This detail of New Year’s Eve remains in some versions of the song. The article told of a woman who froze to death on a sleigh ride to a ball on December 31, 1839. Smith published the song as a poem in 1843 in The Rover, a newspaper in Maine, as “A Corpse Going to a Ball.” Despite a later comment by Kenneth Peacock that efforts to relate the song to an actual event have failed, according to Barry, Smith based the poem on an article in the Februedition of New York Observer. Then Barry made another discovery, and in 1937 retracted his earlier argument and attributed the song to Seba Smith, a well-known journalist. According to Barry, Carter wrote the song sometime before he let Vermont in 1834, and sang it wherever he went, which accounts for its widespread popularity. Phillips Barry first credited William Lorenzo Carter, a blind poet from Benson, Vermont, with the song in 1912. It was so popular, in fact, that it inspired a doll called “Frozen Charlotte.” Yet it still posed problems for folklorists. It has been a popular ballad all over North America from Newfoundland to South Dakota, and widely studied. “Young Charlotte” is an old ballad native to North America. ![]() ![]() Song: “Young Charlotte” (or “Fair Charlotte”)
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |