Western Song: Yellow Rose of Texas
The Yellow Rose of Texas is a traditional American folk song that the members of The Western Writers of America chose as one of the Top 100 Western Songs of all time.
The song was written by an anonymous songwriter known as J.K. The earliest known version can be found in Christy’s Plantation Melodies Number 2, a songbook published under the authority of Edwin Pearce Christy in Philadelphia in 1853. Christy is the founder of the blackface minstrel show known as Christy’s Minstrels. Like most minstrel songs, the lyrics are written in a cross between a parody of a common dialect associated with Africa-American and standard American English. The song was sung from the viewpoint of an African American narrator, the tune follows his quest to find his lost love, a biracial woman he calls “The Yellow Rose of Texas.”
Most subsequent versions replaced problematic racial terms such as “darkie” and “sweetest rose of color” with “soldier” and “sweetest little flower.” This was the case with Mitch Miller’s 1955 rendition, revised by lyricist Don George, which topped the Billboard pop chart when it was used in the James Dean film Giant. Unfortunately, the altered lyrics also remove any indication that the tone emerged from a significant piece of black history.
Yellow Rose of Texas Popular Recordings
Many versions of the song have been recorded including the following artists:
- Elvis Presley
- Willie Nelson
- Mitch Miller
- Dacosta Woltz’s Southern Broadcasters
- Dario Moreno
- Gene Autry & Jimmy Long
- Roy Rogers
- Bing Crosby
- Ronnie Hilton
- Michael Holliday
- Mantovani
- Pat Boone
- Hoyt Axton
- Kidsongs
- Waldemar Matuška
Television & Cinema
Lines and verses of the song were sung on the following televisions and cinemas:
- Viva Las Vegas
- Giant
- James A. Michener’s Texas
- Thirteen Days
- Finders Keepers
- The Simpsons
Listen (Mitch Miller Version)
Yellow Rose of Texas Lyrics
There's a yellow rose in Texas that I am gonna 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 never move apart 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 Rosa Lee But the Yellow Rose of Texas is the only girl for me Where the Rio Grande is flowin', and 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 promised to return and not to leave her so 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 Rosa Lee But the Yellow Rose of Texas is the only girl for me Oh, now I'm gonna find her, for my heart is full of woe We'll do the things together we did so long ago We'll play the banjo gaily, she'll love me like before And the Yellow Rose of Texas shall be mine forevermore 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 Rosa Lee But the Yellow Rose of Texas is the only girl for me
