Lyr Req: The Letter Edged in Black

Subject: the letter edged in black
From:
Date: 29 Oct 99 - 04:19 PM

also: don't tell mother i was drinking

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the letter edged in black
From: Gene
Date: 29 Oct 99 - 04:23 PM

* DIGITAL TRADITION - LETTER EDGED IN BLACK *

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the letter edged in black
From: doug
Date: 30 Oct 99 - 11:58 AM

re letter edged wonderful! thank you

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the letter edged in black
From: Shimbo Darktree
Date: 30 Oct 99 - 12:16 PM

Well, I'll be damned (probably). I never expected to find
this one here. I learned it from an old 78 record (that's
from the days of gramophones, and before vinyl, for you youngsters).
It was a little different, and possibly done by Hank Williams
or someone similar.

For picking up this one, the Mudcat gets 101%!!
Shimbo

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the letter edged in black
From: Tiger
Date: 30 Oct 99 - 12:48 PM

I have the recording by Bradley Kincaid. Not a great song, IMHO, and I'm USUALLY a sucker for tear-jerkers.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the letter edged in black
From: kendall
Date: 30 Oct 99 - 07:02 PM

that was a true story written by a porter. Does that help?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the letter edged in black
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 30 Oct 99 - 07:08 PM

For a nice tribute to Folk-Legacy, check out Songster Bob's Record Edged in Black.Just search for [edged in black]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the letter edged in black
From: kendall
Date: 31 Oct 99 - 07:45 AM

my apologies, I was thinking of another old song, The Baggage Coach Ahead. never mind

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the letter edged in black
From:
Date: 31 Oct 99 - 10:35 AM

to kendall yes!! that was my next request please, if you have lyrics and chords to the baggage caoch ahead. i am also sitll looking for don't tell mama i ws drinking thanks doug

Subject: Lyr Add: IN THE BAGGAGE COACH AHEAD (G. L. Davis)
From: kendall
Date: 31 Oct 99 - 12:30 PM

Lyrics below are from the sheet music at the University of Maine:


IN THE BAGGAGE COACH AHEAD
Words and music by Gussie L. Davis, ©1896.

1. On a dark stormy night as the train rattled on, all the passengers had gone to bed,
Except one young man with a babe in his arms who sat there with a bowed-down head.
The innocent one began crying just then, as though its poor heart would break.
One angry man said, "Make that child stop its noise, for it's keeping all of us awake."
"Put it out," said another. "Don't keep it in here; we've paid for our berths and want rest."
But never a word said the man with the child, as he fondled it close to his breast.
"Where is its mother? Go take it to her," this a lady then softly said.
"I wish that I could," was the man's sad reply. "But she's dead in the coach ahead."

CHORUS: While the train rolled onward, a husband sat in tears,
Thinking of the happiness of just a few short years,
For baby's face brings pictures of a cherished hope that’s dead,
But baby's cries can't waken her in the baggage coach ahead.

2. Ev’ry eye filled with tears when his story he told, of a wife who was faithful and true.
He told how he'd saved all his earnings for years, just to build up a home for two;
How when Heaven had sent them this sweet little babe, their young happy lives were blessed.
His heart seemed to break when he mentioned her name, and in tears tried to tell them the rest.
Ev’ry woman arose to assist with the child; there were mothers and wives on that train,
And soon was the little one sleeping in peace, with no thought of sorrow or pain.
Next morn at a station he bade all goodbye; "God bless you," he softly said.
Each one had a story to tell in the home of the baggage coach ahead.


I don't know what key you want so didn't include chords. However, if you do it in G, they would be G Am C D. Slight departure in last verse, goes G C D G D G C G E A D G.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the letter edged in black
From: mkpdp
Date: 31 Oct 99 - 05:40 PM

great! thanks for the bagge coach doug

Subject: Baggage Coach Ahead
From: Joe Offer
Date: 05 Nov 99 - 11:11 AM

Say, Kendall, do you know anything of the history of "Baggage Coach"? When it was written? Songwriters? It's a good one, for sure.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the letter edged in black
From: Bill in Alabama
Date: 05 Nov 99 - 11:33 AM

Joe-- The sheet music site attributes words and music to Gussie L. Davis. The earliest printing on the site for this song is 1896.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the letter edged in black
From: Dale Rose
Date: 05 Nov 99 - 07:45 PM

As Bill says, The Baggage Coach Ahead is a Gussie L. Davis composition from 1896. Gussie L. Davis was a black composer and lyricist who wrote a number of other well known pieces including Maple On The Hill and Just Set A Light (also known as The Red And Green Lights) He also wrote When They Straighten all the Colored People's Hair. I heard somewhere, but have not found verification yet that he worked for a time as a Pullman porter.

You can find IN THE BAGGAGE-COACH AHEAD at The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music and at Duke. If you just want to view it, Levy is quicker ~~ if you want to print it out, then choose Duke which has much higher quality images.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE LETTER EDGED IN BLACK
From:
Date: 21 Jan 04 - 04:05 PM

THE LETTER EDGED IN BLACK
(Hattie Nevada) (original copyright H.H.Woodbury 1897) Eb

I was standing by my window yester morning
Without a thought of worry or of care
When I saw the Postman coming down the Pathway
With such a happy smile and jaunty air
Oh he rang the bell and whistled while he waited
And then he said "good morning to you, Jack"
But he little knew the sorrow that he brought me
When he handed me a letter edged in black.

Then with trembling hands I took the letter from him
I broke the seal and this is what it said
"Come home my boy, your poor old father wants you
Come home my boy, your mother dear is dead"
O your mother's words, the last she ever uttered
Were "tell my boy I want him to come back!"
My eyes are blurred, my poor old heart is breaking
While I'm writing you this letter edged in black.

O I bow my head in sadness and in sorrow
The sunlight of my life it now has fled
Since the postman brought that letter yester morning
Saying "come my boy, your mother dear is dead."
O it said "forgive the angry words 'twere spoken,"
"You know I never meant them don't you, Jack"
"O the angels bear me witness I am asking"
"Your forgiveness in this letter edged in black."

Refrain:
As I heard the postman whistling yester morning
Coming down the pathway with his pack
O he little knew the sorrow that he brought me
When he handed me a letter edged in black.

***
These are the original lyrics to this song, written by
Hattie Nevada (Harriet Nevada Hicks Woodbury) originally
published by the family's Kansas City Talking Machine
Company in 1897; posted at the Library of Congress in 1898.
Transcribed by me from original sheet music passed down
through the family. public domain. mhs

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the letter edged in black
From: Joe Offer
Date: 21 Jan 04 - 06:01 PM

This is almost the same as what's in the Digital Tradition, so I won't harvest it for the DT. Nonetheless, it's good to have alternate versions, even if they're only slightly different.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Letter Edged in Black
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 07 Oct 07 - 10:04 PM

You can see the sheet music to Hattie Nevada's THE LETTER EDGED IN BLACK at Indiana University Sheet Music Collections.