SONG OF THE DAY

“The Great Speck­led Bird” writ­ten by Roy Acuff, lyrics by Guy Smith, 1937. Sheet music first printed by M.M. Cole Pub­lish­ing Com­pany, Chicago, IL.

INTERESTING FACTS (a la wikipedia)

- “The Great Speck­led Bird” is a South­ern hymn whose lyrics were writ­ten by the Rev­erend Guy Smith.

- The song is in the form of AABA and has a 12 bar count.

- It is based on Jere­miah 12:9, “Mine her­itage is unto me as a speck­led bird, the birds round about are against her; come ye, assem­ble all the beasts of the field, come to devour.”

- It was recorded in 1936 by Roy Acuff. It was also later recorded by Johnny Cash and Kitty Wells (both in 1959), Hank Lock­lin (1962), Lucinda Williams (1978), Bert South­wood (1990), and Jerry Lee Lewis.

- The tune is the same appar­ently tra­di­tional melody used in the folk song “I Am Think­ing Tonight Of My Blue Eyes,” orig­i­nally recorded in the 1920s. The same melody was later used in the 1952 coun­try hit “The Wild Side of Life,” sung by Hank Thomp­son, and the even more suc­cess­ful “answer song” per­formed by Kitty Wells called “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky-Tonk Angels.”

VERSIONS I RECOMMEND

Lucinda Williams, from her album Ram­blin’, 1978

The Smith­son­ian Col­lec­tions’ record­ing of The Holi­ness Church, from the album Moun­tain Music of Ken­tucky, Smith­son­ian Folk­ways Record­ings, released in 1996

Mar­ion Williams, from her album My Soul Looks Back, 1994

Mar­ion Williams, from her album The New Mes­sage, 1971

Lloyd Aaron, on his album Red Coat, Green Pants, and Red Suede Shoes

Roy Acuff & His Crazy Ten­nesseans, as pre­sented on the album Colum­bia Coun­try Clas­sics, Vol­ume 1: The Golden Age