane Brody]] recorded a song called "The Yellow Rose," which retained the original melody of "The Yellow Rose of Texas" but with new lyrics, for the title theme to a TV series also entitled ''[[The Yellow Rose]].'' It was a Number One country hit that year.<ref>{{cite book|last=Whitburn|first=Joel|title=The Billboard Book of Top 40 Country Hits|publisher=Billboard Books|page=54}}</ref>

==In literature==
The Yellow Rose of Texas is discussed in the 2017 novel <i>Never Split Tens</i> by [[Les Golden]] of Oak Park, Illinois, published by Springer Nature.

==See also==
* [[High yellow]]
* [[Emily D. West]]
* ''[[The Yellow Rose]]'' 

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
*[http://www.amaranthpublishing.com/The%20Yellow%20Rose%20Of%20Texas.mp3 MP3 file] at [http://www.amaranthpublishing.com/yellow.htm Yellow Rose of Texas] from amaranthpublishing.com
*[http://www.lsjunction.com/midi/yellowr.mid MIDI file] and [http://www.lsjunction.com/midi/lyrics2.htm#yell lyrics] from [http://www.lsjunction.com/midi/songs.htm Songs of Texas] at Lone Star Junction: A Texas and Texas History Resource


[[Category:American folk songs]]
[[Category:Western music (North America)]]
[[Category:Number-one singles in Australia]]
[[Category:Number-one singles in the United States]]
[[Category:Songs of the American Civil War]]
[[Category:1955 singles]]
[[Category:Texas culture]]
[[Category:Songs about Texas]]
[[Category:Ernest Tubb songs]]
[[Category:1958 songs]]
[[Category:Elvis Presley songs]]