tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1875980412212682099.post2481799110307071366..comments2024-03-19T19:34:23.525-07:00Comments on Comparative Video 101: A Whimsical Woody Waltz: Guthrie &"Those Brown Eyes"Jim Moranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14198555155411979643noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1875980412212682099.post-42143778746288535852013-08-28T15:53:46.265-07:002013-08-28T15:53:46.265-07:00Grazie, Mauitzio! I will look for a video of Bud a...Grazie, Mauitzio! I will look for a video of Bud and Travis and add it. I love them!Jim Moranhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14198555155411979643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1875980412212682099.post-86221831162216977012013-08-28T14:05:11.662-07:002013-08-28T14:05:11.662-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Mauro20https://www.blogger.com/profile/00022746035719523466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1875980412212682099.post-8656213282202367402013-08-28T14:03:40.695-07:002013-08-28T14:03:40.695-07:00Bud & Travis did their excellent rendition too...Bud & Travis did their excellent rendition too. With chorus! On the Spotlight Lp, if I remember well.<br />Ciao<br />Maurizio from ItalyMauro20https://www.blogger.com/profile/00022746035719523466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1875980412212682099.post-72134775826176611462013-08-21T14:17:53.147-07:002013-08-21T14:17:53.147-07:00It's interesting to look at how the various ly...It's interesting to look at how the various lyrics have evolved. Death, rejected love and jealousy are prolific themes in folk music. The folk process often morphs a song from one of these themes to another - or some combination. The 1865 AEB lyrics have no hint of rejected love or jealousy. The song appears to be about death. (Her dark eyes should have opened, but did not. They are veiled.) The lyrics sung by Roy Harvey in 1927 express devotion and loss, but don't say what happened. Later versions have Dark Eyes leaving him. And later yet, a rival suitor appears. As is often the case, many versions combine these themes in ways that are not very coherent. The Tarriers appear to have worked very hard to reconcile all the versions -- and add a maudlin ironic twist that the jealousy was a tragic misunderstanding. And then Dave Alvin's reverts to a simple story of boy loves/loses girl and she marries another. It's interesting as you point out, Jim, that through all these plot twists much of Armand Blackmar's imagery has been retained to this day.Jaanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17845614188743671575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1875980412212682099.post-88845081513388721272013-08-20T23:50:25.200-07:002013-08-20T23:50:25.200-07:00Thank you so much for the added information, Jaan....Thank you so much for the added information, Jaan. As you see, I had trouble running down the full name of Armand. I did, however, see a facsimile of his original lyrics, which is why I speculated that the more vivid imagery in Alvin's first two verses seemed to have been derived from Armand Blackmar. As you can see from the videos posted here, the song for the most part survives today in that 3/4 time, and I haven;t been able to find a video or .mp3 recording of one of the older versions in 4/4.<br /><br />The Carters (found them on YT thanks to your comment) are doing an adapted version of AEB, citing blue eyes - but the tune bears little resemblance to either this "Brown Eyes" of Mathis's "Dark Eyes." There is a prestty good discussion of it all at the Mudcat Cafe here:<br /><br />http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=71196<br /><br />ARB's 1865 lyrics are there, and the connection to Alvin (verses 2 and 3 there) is immediately apparent.<br /><br />Again, thanks for the information and interest - I will integrate some of this into the article and put the Carters up as well. All comments here are welcome - this blog is really a series of essays about the songs, often with a dash of background thrown in, but with the rhetorical character of an essay the primary point.<br /><br />regards,<br /><br />JimJim Moranhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14198555155411979643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1875980412212682099.post-69072082046156376552013-08-20T18:22:52.531-07:002013-08-20T18:22:52.531-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Jaanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17845614188743671575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1875980412212682099.post-78805327923307881182013-08-20T18:21:22.566-07:002013-08-20T18:21:22.566-07:00Thanks for the interesting post. I learned this so...Thanks for the interesting post. I learned this song from Dave Alvin's recording and was not familiar with all the versions in 3/4 time. The 1865 copyright was claimed by New Orleans music publisher A.E (Armand Edward) Blackmar aka "Armand." The published sheet music is available online from the Lester S. Levy collection at Johns Hopkins. Twentieth century versions are all appear to be related to it. The earliest recording I have found is Columbia 15714D "Dark Eyes" by Roy Harvey & Posey Rorer. Although the lyrics are changed quite a bit and the melody simplified , Harvey's version is surprisingly close to Armand's. Both are in 4/4, with the same chord progression. Another YouTube video that could be included here is the Carter Family's 1932 version, which they titled "I Never Loved But One" (also in 4/4.) It appears that the oldest versions of this song were all in 4/4. I don't have access to Jack Mathis' recording; I would love know what lyrics he sang, and get confirmation that he too did the song in 4/4.<br /><br />JaanJaanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17845614188743671575noreply@blogger.com