HARRISON'S YELLOW ROSE, "THE YELLOW ROSE OF TEXAS"

HARRISON'S YELLOW ROSE...

..."THE YELLOW ROSE OF TEXAS"

Thursday, 8:15 AM.  64 degrees F at the ferry dock, 60 on the back porch.  Wind E, calm with a occasional light gusts.  The humidity is 76% and the barometer has begun to rise rapidly, now at 29.96".  We will have several days of very nice weather.
   There is a large rose bush on the corner of 6th and Wilson that I am quite certain is the old fashioned “Harrison’s Yellow Rose,” which has been grown for almost two centuries and is still available. There are a number of these venerable old roses blooming around Bayfield.  It is only a spring bloomer, but when in flower is covered with semi-double, fragrant flowers. It is thorny and spreads, so must be used with caution, but is a worthwhile plant in the right spot. This is the rose that was carried across the country by settlers moving west, and has thus become also known also as “The Yellow Rose of Texas,” and "The Oregon Trail Rose." It was a chance hybrid occurring around 1830 in the garden of a Mr. Harrison of New York City. It was grown and marketed by Prince's Nursery on Long Island.
   The song, “The Yellow Rose of Texas,” is thus associated with this rose. The “Yellow Rose” of the song, however, was a young mulatto (hence the "yellow") woman. Named either Molly Morgan or Emily Wade, she is credited in folklore as a heroine of the 1836 Battle of San Jacinto, in which the Texas militia under Sam Houston destroyed the Mexican army of the tyrant Santa Anna with virtually no Texas casualties, thus attaining Texas independence from Mexico.
   Molly (or Emily) purportedly  seduced the Mexican general on the afternoon of the battle, facilitating the Texan surprise attack. Soon after the battle, the song “The Yellow Rose of Texas” (composer unknown) became popular and has remained so as a Texas folk song. In 1955 it was arranged and played by Mitch Miller and his orchestra and became a national hit song, even eclipsing Bill Haley’s “Rock Around The Clock.”
   Texas became an independent republic in 1836, and voluntarily joined the Union in 1845. The legend and the song say a lot about Texas and Texans.  The Battle of San Jacinto was considered payback for the massacre at the Alamo, a visit to which cannot fail to stir an American's soul.
           
            THE YELLOW ROSE OF TEXAS 
             (Mitch Miller rendition, 1955)

1) There's a yellow rose in Texas, That I am going to see,
Nobody else could miss her, Not half as much as me.
She cried so when I left her It like to broke my heart,
And if I ever find her, We nevermore will part.

[Chorus]

She's the sweetest little rosebud That Texas ever knew,Her eyes are bright as diamonds, They sparkle like the dew;You may talk about your Clementine, And sing of Rosalee,But the YELLOW ROSE OF TEXAS Is the only girl for me.

2) When the Rio Grande is flowing, The starry skies are bright,
She walks along the river In the quiet summer night:
I know that she remembers, When we parted long ago,
I promise to return again, And not to leave her so.
 [Chorus]

3) Oh now I'm going to find her, For my heart is full of woe,
And we'll sing the songs together, That we sung so long ago
We'll play the bango gaily, And we'll sing the songs of yore,
And the Yellow Rose of Texas Shall be mine forevermore.

 [Chorus]