{"id":20446,"date":"2023-05-10T11:21:10","date_gmt":"2023-05-10T11:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=20446"},"modified":"2023-05-10T13:46:49","modified_gmt":"2023-05-10T13:46:49","slug":"theres-a-long-long-trail","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/theres-a-long-long-trail\/","title":{"rendered":"Theres a long long trail"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>There’s a long, long trail a-winding<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1914<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>Stoddard King \/ Zo Elliott<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN23525<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Ada Reeve<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Copper, Jim; England : Sussex ; 1936
Pardon, Walter; England : Norfolk ; 1974
Gavan, Loy; Canada : Quebec; 1978
Hart, Bob; England : Suffolk ;1975-78
Kane, Alice; Northern Ireland : Belfast no date
Modern Performances:<\/strong>
New Victory Band, A Harp and a Monkey<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Nights are growing very lonely, days are very long\nI'm a-growing very weary only listening for your song\nOld remembrances are thronging through my memory\nThronging till it seems the world is full of dreams\nJust to call you back to me.\n\nThere's a long, long trail a-winding\nInto the land of my dreams\nWhere the nightingales are singing\nAnd a white moon beams\nThere's a long, long night of waiting\nUntil all my dreams come true\nTill the day when I'll be going down\nThat long, long trail with you.<\/em>\n\nAll night long I hear you calling, calling sweet and low\nSeem to hear your footsteps falling everywhere I go\nThough the road between us stretches many a weary mile\nSomehow I forget that you're not with me yet\nWhen I think I see your smile.\n\n\n<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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A sentimental song extremely popular throughout the English-speaking world during World War I. Millions of people fearing for their loved ones found solace in the words and music. In the British Halls it was popularised by Ada Reeve<\/a>, but it was also sung and recorded by John McCormack. It was written by two young American men while still students at Yale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The power of the song and its persistent popularity is reflected in the dozens of versions that have been recorded, including ones by Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby, The Sons of the Pioneers, and characters in the comedy TV series M*A*S*H<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
There’s a long long trail<\/em> has been collected from traditional singers in Canada, England and Ireland and was widely sung by troops from English-speaking countries in World War I. Given its popularity there are many parodies, for example There is a long long worm a-crawling<\/em> in the Prairie Home Companion Folksong Book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Three contrasting versions!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A 1915 recording by James Reed and J. F. Harrison, with Bamforth postcards:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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