When the Roses Bloom Again

by Lyrics by Will D Cobb, Music by Jeff Tweedy, Performed and Recorded by Dan DiFranco

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This song has weathered multiple generations and rings true just as much today as it did when it was written in 1901. There is a really old version I found of this poem/song on youtube that has the original instrumentation. This version is based off of the version that is credited below to Jeff Tweedy of Wilco and of course all that contributed to the three album epic known as Mermaid Avenue.

Here is the link to the youtube video of the earliest recording of this song performed by Harry MacDonough:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV_6GdoEero

I recorded this song many years ago and it still stands as one of my best vocal performances. I originally had a harmonica track in it but think it sounded kind of off, so I took it out and added the banjo once I started to learn it a few years back.

It's a hopeful, sad, and melancholic song. The storytelling is just so perfect! I hope that I was able to transmit that in my version here!!

lyrics

They were strolling in the gloaming
Where the roses were in bloom
A soldier and his sweetheart brave and true
And their hearts were filled with sorrow
For their thoughts were of tomorrow
As she pinned a rose upon his coat of blue
Do not ask me love to linger
When you know not what to say
For duty calls your sweetheart's name again
And your heart need not be sighing
If I be among the dying
I'll be with you when the roses bloom again
When the roses bloom again
Beside the river
And the mockingbird has sung his sweet refrain
In the days of auld lang syne
I'll be with you sweetheart mine
I'll be with you when the roses bloom again
Mid the rattle of the battle
Came a whisper soft and low
A soldier who had fallen in the fray
I am dying, I am dying
And I know I'll have to go
But I want to tell you
Before I pass away
There's a far and distant river
Where the roses are in bloom
A sweetheart who is waiting there for me
And it's there I pray you take me
I've been faithful, don't forsake me
I'll be with her when the roses bloom again

credits

released April 16, 2021
When The Roses Bloom Again

(DP/Tweedy - 1085094)

Jeffrey Scot Tweedy – 100% - BMG Platinum Songs US (BMI) / Words Ampersand Music, All Rights Administered by BMG Rights Management (US), LLC.

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Dan DiFranco Underhill, Vermont

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