Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone? A Song History

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The Carter Family recorded "Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone" for Victor in Camden, New Jersey, on May 10, 1928.[1] According to the Discography of American Historical Recordings, Sara Carter sang alto and played autoharp, Maybelle Carter played guitar, and A. P. Carter took the bass part.[1] Victor issued the record in December 1928 as Victor 21638, with "Little Darling, Pal of Mine" on the other side.[2] The company's ledgers named A. P. Carter as the songwriter.[1]

Embroidered mourning picture of a weeping willow and a memorial urn on a pedestal beside a lake

Mourning Picture, silk embroidered with silk thread and silk chenille, painted, ca. 1815. An American memorial embroidery, shown for its mood; it has no connection to the song.

The discography itself, however, credits the words to George Beebe and the music to H. E. McAfee.[1] Hymnary.org lists a gospel song called "Will You Miss Me?", with words by George Beebe, in five songbooks published between 1909 and 1953.[3] In Songs for the Singing, Normal and Literary Schools (1910), Beebe's text appears with a tune by H. E. McAfee.[4] Who Beebe was is less settled: the discography links the name to George Monroe Beebe, a New York congressman of the 1870s, while Mainly Norfolk names a Rev. George Beebe with different dates, so the sources differ.[5][6]

The Max Hunter Folk Song Collection at Missouri State University includes a version sung by Ollie Gilbert of Mountain View, Arkansas, on July 15, 1970.[7] Later recordings include one by Royston and Heather Wood with Peter Bellamy in 1977 and one by Elizabeth LaPrelle in 2011.[6] Elwood Donnelly includes it, in DAD tuning, in Such Singing You Will Hear: 35 Songs Of The Carter Family, which its listing calls "a book of instructions and notes for mountain dulcimer, backup and voice."[8]

Our book that contains the song "Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone?"

Sources

  1. Discography of American Historical Recordings: "Victor matrix BVE-45026. Will you miss me when I'm gone / Carter Family".
  2. Discography of American Historical Recordings: "Victor 21638".
  3. Hymnary.org: "Will You Miss Me? (When death shall close these eyelids)".
  4. Hymnary.org: "Will You Miss Me?, Songs for the Singing, Normal and Literary Schools #75".
  5. Discography of American Historical Recordings: "George Monroe Beebe".
  6. Mainly Norfolk: "Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone?".
  7. Missouri State University, Max Hunter Folk Song Collection: "Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone".
  8. Elwood Donnelly: "Such Singing You Will Hear: 35 Songs Of The Carter Family".
  9. Image: Mourning Picture, silk embroidered with silk thread and silk chenille, painted, ca. 1815. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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