Cindy (folk song)

"Cindy" ("Cindy, Cindy") is a popular American folk song. According to John Lomax, the song originated in North Carolina. In the early and middle 20th century, "Cindy" was included in the songbooks used in many elementary school music programs as an example of folk music. One of the earliest versions of "Cindy" is found in Anne Virginia Culbertson's collection of Negro folktales (At the Big House, where Aunt Nancy and Aunt 'Phrony Held Forth on the Animal Folks, Bobbs-Merrill, 1904) where one of her characters, Tim, "sang a plantation song named 'Cindy Ann'," the first verse and refrain of which are:

I'se gwine down ter Richmond,

I'll tell you w'a hit's for:

I'se gwine down ter Richmond,

Fer ter try an' end dis war.

An'-a you good-by, Cindy, Cindy

Good-by, Cindy Ann;

An'-a you good-by, Cindy, Cindy

I'se gwine ter Rappahan.^[1]

As with many folk songs, each singer was free to add verses, and many did. In addition, as Byron Arnold and Bob Halli noted in An Alabama Songbook, performers could swap verses with those of other songs, including "Old Joe Clark" and "Boil Them Cabbage Down".^[2]

The tune is taken from the spiritual The Gospel Train, also known as "Get on Board Little Children".

Versions

Benjamin Weisman, Dolores Fuller and Fred Wise wrote a version of "Cindy" called "Cindy, Cindy". This version is the familiar one recorded by such performers as Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Ricky Nelson, Warren Zevon, Nick Cave (in a duet with Johnny Cash), and others. Dr. Mack Wilberg's choral arrangement of the piece was written for four-hand piano, double eight-part choirs, a string bass, xylophone, and a score of quintessential Americana instruments to supplement the melody during the arrangement's hoedown section. This arrangement is available for any choir to learn and perform, although Wilberg also wrote a special arrangement to be performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The choral parts are the same, but the accompaniment has been rewritten for full orchestra (specifically the Orchestra at Temple Square). Robert Plant featured an arrangement titled "Cindy, I'll Marry You Someday" on his 2010 album Band of Joy.

Some of the folk song verses

You ought to see my Cindy

She lives way down South

She's so sweet the honey bees,

Swarm around her mouth

°——°

Git along home Cindy, Cindy

Git along home Cindy, Cindy

Git along home Cindy, Cindy

I'll marry you some day

—————

The first time that I saw her

She was standing in the door -

Her shoes and stockings in her hand

Her feet all over the floor

—

(Refrain)

——————————————

I wish I was an apple

Hanging on a tree

And every time my Cindy'd pass

She'd take a bite of me

————————

(Refrain)

In popular culture

Van Johnson sings part of it in the 1956 movie Miracle in the Rain.^[3]

The song is performed in the 1957 episode of Maverick, "Hostage" by Don Durant.^[4]

The song is performed in the 1959 John Wayne movie Rio Bravo.^[5] It is performed by Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson and Walter Brennan.

Andy Griffith sings this song in season 2 episode 10 "Opie's Rival" of The Andy Griffith Show 1960.

On the "Lawrence Welk Show", episode: My blue heaven, Dick Dale and the Lennon Sisters perform this song. (1964)

References

Bibliography

• Culbertson, Anne Virginia. "How Mr. Terrapin Lost His Beard" from The Ten Books of the Merrymakers Volume VII, pp. 1328–1335, edited by Marshall P. Wilder. New York: The circle Publishing Company (1909).

External links

• There were variations in the music as well as the lyrics. You can listen and read the lyrics/song history of the 2003 version by The Rosinators entitled 'Cindy's Breakdown'.
• This MIDI version was recorded by J. R. Thompson.
• This page offers a link to an MP3 recording by Wayne Potash.
• This page offers a link to an MP3 by Robert Beaser.
• Polish lyrics of the song on Polish Wikisource