The Great Mirror of Same-Sex Love - Poetry - 92. . . . the best of friends must part . . .

One thing that’s sure about this song is it’s always been sung by men. That throws the lyrics into the undeniable waters of being a male torch song for the love of a man who’s turned his back on the singer.

The music is understood to be from an old Welsh miners’ song, with words most probably in the native language of the region. The first printed version with lyrics in English was organized as part of William Hills’ collection of bro-tunes for college fraternities. “Students’ Songs: Comprising the Newest and Most Popular College Songs” first appeared in 1883 and went through many reprints in the decades that followed.

If you think this is the first time you’ve heard of a folk song expressing love between men, and you think it odd or a one-off, think again. Many songs of the ordinary people, intended to be sung by solo male voice or a chorus of them, express themes of same-sex love in a natural, heroic way. Carrickfergus tells us how the older man narrating the song wishes for “a handsome boatman,” and calls upon “the young men” to carry him on to his grave. While the second (usually unsung verse) of The Water is Wide has the narrator, who is a sailor, saying about his beloved “I leaned my back against a young oak / Thinking he were a trusty tree.” Also, the rhyme (which is usually broken in an attempt to deceive people about the Queerness of the song) “But not so deep as my love for him / And I know not how – I sing or swim” is gay-erased as “the love I’m in” / “I sink or swim.” They don’t even try with that one, expecting people to “want” it to be straight anyway, no matter how untenable the convolution needs to be to make it appear that way.

It bears repeating, and repeating over and over again: it’s a Queer Ole World out there; has always been and will ever continue to be no matter how ruthlessly Gay people are erased from their own history.

A delightful old poem.  Nothing like the printed word (including printing on clay tablets, as appropriate) to provide complete certainty - evidence suitable for a courtroom, a lawyer might say - 100% probability for a statistician. 

Checking one thing:  This line:

Take that dark damsel on his knee.

Was it "take" in the original text (language of the day), or is that a typo?  

I remember a version of this song being used at a community square dance when I was very young. The tune has stuck with me ever since. Thank you for the lyrics and for your discussion that followed. 

3 hours ago, Backwoods Boy said:

A delightful old poem.  Nothing like the printed word (including printing on clay tablets, as appropriate) to provide complete certainty - evidence suitable for a courtroom, a lawyer might say - 100% probability for a statistician. 

Checking one thing:  This line:

Take that dark damsel on his knee.

Was it "take" in the original text (language of the day), or is that a typo?  

Yes, I made a couple of errors in typing it out. But I did provide the link to the 1883 first printing, where one can read the lyrics as published by Mr. Hills. I always try to provide my sources so one can claim I'm "making it up." LGBTI2S+ belle lettres must be scrupulously annotated (which the gay-erasers will try to ignore anyway).   

I like what you say about evidence. Reminds me of a Melville quote where he equates conviction burning as bright within a person as a house-a-fire on a moonless night. (I butcher paraphrase the original, of course )

Thanks for reading and commenting, Jon!

Fascinating.  Thank you so much.  Regards Gary 

1 hour ago, Parker Owens said:

I remember a version of this song being used at a community square dance when I was very young. The tune has stuck with me ever since. Thank you for the lyrics and for your discussion that followed. 

Thanks, Parker. I would have totally missed this bro torch song if not for Mr. Peavey always singing the beginning of it on the golden age of radio sitcom The Great Gildersleeve. It's Peavey's favorite song!

I was meant to see the lyrics, I believe. The original lyrics And youtube has a wide-ranging selection of records for the song. I note that Burl Ives messes with the lyrics to de-queerify them.

And this Russian translation, performed by the Red Army Chorus, is very interesting. The rhyming is better worked out than Hills' version! Needless to say, a woman character is introduced to de-queerify the song. (Which is exactly what they did to Solomon's Song of Songs too!)

And Rudy Vallee had an unexpected chart-topper in 1934 when the studio released his cracking up over the corniness of the Victorian lyrics. (I bet "carve a turtle dove on my breast" got him, lol.) And note he mostly sings the printed lyrics, even having a fourth verse, presumably written by Hills as well. I've read studios required performers to stick to the published versions, thus providing unusually Gay song hits, like Bing Crosby singing "There ain't no sweet man worth the salt of my tears!"

This is a pretty rocking tune. No wonder it was Bing's first coast-to-coast hit

11 minutes ago, Gary L said:

Fascinating.  Thank you so much.  Regards Gary 

Thanks, Gary! I hope you have a chance to listen to some of the videos I posted above

I’m on holiday for 12 days so definitely, AC.   Your research is impeccable.   May the poetic muse be with you!  

3 hours ago, AC Benus said:

And Rudy Vallee had an unexpected chart-topper in 1934 when the studio released his cracking up over the corniness of the Victorian lyrics. (I bet "carve a turtle dove on my breast" got him, lol.) And note he mostly sings the printed lyrics, even having a fourth verse, presumably written by Hills as well.

I listened to Vallee’s 1934 version today.   I noted that some of the lyrics were a little different but nothing to change the meaning of the original. 

AC, you never fail to impress me with your skill of digging up our past history and presenting us with gems like this.  How your are able to find these treasures buried by time and society's bias is remarkable.  I did listen to all the recordings (although I only listened to part of the Russian song) and noted the changes made.  I did love the Rudy Vallee version that was most like the original.  It left me wondering what was happening to cause him to laugh.  It seemed like he was laughing at someone playing a prank on him as he recorded.  His laughter was genuine.  I also noticed in Bing Crosby's song the word Tears was redacted and substituted with scatting (jazz singing without real words).  I wondered why this was done, then laughed at the thought that tears are not the only human body fluid that tastes salty. 😈

On 4/5/2023 at 8:30 PM, raven1 said:

AC, you never fail to impress me with your skill of digging up our past history and presenting us with gems like this.  How your are able to find these treasures buried by time and society's bias is remarkable.  I did listen to all the recordings (although I only listened to part of the Russian song) and noted the changes made.  I did love the Rudy Vallee version that was most like the original.  It left me wondering what was happening to cause him to laugh.  It seemed like he was laughing at someone playing a prank on him as he recorded.  His laughter was genuine.  I also noticed in Bing Crosby's song the word Tears was redacted and substituted with scatting (jazz singing without real words).  I wondered why this was done, then laughed at the thought that tears are not the only human body fluid that tastes salty. 😈

Thanks, Terry. There was (still is, I hope) a webpage dedicated to pop hits dealing with same-sex love. Bing's salty torch song came to my attention there, and many others too. Although the legal departments of the studios required artists to stick to the lyrics, one can't say the queer results were unintended. LGBTI2S+ people buy more records that others! This fact must have been known, and exploited too by the record makers. 

Here's another early Bing Crosby hit, from a time the initiated in the Community were already using the self-chosen identity of "Gay" for themselves This performance is so over-the-top flamboyant, the intended audience must have eaten it up with a giddy spoon!