creepiest willow

Martin Scorsese says The Innocents, 1961, is one of top 11 scariest horror films of all time. It's based on the novella The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. Directed and produced by Jack Clayton, it stars Deborah Kerr, Michael Redgrave and Megs Jenkins. It did not do well at the box office at the time, but since then, critics call it one of the best psychological thrillers ever made, and it has received much praise and even cult status over the years. The dark, atmospheric film uses lighting, music, and direction for its effect rather than gore and shock factor.

So, why am I posting on this particular movie? Because it features one of the creepiest willow songs ever. "O Willow Waly", written by Georges Auric and Paul Dehn and sung on the soundtrack by Isla Cameron, was released in the UK following the film, on a Decca single in March, 1962. Simple and chilling, it's one of those earworms that haunts you for days afterwards.

If you're wondering what in the world "waly" means, I had to look it up, as well.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

(interj.) An exclamation of grief.

We lay my love and I beneath the weeping willow.

But now alone I lie and weep beside the tree.

Singing "Oh willow waly" by the tree that weeps with me.

Singing "Oh willow waly" till my lover return to me.

We lay my love and I beneath the weeping willow.

A broken heart have I. Oh willow I die, oh willow I die.

shakes just like a willow tree

Now, for a completely different willow song from last week's offering in my Summer Wicked Willowy Song Series. "The Girl I Love She Got Long Black Wavy Hair", also known as "The Girl I Love", is a song performed by English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was recorded by the BBC on June 16, 1969 for Chris Grant's Tasty Pop Sundae show during the band's U.K. Tour of Summer 1969, being broadcast on June 22, 1969. The song eventually found its way onto the Led Zeppelin album BBC Sessions, released in 1997. This is the only known performance of the song by the band, as no other audio document has been unearthed of it being performed live at Led Zeppelin concerts.

The guitar riff played by Jimmy Page that drives this song is similar to Bobby Parker's 1961 song "Watch Your Step" which charted in the US and the UK. It is also very similar to that played by Page on the later Led Zeppelin track "Moby Dick", released in October 1969 on the album Led Zeppelin II.

It's interesting to note the lyrics in the first verse are a variation on the1929 blues song "The Girl I Love She Got Long Curly Hair" by Sleepy John Estes. The lyrics in the rest of the song are paraphrases of various blues songs or themes.

Whoah, the girl I love, she got long black wavy hair

I do declare!

The girl I love, yeah, she got long black wavy hair,

Ah yeah,

Her mother and her father, lordy,

They sure don't, sure don't allow me there.

Well I, I'm goin' back to my baby, lord I,

I swear I wouldn't lie, yeah

I never saw that sweet woman yeah in-a

A-five long years gone by, yeah.

Well I'm goin' home, I'm goin' home

'cause she's a sweet little darlin', ah

I said I been away, ahh-far too long,

I been away too long.

Take it jimmy!

Well, my baby when...

She shakes just like a willow tree,

Yes she does.

My baby, when she walks, ya know

She shakes like a willow tree, yeah.

Ah-that mean, mistreatin' baby she know she

Hop, hops all over me.

Oooh.

Yeah!

Alright!

Hops over me...

bury me beneath the willow

A folk song is what's wrong and how to fix it or it could be

who's hungry and where their mouth is or

who's out of work and where the job is or

who's broke and where the money is or

who's carrying a gun and where the peace is.

Woody Guthrie

My wickedly willow song series would be seriously lacking if it didn't include an all-American piece, and since this is 4th of July week, I though it very fitting to include Woody Guthrie's "Bury Me Beneath the Willow". Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie (July 14, 1912 – October 3, 1967) is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan "This Machine Kills Fascists" displayed on his guitar. His best known song is "This Land Is Your Land", which is regularly sung in American schools. Many of his recorded songs are archived in the Library of Congress. Such songwriters as Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs and Tom Paxton have acknowledged their debt to Guthrie as an influence. (wiki)

I chose this version, sung by Alison Krauss and Lyle Lovett.

My heart is sad and I am lonely

For the only one I love

When shall I see her? Oh, no never

'Til we meet in Heaven above

Chorus

Oh bury me beneath the willow

Under the weeping willow tree

So she will know where I am sleeping

And perhaps she'll weep for me

She told me that she dearly loved me

How could I believe her untrue

Until the angels softly whispered

She will prove untrue to you

Tomorrow was our wedding day

Oh God, oh God, where can she be

She's out a-courting with another

And no longer cares for me

little willow

Paul McCartney wrote the song "Little Willow" in memory of Ringo Starr's first wife, Maureen Cox Starkey, who died of cancer in 1994. Paul had remained close with Maureen and her children, and wrote this song to comfort her grieving family. The song appears on the album Flaming Pie, 1997, and was included on the CD Diana, Princess of Wales: Tribute, 1997. I adore it's simple words and its lovely calming effect works on me every time I listen.

An interesting side note, that's Maureen cheering at the end of the song "Get Back". When Paul says, "Thanks, Mo.", he's referring to her.

Bend little Willow

Winds gonna blow you hard and cold tonight.

Life as it happens,

No body warns you, Willow hold on tight.

Nothings gonna shake your love,

Take your love away.

No ones out to break your heart,

It only seems that way.

Sleep little willow,

Peace is gonna follow,

Time will heal your wounds.

Grow to the heavens.

Now and forever,

Always came too soon.

Nothings gonna shake your love,

Take your love away.

No ones out to break your heart,

It only seems that way.

Bend little willow,

Winds gonna blow you hard and cold tonight.

Life as it happens,

No body warns you, Willow hold on tight.

sassy

Willow weep for me

Willow weep for me

Bend your branches green

along the stream that runs to sea

Listen to my plea

Hear me willow and weep for me

Gone my lovers dream

Lovely summer dream

Gone and left me here to weep

my tears into the stream

Sad as I can be

Hear me willow and weep for me

Whisper to the wind and say that love has sinned

Left my heart a-breaking, and making a moan

Murmur to the night to hide it's starry light

So none will see me sighing and crying all alone

Weeping willow tree

Weep in sympathy

Bend your branches down along the ground and cover me

When the shadows fall, hear me willow and weep for me

(oops, embedding is denied...click HERE to listen on YouTube)

My wickedly willow series would be seriously lacking without this classic! Catalyst and R. Burnett Baker suggested this one. (Thanks, guys! xx) So many greats have recorded this one, it was hard to choose. I went with Sarah Vaughan. I love her clear, rich sound. Her nickname was Sassy. Man, if I could sing Iike this, I'd call myself Sassy, too.

American composer and lyricist Ann Ronell (1908–1993) was romantically involved with George Gershwin at the time she wrote her most famous song, "Willow Weep for Me" (1932) and speculation in the New York City composer community is that Gershwin actually wrote the song and gave her the copyright as a gift. However, this has never been proven and is still, at this point, based on the striking similarities in the song to the blues-inflected style of Gershwin.

willowy coolness

This week's wickedly willow song is the fabulous Joan Armatrading singing one of her best known songs, "Willow". Armatrading is the talented British singer, songwriter, guitarist, and three-time Grammy Award-nominee, nominated twice for BRIT Awards as Best Female Artist; also received an Ivor Novello award for Outstanding Contemporary Song Collection in 1996. Armatrading currently lives in Surrey, England, where her farmhouse home includes a recording studio. Anyone who can write super lyrics, set them to music, dole them out with this kinda flair and lives in a farmhouse in England is in my willowy book of coolness.

I may not be your best

But you know good ones

Don't come by the score

If you've got something missing

I'll help you look

You can be sure

And if you want to be alone

Or someone to share a laugh

Whatever you want to do

All you got to do is ask

Thunder

Don't go under the sheets

Lightning

Under a tree

In the rain and snow

I'll be your fireside

Come running to me

When things get out of hand

Running to me

When it's more than you can stand

I said I'm strong

Straight

Willing

To be a shelter

In a storm

Your willow

Oh willow

When the sun is out

A fight with your best girl

Prettiest thing you ever saw

You know I'll listen

Try to get a message to her

And if it's money you want

Or trouble halved

Whatever you want me to do

All you got to do is ask

I said I'm strong

Straight

Willing

To be a shelter

In a storm

Your willow

Oh willow

When the sun is out

all around my hat

One of my favorite wicked willowy songs is "All Around My Hat", from a 1975 album by the same name by Steeleye Span. The album was their eighth and highest charting, reaching number 7 on the UK charts, and staying on the charts for six months. It briefly made the band a household name in England. In the United States it became the band's first album to chart, reaching number 143.

The song "All Around my Hat" is of nineteenth century English origin. In an early version, dating from the 1820s, a Cockney costermonger* vowed to be true to his fiancee, who was sentenced to seven years transportation to Australia for theft, and to mourn his loss by wearing green willow sprigs in his hatband for "a twelve-month and a day," as traditional symbol of mourning. In Ireland, Peadar Kearney adapted the song to relate to an Republican lass whose lover had died in the Easter Rising, and who swears to wear the Irish tricolour in her hat in remembrance.

*Costermonger (had to look it up; rare in these parts)
Function: noun
Etymology: costard + monger
Date: 1514
British : a hawker of fruit or vegetables

This song is dedicated to the charming Michael of Shouting at Westminster Streetlights, who sent it to me some time back. So, Mick, if you're out there, this one's for you. xx

It's impossible to listen to this one quietly, so turn your volume way up!

All Around My Hat, Steeleye Span version

all around my hat i will wear the green willow
and all around my hat for a twelve month and a day
and if any one should ask me the reason why i'm wearing it
it's all for my true love who's far, far away.

fare thee well cold winter and fare thee well cold frost
nothing have i gained but my own truelove i've lost
i'll sing and i'll be merry when occassion i do see
he's a false deluding young man let him go farewell he

other night he brought me a fine diamond ring
but he thought to have deprived me of a far better thing
but i being careful like lovers ought to be
he's a false deluding young man let him go farewell he and

all around my hat i will wear the green willow
and all around my hat for a twelve month and a day
and if any one should ask me the reason why i'm wearing it
it's all for my true love who's far, far away.

quarter pound of reasons and a half a pound of sense
a small sprig of time and as much of prudence
you mix them all together and you will plainly see
he's a much deluding young man let him go farewell he and

all around my hat i will wear the green willow
and all around my hat for a twelve month and a day
and if any one should ask me the reason why i'm wearing it
it's all for my true love who's far, far away.

all around my hat i will wear the green willow
and all around my hat for a twelve month and a day
and if any one should ask me the reason why i'm wearing it
it's all for my true love who's far, far away.

photo from Flickr

more wicked willowiness

I searched high and low for a video clip of the great Duke aka John Wayne singing "Tit Willow" in The Shootist, but no such luck. Darn. It's so incredibly sweet. Anyway, the original "Tit Willow" is sung by the character Ko-Ko in Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera, The Mikado, which opened in London on March 14, 1885. It ran at the Savoy Theatre for 672 performances, the second longest run for any work of musical theater. And just so you know, a "willow tit" is a small bird, with a gray-brown body and black crown, that lives in the marshy woodlands of Europe, innocently enough. Below are two of my favorite renditions of "Tit Willow", performed in the first video by the charming TV brothers, Frasier (I had the hugest crush) and Niles Crane. By the way, did you know that Frasier was a spin off from the sitcom Cheers, and that it ran for eleven seasons? I loved the witty comedy and sparkling chemistry between the characters. And the second clip by the delightful Rowlf and Sam Eagle, who need no introductions.

On a tree by a river a little tom-tit

Sang "Willow, tit willow, tit willow"

And I said to him, "Dicky-bird, why do you sit

Singing 'Willow, tit willow, tit willow'"

"Is it weakness of intellect, birdie?"

I cried "Or a rather tough worm in your little inside"

With a shake of his poor little head,

he replied "Oh, willow, tit willow, tit willow!"

He slapped at his chest, as he sat on that bough

Singing "Willow, tit willow, tit willow"

And a cold perspiration bespangled his brow

Oh, willow, tit willow, tit willow

He sobbed and he sighed, and a gurgle he gave

Then he plunged himself into the billowy wave

And an echo arose from the suicide's grave

"Oh, willow, tit willow, tit willow"

Now I feel just as sure as I'm sure that my name

Isn't Willow, tit willow, tit willow

That 'twas blighted affection that made him exclaim

"Oh, willow, tit willow, tit willow"

And if you remain callous and obdurate, I

Shall perish as he did, and you will know why

Though I probably shall not exclaim as I die

"Oh, willow, tit willow, tit willow"