Today’s post was written by Paul.
Morning Glories happen to be my favorite flower. Around here, they grow wild around gardens and in cornfields, and they come in many colors, like purple, baby blue, yellow, white, etc. They also remind me of the projection cone on an old Victrola phonograph player.
The song I’m sharing today “Beautiful Morning Glory” is all about being able to laugh at one’s self in whatever predicament life throws at you. I describe it as a self deprecating song.
Like several other songs I’ve uploaded, I heard this song on the Dish Network “radio” station called Acoustic Crossroads. Pap often kept the satellite on that channel back in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. I was usually in a different room when the song came on, and I didn’t know or recognize the singer, but I could tell from the recording that it was pretty old, probably pre-1950.
The song kind of stuck with me, I think partly because of its carefree philosophy or lifestyle. Years after hearing the song, I was with Pap and his brother Ray performing at the Stecoah Valley venue in Graham County. We were backstage tuning up. I started singing and playing the song just to check to see if the Dove was in tune with itself. I added the little quick-switch from A to E back to A in the verses. I don’t believe this chord change is in the original. For some reason, I also added a 4th verse (the last one you hear in this video). I came up with a certain guitar run on the top three strings that I did between each verse.
When I shot this video, I couldn’t seem to do it to save my life. It’s frustrating when you discover that you can no longer do something that you used to do with ease, but I guess that’s part of life/aging. The run is based on the classic Red Smiley D run, but I had it sort of double back over itself and come out again, if that makes sense. I didn’t want to slow the song down just for the sake of getting the run right. This song needs to be pretty peppy.
In the first take, I substituted a different, easier version of the run a couple of times but then foolishly tried to end the song with the more complicated version. In the second take, I made the same kind of mistakes but also attempted a second guitar break without any practice or planning. That was a real “Icarus” moment, but I was feeling confident and thought that as long as I kept the break super simple, I could get through it without having worked it out. Wrong. 🙂 However, having said all that, I am following the advice of several Acorns who suggested (in the comments) not worrying about things like this, so I just uploaded both takes, errors and all. 🙂
Just before shooting this video, I searched online and discovered that the singer I was hearing back then on Dish Network was T. Texas Tyler. He and his Oklahoma Melody Boys came out with “Beautiful Morning Glory” way back in 1945. I saw that other folks have recorded the song, such as Buck Owens and Little Jimmie Dickens, but I haven’t heard any version other than Tyler’s.
When Tyler sang the song, he always left out the final word of each punchline. This didn’t matter because both the context and the rhyme made it obvious to the listener what those omitted words were. When I started singing it backstage at Stechoa, I sang the final word to each verse. Not sure why; it’s just what I did.
For this video, I chose to (as Pap would say) “split the difference,” singing two verses with missing end words and two verses with included end words.
Lyrics
I travel all o’re the country. I seldom sleep in a bed. Whenever my feet get too tired, I simply stand on my…
Beautiful Morning Glory! Kissed and caressed by the dew… Beautiful Morning Glory! Good morning glory to you.
I stopped at a house for a handout. I didn’t go there to beg, When up jumped a great big bulldog and took a hunk out of my…
Repeat Chorus
I once had a baldheaded girlfriend. She dropped her wig at a dance. When I stooped over to retrieve it, she kicked me right in the…
Repeat Chorus
I’m a man who’s not all that good lookin’, not all that smart or that tall. I have to eat my own cookin’, but I make my life a ball. (final verse by Paul Wade Wilson)
Repeat Chorus
If you want to find out more about this old timey song, go to secondhandsongs.org. Here’s a link to Tyler’s recording.
Hope you enjoyed the video!
Paul
Original singles released on Spotify.
Paul that was great! I love a good toe tapping tune and the lyrics were fun! I do love Morning Glory flowers, they too are fun to watch grow as they vine up towards the sun, opening in the morning and closing at night. Beautiful flower and a great song, thanks for sharing the picture and song.
The very first year we broke the ground to start our first garden after we bought our house, the first thing to sprout, even before the seeds we’d planted, was morning glories. I couldn’t believe it! Where in the world were they hiding the whole time?? I do love them, especially on hazy late-August mornings, and will gladly let them take over in late summer as crops finish up, but it’s a never-ending battle until then.
Never heard this song before! Loved the song and great guitar picking! Thanks Paul!
I think morning glories are beautiful too. I loved the guitar picking on this song.
What a great song, Paul. Thank you for sharing it with us.
“Beautiful Morning Glory” brought back memories of long ago when a neighbor would great me with a cheerful “Mornin’ Glory!” every time we met. Such a fine song. And such a fine, fine memory! Thank you.
Catchy tune, feel good tune… this is a good sing-along song. I enjoyed the PICKING as well as the singing, Paul. That lifted my mood so THANKS!
We didn’t have morning glories here. So I planted’em. They are a favorite of mine to. I can’t decide how they change colors but this year we had light pink, medium purple and light blue. I don’t recall just those colors before. They lasted well into the fall, far longer than I thought they would. The deer love to eat them. And about what you did wrong …. you couldn’t prove it by me. But the one who is doing is the one who knows best how well they did I reckon.
Great song, Paul! It’s new to me. (I’m
71 yrs. old) Beautiful performance. My Dad must not have known that song or he would have been singing it! He would have made more verses, too!
For those of us who don’t pick or strum, it all sounds charming and somewhat magical. Of course you have to satisfy your own muse, but have faith that your instincts are sufficient to exceed most of our expectations.
I love morning glorys. They remind me of when I was a child. They were growing on the dirt road that went from grandma’s to my house. Don’t see many now. We don’t have cornfields, like we used too.
Paul, I really enjoy your writing, even if I don’t understand a think you say. I can’t carry a tune if my life depended on it. But I do enjoy music. You and your family are so talented. I do envy you.
Good job Paul! I really enjoyed it. Have a blessed Sunday!!
♫I looked out the window this morning.
Morning Glories were nowhere in sight.
My Beauties, oh where did you go?
You’re hiding out under the ……!
Beautiful Morning Glories ♪♫
Love both versions! Great job Paul!
Snow and ice is all gone this morning, but at 18 degrees and with all the leftover moisture, the frost looks we had another snow. I have read Jim Casada’s comment that was quoting Ken “you can track a rabbit in it.”
Love it!!!! Paul has such a great voice. Thank you for sharing. I hope your snow is still there. I told you we had 2 1/2″, we’ll after getting out away from house I realized it was mor; 5″. Still beautiful this morning. Our high yesterday here in Scaly Mountain was 22! Woohoo! Our church canceled services cause of black ice. Right now at 8:27am it is 20!!! Oh best part of that video was your sweet momma sayin, “that’s real old timey.” Another expression we seldom hear today. Love y’all, stay warm.
I remember hearing this song years ago. Your rendition was great!
That’s a fun one, haven’t heard it before. Thanks.
Cute, peppy song for this morning. I’ve never heard that one. I did find a recording of it by Buck Owens & Buddy Allen here:
https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?&q=beautiful+morning+glory+by+buck+owens&qpvt=beautiful+morning+glory+by+buck+owens&mid=52BEF07D24F556B5C80852BEF07D24F556B5C808&&FORM=VRDGAR
Here’s one by Little Jimmie Dickens:
https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=beautiful+morning+glory+by+Little+Jimmie+Dickens&&mid=098D5FF36676684D9EFF098D5FF36676684D9EFF&&mmscn=stvo&FORM=VRDGAR
Wow…how could you not love this. Paul is so talented. When I think of morning glory I think about sweet potatoes…Thanks for sharing. Prayers for Granny and praying for you guys too. Hugs.
Paul, whatever is wrong, or missing, still sounds great to me. I believe you are too hard on yourself! Such a fun song!
Blessings for a wonderful day!
I don’t remember hearing anyone sing this song. I read the lyrics and had to at grin at them. It seems to be a song Lonso and Oscar would sing. The words that stand out to me in Paul’s writing today are “it’s frustrating when you can no longer do what you use to do.” I know he was referring to playing his guitar, but now I often find this to be true in my life, I have always been a “do it yourself” person when it came to almost anything. So many times I now have to ask my son, grandsons , or even a stranger at a store for help in my everyday life. It is not only frustrating but depressing for me. I like to joke and say “ being poor is strong modification for being a do it yourselfer.”
I thought of Matt not finding tracks in the snow, I wrote about red birds all around my feeder that was filled with sunflower seeds. My son said there were deer tracks around the feeder. It is about 50 feet from my back door and deck.
Fun song for a snowed in Sunday morning!
Acorn family- if your home church service has been cancelled, I’d like to invite you to watch on YouTube Beech Park Baptist Church, Oliver Springs, TN at 11:00 am. Only people at the church is pastor Robbie Leach and the sound crew. I hope you can watch. Thank you!
Brenda-thank you! I will watch it. Our church was cancelled because of the snow and bitter cold.
The way I look at it “if I can’t do it myself, it ain’t gonna get done.” I am a “find a way” kind of person. I don’t ask for help but I don’t always turn it down if it is offered.
I understand what you are saying, but there are some things that have to be done. For instance – I can no longer climb a ladder or get on my roof, if my roof is leaking I can’t leave it leaking just because I can no longer fix it myself, I have to ask someone else to fix it for me. I now let many things go because of not being able to do it myself.