Annotation:Sweet Marie (1)
X:1 T:Sweet Marie [1] M:4/4 L:1/8 R:Air, Schottische B:Ford - Traditional Music in America (1940, p. 379) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:D FG AA Bd A2 |D>E F4 z2|FG AA Bd F2|E>D E4 z2| F>E DC DE F2|ED Gd B>d A2|FG AA Bd F2 |E>E D4 D2|| P:"Chorus" dc B2 G>G G2|dB A2 F>F F2|FG AA Bd F2|E>D E4 z2| F>E DC DE F2|ED Gd B>d A2|FG AA Bd F2 |E>E D4-D2||
SWEET MARIE [1]. AKA and see "Old-Fashioned Schottische." American; Air, March, Schottische (whole time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. "Sweet Marie" was a popular song written and composed by Cy Warman (words) and Raymon Moore (music) in 1893. Warman, a journalist and versifier, wrote the lyric in honor of his wife and approached Moore, a popular variety stage singer, asking him to perform it. Moore came up with the tune and sang it as part of the musical comedy Africa (1893) which opened in the Euclid Opera House in Cleveland. Ironically, the song received only a lukewarm reception after Moore sang it, but when the singer left the show when it moved to Pittsburgh, his replacement, Charles Hopper, made it a widespread hit. As with many songs that attain a measure of popularity, many parodies of it have been written (not the least because the rhythmic meter scans same as a limerick). The original words begin:
I've a secret in my heart, sweet Marie,
A tale I would impart, love, to thee;
Every daisy in the dell
Knows my secret, knows it well,
Yet to thee I dare not tell, sweet Marie.
When I hold your hand in mine, sweet Marie,
Then a feeling most divine comes to me;
All the world is full of spring
Full of warblers on the wing,
And I listen while they sing, sweet Marie.
While widespread, popular and parodied, its entry into folk tradition was sporadic. Tommy Jarrell (Mt. Airy, N.C.) has been credited with these verses to the song:
Sweet Marie, come to me, come to me, Sweet Marie,
Because your face is fair I love to see;
Come to your Daddy's [old man's] still, get your whiskey bottle filled,
It will only hold a gill, Sweet Marie.
