"Aura Lea" is an American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

 song about a maiden. It was written by W. W. Fosdick

W. W. Fosdick

William Whiteman Fosdick was a American poet, writer and song lyricist, primarily remembered today as the one who wrote the original lyrics to the song Aura Lea to a melody composed by George R. Poulton. Fosdick was as a native of Cincinnati, Ohio and graduated from Transylvania University in...

 (words) and George R. Poulton

George R. Poulton

George R. Poulton was a musician and composer. best known for composing the tune to "Aura Lea".He was born in Cricklade, Nr Cirencester, , England in 1828. He was baptised in St. Mary's Church and was raised in the town until the age of seven when his parents, Charles and Hannah Poulton, emigrated...

 (music).

Lyrics

The lyrics as written by Fosdick:

When the blackbird in the Spring,

Neath the willow tree,

Sat and rock'd, I heard him sing,

Singing Aura Lea.

Aura Lea, Aura Lea,

Maid with golden hair;

Sunshine came along with thee,

And swallows in the air.

Chorus:

Aura Lea, Aura Lea,

Maid with golden hair;

Sunshine came along with thee,

And swallows in the air.

In thy blush the rose was born,

Music, when you spake,

Through thine azure eye the morn,

Sparkling seemed to break.

Aura Lea, Aura Lea,

Birds of crimson wing,

Never song have sung to me,

As in that sweet spring.

(Chorus)

Aura Lea! the bird may flee,

The willow's golden hair

Swing through winter fitfully,

On the stormy air.

Yet if thy blue eyes I see,

Gloom will soon depart;

For to me, sweet Aura Lea

Is sunshine through the heart.

(Chorus)

When the mistletoe was green,

Midst the winter's snows,

Sunshine in thy face was seen,

Kissing lips of rose.

Aura Lea, Aura Lea,

Take my golden ring;

Love and light return with thee,

And swallows with the spring.

(Chorus)

Other occurrences of the song

"Aura Lea" was memorably sung by Frances Farmer

Frances Farmer

Frances Elena Farmer was an American actress of stage and screen. She is perhaps better known for sensationalized and fictional accounts of her life, and especially her involuntary commitment to a mental hospital...

 and a male chorus in the 1936 film Come and Get It

Come and Get It (film)

Come and Get It is a 1936 American drama film directed by Howard Hawks and William Wyler. The screenplay by Jane Murfin and Jules Furthman is based on the 1935 novel of the same title by Edna Ferber.-Plot:...

, based on Edna Ferber

Edna Ferber

Edna Ferber was an American novelist, short story writer and playwright. Her novels were especially popular and included the Pulitzer Prize-winning So Big , Show Boat , and Giant .-Early years:Ferber was born August 15, 1885, in Kalamazoo, Michigan,...

's novel.

The Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley

Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....

 song "Love Me Tender

Love Me Tender (song)

"Love Me Tender" is a song recorded by Elvis Presley and published by Elvis Presley Music, adapted from the tune of "Aura Lee" , a sentimental Civil War ballad.- History :...

" (lyric by Ken Darby

Ken Darby

Kenneth Lorin Darby was an American composer, vocal arranger, lyricist, and conductor. His film scores were recognized with three Academy Awards and one Grammy Award.- Personal life :...

) is a derivative

Derivative work

In United States copyright law, a derivative work is an expressive creation that includes major, copyright-protected elements of an original, previously created first work .-Definition:...

 adaptation of this song. A later Presley recording for the film The Trouble with Girls entitled "Violet (Flower of N.Y.U.)" also used the melody of "Aura Lea".

The television cavalry comedy F Troop

F Troop

F Troop is a satirical American television sitcom that originally aired for two seasons on ABC-TV. It debuted in the United States on September 14, 1965 and concluded its run on April 6, 1967 with a total of 65 episodes. The first season of 34 episodes was filmed in black-and-white, but the show...

 used a variation of the song to welcome saloon singer Laura Lee in the episode "She's Only a Build in a Girdle

Girdle

A girdle is a garment that encircles the lower torso, perhaps extending below the hips, and worn often for support. The word girdle originally meant a belt. In modern English, the term girdle is most commonly used for a form of women's foundation wear that replaced the corset in popularity...

d Cage" (cf. "She's only a bird in a gilded cage

A Bird in a Gilded Cage

"A Bird in a Gilded Cage" is a song composed by Arthur J. Lamb and Harry Von Tilzer . It was a sentimental ballad that became one of the most popular songs of 1900, reportedly selling more than two million copies in sheet music...

").

The television western The Young Riders

The Young Riders

The Young Riders is an American Western television series created by Ed Spielman that presents a fictionalized account of a group of young Pony Express riders based at the Sweetwater Station in the Nebraska Territory during the years leading up to the American Civil War...

 used the song in its series finale, which took place in 1861 and showed how the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

 was affecting its characters' lives.

There is also a version of "Aura Lea" called "Army Blue" associated with the U.S. Military Academy. The tune is sung to lyrics specific to the academy; the original lyrics to that version were by George T. Olmstead, an 1865 graduate of the academy. It is the running theme music in the background of the 1954 John Ford

John Ford

John Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...

 film The Long Gray Line

The Long Gray Line

The Long Gray Line is a 1955 American drama film directed by John Ford based on the life of Marty Maher. Tyrone Power stars as the scrappy Irish immigrant whose 50-year career at West Point took him from dishwasher to non-commissioned officer and athletic instructor.Maureen O'Hara, one of Ford's...

.

Allan Sherman

Allan Sherman

Allan Sherman was an American comedy writer and television producer who became famous as a song parodist in the early 1960s. His first album, My Son, the Folk Singer , became the fastest-selling record album up to that time...

 topicalized the song with this polio-based version:

Every time you take vaccine

Vaccine

A vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism, and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe or its toxins...

, take it Aura Lea

Albert Sabin

Albert Bruce Sabin was an American medical researcher best known for having developed an oral polio vaccine.-Life:...

 (pun on "orally")

As you know the other way

Jonas Salk

Jonas Edward Salk was an American medical researcher and virologist, best known for his discovery and development of the first safe and effective polio vaccine. He was born in New York City to parents from Ashkenazi Jewish Russian immigrant families...

 is more painfully

Buttocks

The buttocks are two rounded portions of the anatomy, located on the posterior of the pelvic region of apes and humans, and many other bipeds or quadrupeds, and comprise a layer of fat superimposed on the gluteus maximus and gluteus medius muscles. Physiologically, the buttocks enable weight to...

!"

Parody

The 1983 film Trading Places

Trading Places

Trading Places is a 1983 American comedy film, of the satire genre, directed by John Landis, starring Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy. It tells the story of an upper class commodities broker and a homeless street hustler whose lives cross paths when they are unknowingly made part of an elaborate bet...

 includes Ivy League

Ivy League

The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...

 stockbrokers at their racquet club

Racquet Club of Philadelphia

The Racquet Club of Philadelphia is a private social club and athletic club in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It has facilities for squash, real tennis, and racquets....

 singing a sexualized parody of this song about their college days and their fraternity's conquest of various women on locations at campus, with the refrain changed to Constance Fry.

The television show How I Met Your Mother

How I Met Your Mother

How I Met Your Mother is an American sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 19, 2005, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays.As a framing device, the main character, Ted Mosby with narration by Bob Saget, in the year 2030 recounts to his son and daughter the events that led to his meeting...

 2010 episode "Robots Versus Wrestlers

Robots Versus Wrestlers

"Robots Versus Wrestlers " is the 22nd episode of the fifth season of the CBS situation comedy How I Met Your Mother and 110th episode overall. It aired on May 10, 2010.- Plot :...

", features Ted Mosby

Ted Mosby

Theodore Evelyn "Ted" Mosby is the titular fictional character of the U.S. television sitcom How I Met Your Mother, portrayed by Josh Radnor...

 at an upper-class party singing the Trading Places Constance Fry version along with film director Peter Bogdanovich

Peter Bogdanovich

Peter Bogdanovich is an American film historian, director, writer, actor, producer, and critic. He was part of the wave of "New Hollywood" directors, which included William Friedkin, Brian De Palma, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Michael Cimino, and Francis Ford Coppola...

 and New York Times crossword editor Will Shortz

Will Shortz

Will Shortz is an American puzzle creator and editor, and currently the crossword puzzle editor for The New York Times.-Early life and education:...

.