{"id":16176,"date":"2022-06-10T10:06:26","date_gmt":"2022-06-10T10:06:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=16176"},"modified":"2022-06-10T10:06:30","modified_gmt":"2022-06-10T10:06:30","slug":"hiawatha-his-song-to-minnehaha","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/hiawatha-his-song-to-minnehaha\/","title":{"rendered":"Hiawatha: His song to Minnehaha"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>Song to Minnehaha<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1903<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>James O'Dea \/ Neil Moret<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN18960<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>The Two Bees<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Spann, Mrs SR; USA : Florida; 1940<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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From original sheet music:<\/strong>\n\nOh the moon is all agleam on the stream\r\nWhere I dream here of you my pretty Indian maid.\r\nWhile the rustling leaves are singing high above us overhead\r\nIn the glory of the bright summer night\r\nIn light of the shadows of the forest glade\r\nI am waiting here to kiss your lips so red.\r\nThere's a flood of melodies on the breeze\r\nFrom the trees and of you they breathe so tenderly\r\nWhile the woodlands all around are resounding your name,\r\nOh my all in life is you only you\r\nFond and true and your own forevermore I'll be.\r\nHear then the song I sing with lips aflame.\r\n\r\nI am your own your Hiawatha brave\nMy heart is yours, you know\r\nDear one I love you so\r\nOh Minnehaha gentle maid decide \nDecide and you'll be,\r\nMy Indian bride.<\/em>\r\n\r\nIn the tresses of your hair, lies a snare and it's there\r\nWhere my heart a willing captive is.\r\nOh my woodland queen I pray you'll hold it ever in your care\r\nIn my little birch canoe love with you\r\nJust we two down the stream of life in wedded bliss\r\nI would drift sweetheart with you my lot to share.\r\nWhen the birds upon the wing in the spring\r\nGaily sing of the green and golden summer time\r\nWhen the snows of early winter robe the woodlands in white,\r\nThen your Hiawatha free I will be\r\nAnd to thee ev'ry thought of mine will o'er incline.\r\nHeed then the vows I pledge to thee this night.\r\n<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
An early 20th century stage song, extremely popular throughout the English-speaking world. It was collected once from the singing of a traditional singer in Florida, Mrs SR Spann<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The song was sung on the British music hall stage by a duo known as The Two Bees – this extract from a contemporary review gives a flavour of their performance:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The star turn is the performance of The Two Bees (Harry and Flora Blake) well-known Aberdeen favourites, who appear for the first time the first time in this city with their latest success “Hiawatha.”  The performance is  beautiful, both in its scenic effects , and in the words of the love song which Hiawatha sings to the Indian maid Minnehaha. The curtain goes up revealing an Indian camp with the maid sitting by the campfire. The moon shines on the waters of the lake across which in the distance Hiawatha is seen paddling his canoe . He lands on the shore and by the tent door sings his love song to Minnehaha to the accompaniment of the music of the birds in the trees. It is a beautiful performance and delighted the large audience who insisted upon a repeat.<\/p>Aberdeen Press and Journal, 8 Mar 1904<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
The tune was written by Charles K Daniels and was first performed in 1901 in the US as “In Hiawatha: A Summer Idyll” by John Phillip Sousa<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The \u201cHiawatha\u201d here was …. the name of a small town in Kansas. Daniels\u2019s girlfriend lived in Hiawatha, and the rhythm of his piano piece was supposed to capture the rolling wheels of the train that often took him to that idyllic town. Daniels…published the \u201cidyll\u201d with his own music company in St. Louis under the pseudonym \u201cNeil Moret.\u201d In 1903 publisher Jerome Remick of Whitney-Warner in Detroit bought Daniels\u2019s tune for a reputed $10,000 …. Remick thought an Indian subject would sell more copies, so he asked 21 year-old James O\u2019Dea, fresh from his success with The Wizard of Oz, to add lyrics. <\/p>
\u201cHiawatha (His Song to Minnehaha)\u201d was sung in March 1903 in Show Girl, [a] revue at the Detroit Opera House, and with the assistance of a Victor recording sung by Harry Macdonough, it proved an instant sensation. Even a reviewer in London wrote that \u201cthe bands here play it, the boys whistle it, hand organs grind it out, and the hawkers of pirated music sell it on the street.\u201d <\/p>Michael Pisani, Imagining native America in music  (2006) p249<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
The Harry MacDonough recording:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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