Carter Family: Wildwood Flower and Keep on the Sunny Side

    Everyone who is a fan of old time music knows about the Carter Family.  The Carter Family started recording folk songs in the late 1920s, and they continued to record their entire lives.  The basic Carter lick (alternating bass and down/up strum) is used by virtually all guitar players.  Mother Maybelle also developed the technique of interspersing the melody with runs on the bass strings of the guitar.  But in my humble opinion, what really set them apart was their breadth.  There were other groups back then that knew a few good songs, but the Carter Family repetoire was nearly endless.  They were one of the first to record, and they kept on recording hundreds if not thousands of songs. 
   In my family, the Carter Family nearly caused World War III.  My Korean mom thinks that classical music is about the only truly acceptable form of music, but my American dad thinks that there is no other kind of music besides American folk music, with the Carter family having achieved the pinnacle.
   My Dad has every Carter family album that ever existed.  His faves are probably Wildwood Flower and Keep on the Sunny Side.  My Mom could actually tolerate that one because of its positive message (but she never could tolerate the blues. "If you think you will lose, then you will lose!" she says about songs like Born to Lose).

    Wildwood flower provides some insight to how songs can mutate.  The lyrics as sung by the Carter Family are something like this:

[C] Oh, I'll twine with my mingles and [G7] waving black [C] hair
With the roses so red and the [G7] lilies so [C] fair
And the myrtle so [C7] bright with the [F] emerald [C] hue
The pale amanita and [G7] eyes look like [C] blue.

Oh I'll dance, I will sing and my laugh shall be gay
I will charm every heart, in his crown I will sway
When I woke from my dreaming, my idol was clay
All portion of love had all flown away.

Oh he taught me to love him and promised to love
And to cherish me over all others above
How my heart is now wond'ring no mis'ry can tell
He's left me no warning, no words of farewell.

Oh, he taught me to love him and called me his flower
That was blooming to cheer him through life's dreary hour
Oh, I long to see him and regret the dark hour
He's gone and neglected this pale wildwood flower.

The original lyrics probably had more references to flowers.  Versions of the 19th century might have gone something like this (check out the wikipedia article for a discussion of the different possible variants, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildwood_Flower ) 

I'll twine 'mid the ringlets of my raven black hair, 

The lilies so pale and the roses so fair, 

The myrtle so bright with an emerald hue, 

And the pale oleander and violets so blue.

Actually I wonder if "iris" might have been the originial blue flower, since violets are, well, violet and not blue.  

OK, that brings us to the next great Carter Family song, Keep on the Sunny Side.  It really is very poetic despite its simplicity.  

When I hear the second verse, coming from a farming family, I think about the storm not so much as a abstract metaphor, but a very real event.  To a farmer, a storm can mean the destruction of an entire season's crops.  Sometimes it might seem as though it is the end of life itself.  But somehow American farming families managed to stick it out and survived the storms and other difficulties, and here we are in 2011. 

Well there's a dark and a troubled side of life.
There's a bright and a sunny side too.
But if you meet with the darkness and strife,
The sunny side we also may view.

Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side,
Keep on the sunny side of life.
It will help us every day, it will brighten all the way,
If we keep on the sunny side of life.

Oh, the storm and its fury broke today,
Crushing hopes that we cherish so dear.
Clouds and storms will in time pass away.
The sun again will shine bright and clear.

Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side,
Keep on the sunny side of life.
It will help us every day, it will brighten all the way,
If we'll keep on the sunny side of life.

Let us greet with a song of hope each day.
Though the moments be cloudy or fair.
Let us trust in our Saviour always,
To keep us, every one, in His care.

Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side,
Keep on the sunny side of life.
It will help us every day, it will brighten all the way,
If we'll keep on the sunny side of life.

If we'll keep on the sunny side of life
   
Here's a video with June Carter Cash (the autoharp player in the first video) with hubby Johnny Cash and daughter Carlene Carter.  Their version has been "modernized" with 1970's style, but the underlying Carter Family tune is very recognizable.