"The Yellow Rose of Texas" is a traditional American folk song dating back to at least the 1850s. Members of the

Western Writers of America Western Writers of America (WWA), founded 1953, promotes literature, both fictional and nonfictional, pertaining to the American West. Although its founders wrote traditional Western fiction, the more than 600 current members also include historia ...

chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time. Several versions of the song have been recorded, including by

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album ''Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of '' Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and ''Stardust'' (1978 ...

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 Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-Black people, Black people to portray a caricature of a Black person. In the United States, the practice became common during the 19th century and contributed to the spread of ...

minstrel show The minstrel show, also called minstrelsy, was an American form of racist theatrical entertainment developed in the early 19th century. Each show consisted of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music performances that depicted people spe ...

known as the Christy's Minstrels. Like most minstrel songs, the lyrics are written in a cross between a parody of a generic creole dialect historically attributed to

African-Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

and standard

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the most widely spoken language in the United States and in most circumstances ...

. The song is written in the

first person First person or first-person may refer to: * First person (ethnic), indigenous peoples, usually used in the plural * First person, a grammatical person * First person, a gender-neutral, marital-neutral term for titles such as first lady and first ...

from the perspective of an African-American singer who refers to himself as a " darkey," longing to return to "a yellow girl" (that is, a light-skinned, or bi-racial woman born of African/African-American and European-American progenitors). 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 Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American singer, songwriter, actor, musician, rodeo performer, and baseball owner who gained fame largely by singing in a crooning s ...

and Jimmy Long. Don George reworked the original version of the song, which Mitch Miller made into a popular recording in 1955 that knocked

Bill Haley & His Comets Bill Haley & His Comets were an American rock and roll band founded in 1947 that continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band was also known as Bill Haley and the Comets and Bill Haley's Comets. From late 1954 to late 1956, the group record ...

' " Rock Around The Clock" from the top of the Best Sellers chart in the U.S. Miller's version was featured in the 1956 motion picture ''

Giant In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: '' gigas'', cognate giga-) are beings of human-like appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''giant'' is first attested in 1297 fr ...

'', and reached #1 on the U.S. pop chart the same week ''Giant'' star

James Dean James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931September 30, 1955) was an American actor. He is remembered as a cultural icon of teenage disillusionment and social estrangement, as expressed in the title of his most celebrated film, ''Rebel Without a Cause' ...

died.

Stan Freberg Stan Freberg (born Stanley Friberg; August 7, 1926 – April 7, 2015) was an American actor, author, comedian, musician, radio personality, puppeteer and advertising creative director. His best-known works include "St. George and the Dragonet", ...

had a simultaneous hit of a

parody A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its su ...

version in which the bandleader warred with the snare drummer, Alvin Stoller, who also featured prominently in Miller's arrangement. ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' ranked Miller's version as the No. 3 song of 1955.

Lyrics

Earliest known version, from Christy's Plantation Melodies. No. 2:

Civil War use of the song

This song became popular among Confederate soldiers in the Texas Brigade during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...

; upon taking command of the

Army of Tennessee The Army of Tennessee was the principal Confederate army operating between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River during the American Civil War. It was formed in late 1862 and fought until the end of the war in 1865, participating in ...

in July 1864, General

John Bell Hood John Bell Hood (June 1 or June 29, 1831 – August 30, 1879) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War. Although brave, Hood's impetuosity led to high losses among his troops as he moved up in rank. Bruce Catton wrote that "the de ...

introduced it as a marching song.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. p. 306. The final verse and chorus were slightly altered by the remains of Hood's force after their crushing defeat at the

Battle of Nashville The Battle of Nashville was a two-day battle in the Franklin-Nashville Campaign that represented the end of large-scale fighting west of the coastal states in the American Civil War. It was fought at Nashville, Tennessee, on December 15–16, 18 ...

that December: (Last verse) The modified lyrics reference famous Confederate military commanders Joseph Johnston, P.G.T. Beauregard, and

Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, towards the end of which he was appointed the overall commander of the Confederate States Army. He led the Army of Nort ...

. Texan veterans sang it openly to mock Hood's mishandling of their Nashville campaign.Walker, Gary C. ''The War in Southwest Virginia 1861-65''. A&W Enterprise 1985. p. 130. In this version of the chorus, "soldier" replaced "darkey." The same substitution is made throughout the song. The song was very popular with not only Texan troops but other infantry units in the west such as Louisiana and Arkansas.

Gene Autry and Jimmy Long version

Gene Autry first recorded this song on January 27, 1933, at Victor Studios, without supporting musicians. On March 1, he and Jimmy Long recorded the better-known version for American Record Corporation (ARC). This was released in June 1933 on Melotone, Perfect and several other dime store labels distributed by ARC. His version started with "There's a yellow rose in Texas, I'm going back to see, no other fellow knows her, nobody else but me." On March 10, Autry filed a copyright not for lyrics, but for his arrangement and melody. Whether the copyright was good is unknown, Gene knew all the tricks of the trade, and he learned how to squeeze every dime out of his creative efforts. He made a small fortune from songwriting and publishing over the years (600 songs), and in 1961 he bought a major league baseball team.

Popular hit

In September 1955, for six weeks, Mitch Miller had a ''Billboard'' number one hit with "The Yellow Rose of Texas", and 13 months later, Miller's hit version was used for a key scene in the 1956 Texas-based film ''

''. Miller's lyrics used "rosebud" and no words - except the term "yellow" - to indicate either Rose or the singer was a person of color. The 1955 song became a

gold record Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile meta ...

. The song achieved the #2 position in the UK and the #1 position in Australia. In 1955

issued a parody version of the song which sees him battle against an over-enthusiastic

snare drum The snare (or side drum) is a percussion instrument that produces a sharp staccato sound when the head is struck with a drum stick, due to the use of a series of stiff wires held under tension against the lower skin. Snare drums are often used i ...

mer.

The Yellow Rose

In 1984,

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, o ...

artists Johnny Lee and Lane Brody recorded a song titled "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 titled '' The Yellow Rose.'' It was a number one country hit that year.

Other versions

Dacosta Woltz's Southern Broadcasters DaCosta Woltz was an American old time banjo player from Galax, Virginia. His band, DaCosta Woltz's Southern Broadcasters played Appalachian old-time string band and square dance music and recorded in the late 1920s. Ben Jarrell, of Surry County, ...

, Gennet - 6143 (1927) *

Dario Moreno Dario is a masculine given name, etymologically related to Darius. Given name *Dario Allevi (born 1965), Italian politician *Dario Argento (born 1940), Italian film director *Dario Badinelli (born 1946), Italian triple jumper *Dario Bellezza (19 ...

& Jimmy Long - recorded for Melotone Records on March 1, 1933, catalog No. 12700 * Roy Rogers (1942) *

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...

recorded the song in 1955 for use on his

radio show A radio program, radio programme, or radio show is a segment of content intended for broadcast on radio. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series. A single program in a series is called an episode. Radio netwo ...

and it was subsequently included in the CD ''So Rare: Treasures from the Crosby Archive'' (2010) * Ronnie Hilton - this reached the No. 15 spot in the UK charts in 1955. * Michael Holliday - a single release in 1955. * Mantovani (1959) * Pat Boone (1961) * Hoyt Axton (1991) on "Songs of the Civil War" CD (Columbia) * Kidsongs (1997) * Waldemar Matuška

References

External links

*
''The Yellow Rose of Texas''
sheet music at the

International Music Score Library Project The International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP), also known as the Petrucci Music Library after publisher Ottaviano Petrucci, is a subscription-based digital library of public-domain music scores. The project, which uses MediaWiki softwar ...

MP3 file
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from amaranthpublishing.com
MIDI file
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at Lone Star Junction: A Texas and Texas History Resource * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Yellow Rose Of Texas, The 1858 songs 1933 singles 1955 singles American folk songs Western music (North America) Number-one singles in Australia Number-one singles in the United States Texas culture Songs about Texas John Bell Hood Ernest Tubb songs Elvis Presley songs Songs of the American Civil War Songwriter unknown Year of song unknown