Annotation:Maiden's Prayer
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MAIDEN'S PRAYER. Old-Time; Western Swing. USA, Texas. A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Christeson), One part (Brody). Originally a piano piece called "La prière d'une vierge" first published in 1856 by Polish composer Tekla Bądarzewska-Baranowska (1834–1861). A favorite tune of Texas swing fiddler Bob Will's (b. 1905) father, fiddler John Wills, "who would get up early in the morning, around four A.M., and sit out in the front yard to the Wills farm as the dawn crept up off the plains, and play the melody to himself" (Charles Wolfe, The Devil's Box, June 1982, p. 20). The older Wills competed in, and often won, fiddling contests. Florida fiddler Chubby Wise (1916–1996) earned a gold record for sales of his recording of the tune, while Wills' 1938 version became the third best-selling country music record for that year. Lyrics to the tune are attributed to Bob Wills:
Twilight falls – Ev'ning shadows find
There 'neath the stars – a maiden so fair – divine
All alone I seem to see her there
In her eyes is a light shinning ever so bright
She whispered a silent prayer.
Ev'ry word revealed her empty broken heart
Broken by fate that holds them so far apart
Lonely there she kneels and tells the stars above
In her arms he belongs, in her heart is a song
An undying song of love.
Sources for notated versions: Red Williams (Dallas, Texas) [Christeson]: Bob Wills (Texas) and Jay Ungar (West Hurley, N.Y.) [Brody].
Printed sources:
R.P. Christeson (Old Time Fiddler's Repertory, vol. 2), 1984; p. 128.
Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; p. 182.
Howe, (Quadruple Musician's Omnibus), 1869; p. 31.
Recorded sources:
Columbia 20473 (78 RPM), Bob Wills & the Texas Playboys (1935).
Stoneway 104, Chubby Wise – "Chubby Wise and His Fiddle."
MGM MG-2-5303, Bob Wills – "24 Greatest Hits By Bob Wills."
Philo 1040, Jay Ungar and Lyn Hardy – "Catskill Mountain Goose Chase."
County 772, Bobby Hicks – "Texas Crapshooter."
Rhino CD #R2 70744, Bob Wills Anthology (originally recorded 1935).
Asleep at the Wheel – "Ride with Bob."
F-19, Bob Wills & the Texas Playboys – "The Tiffany Transcriptions vol. 2: Best of the Tiffanys" (1984).
Hot Club of Cowtown – "What Makes Bob Holler" (2011).
See also listing at:
Hear Bob Wills & the Texas Playboys 1935 recording on youtube.com [1]