Poor Orphan Child: A Song History
The Carter Family's "Poor Orphan Child" appears to have begun as a gospel song by other hands: the Discography of American Historical Recordings, on the authority of a source it identifies only as Meade, credits the words to H. W. Elliott and the music to Emmett S. Dean, lists "Saviour lead them orphans" as an alternate title, and notes that the disc labels credit A. P. Carter instead.[1] Hymnary.org indexes a hymn called "Savior, Lead Them," dating the text to 1898 and crediting it to H. W. Elliot, though two of the eight hymnals it lists, published between 1899 and 1944, spell the name Elliott, and five of them add "(Orphans)" to the title.[2] The same database dates Dean's tune to 1898 as well.[3] Born in Conecuh County, Alabama, in 1876 and dying in 1951, Dean was a Methodist who spent forty years leading singing schools, and Hymnary.org's biography puts his output at about 500 songs.[4]
The Orphans, watercolor, gum arabic, pen and black ink, lead white and graphite on white wove paper, ca. 1830. Shown for its subject; it has no connection to the song.
The trio recorded the song for Victor in Bristol, Tennessee, on August 1, 1927, with Ralph Peer supervising; Sara Carter played autoharp and sang alto, Maybelle Carter played guitar, and A. P. Carter sang bass, and the second take (matrix BVE-39752) became the master, issued on Victor 20877 and on Montgomery Ward M-7445.[1] It was one of four sides the group cut that day, with two more following on August 2.[5] Encyclopedia Virginia counts the recording among the Carter Family's first.[6] The Victor sessions in Bristol that year, which also recorded Jimmie Rodgers and Ernest Stoneman, were inducted into the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry in 2002.[7]
Elwood Donnelly includes it in Such Singing You Will Hear: 35 Songs Of The Carter Family, a book of instructions and notes for mountain dulcimer, accompaniment and voice, with every song set in DAD tuning.[8]
Sources
- Discography of American Historical Recordings: "Victor matrix BVE-39752. The poor orphan child / Carter Family".
- Hymnary.org: "Savior, Lead Them".
- Hymnary.org: "[I hear a low faint voice that says]" (tune by Emmett S. Dean).
- Hymnary.org: "Emmett S. Dean".
- Discography of American Historical Recordings: "Carter Family".
- Encyclopedia Virginia: "Poor Orphan Child".
- Library of Congress: "Complete National Recording Registry Listing".
- Elwood Donnelly: "Such Singing You Will Hear: 35 Songs Of The Carter Family".
- Image: The Orphans, watercolor, gum arabic, pen and black ink, lead white and graphite on white wove paper, ca. 1830. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.