[78-L] Green Grow the Lilacs

[Cary Ginell]

I found another version of it by Tony Kraber on his Keynote 78 rpm album "The Old Chisholm Trail" (Keynote 104), but that is the one record out of three in the album that I am missing. The liner notes give the same derivation of "gringo," which may or may not be true, but it's certainly an interesting story.

I find it interesting that there are no pre-WWII recordings of this song, in light of the fact that its life goes back a century before Ritter's version.

Incidentally, Ritter didn't sing the song in "Green Grow the Lilacs." He did sing four numbers, but not this one. 

Cary

On Jan 12, 2014, at 9:30 AM, Guyotsmith at aol.com wrote:

> Cary, that's an interesting question. Frank Luther sang it on  a World 
> transcription which would pre-date Tex's Capitol recording - and Frank  much 
> later included the song on his final Lp, in stereo, for Pickwick. Frank  also 
> sang the song on my grandmother's NBC radio series. My grandmother and Tex  
> Ritter, who also worked together in New York, liked to tell the story of that 
> song's popularity during the 1847 war with Mexico, and how the soldiers' 
> singing  "Green Grow the Lilacs" was supposedly misinterpreted by the Mexican 
> troops,  resulting in their calling the Americans "gringo" (corrupted from 
> "green grow").  In reality, the term "gringo" is probably a corruption of 
> "griego," as you know  - but both my grandmother and Tex spent decades telling 
> the "Green Grow the  Lilacs" story, and I shared it with my own students 
> this past week. 
> 
> Whereas Tex sings "....and change the green lilacs for the  red, white, and 
> blue,"  Frank Luther has it "...and change the green lilacs  to the Oregon 
> blue."  Others sing it as "the orange and the blue."   Had I been possessed 
> of sufficient intelligence in my younger days, I would have  recorded my 
> grandmother singing that song - but I didn't. Her melody - and Frank  Luther's 
> - differed from Tex's. Whether Tex sang it as Lynn Riggs wanted it  sung, or 
> whether he had known the song as a youth in Texas, I don't know. He  
> sometimes called it his favorite song.  How many questions would we ask if  we 
> could go back in time! 
> 
> Have a wonderful week ahead.
> 
> Jonathan
> 
> 
> In a message dated 1/12/2014 11:51:39 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
> soundthink at live.com writes:
> 
> Does  anyone know of recordings of the song "Green Grow the Lilacs" that 
> predates  Tex Ritter's 1945 Capitol version? The song was the basis for Lynn 
> Riggs' 1931  play, which consisted entirely of traditional folk songs. 
> Rodgers &  Hammerstein later revamped the story, replaced the folk songs with 
> their own  compositions, and transformed Broadway with the resulting show, 
> "Oklahoma!"  but I find the orignal show intriguing. I find no recordings of 
> "Green Grow  the Lilacs" in Russell so wonder if any others were recorded.
> 
> Cary  Ginell
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