From Unknown Sun 18 Feb 96 03:56:34
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From: james@nucleus.com (james)
Newsgroups: rec.music.folk
Subject: Re: Song "Sweet Violets"
Date: 10 Apr 96 18:03:34 GMT
Organization: AGT Advanced Communications
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Joseph C Fineman (jcf@world.std.com) wrote:
: oksteve@ix.netcom.com(Stephen ) writes:

: >Does anybody remember a song- "Sweet Violets"- of the early 1950's?

: I suspect that the original is a good deal older.

: I would be delighted to hear where all this came from.


Cray, Ed. The Erotic Muse. U. of Illinois Press. 1992. Page 223.

  The second chorus is fashioned from the last three lines of
  the song "Sweet Violets" by J. K. Emmet as it was sung in
  his now-forgotten play of 1882, _Fritz Among the Gypsies_.
  ... Those lines run:

    Oh, sweet violets, sweeter than all the roses,
    Zillah, darling one, I plucked them
    And brought them to you.

  Repopularized in a 1951 recording by Dinah Shore, with words
  and music credited to Cy Cohen and Charles Crean, that version
  was "adapted from a folk song," according to Jacobs (p. 226).

All my best,
James Prescott (james@nucleus.com)  (PGP user)