Description

Author: Turner, Martha Anne

Publisher: Texas Western Press

Pub Date: 1971

Binding: Paperback

Condition: Fair. Stapled binding tight. No marks tears. Both upper and lower rear cover corners have small (approx. 1/4″-1/2″) bends. Wrinkling to rear cover at spine edge. Wrinkling to front cover. Some edge and corner wear.

Notes: Pamphlet. Southwestern Studies Monograph No. 31. This is the true first edition of Turner’s fanciful recollection of how the folk song “The Yellow Rose of Texas” came to be. The most popular version of the song was the 1955 version, attributed to Don George, and made famous by Mitch Miller (remember him?), though perhaps the earliest versions of the song was published in 1858. Inspired by a free mulatto woman, Emily West, erroneously called Emily Morgan, she was thought to be the woman who kept General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna in his tent at the Battle of San Jacinto (1836), allowing the Texans to win the battle and avenge the Alamo. “With regard to the Yellow Rose legend, she may have been in Santa Anna’s tent when the Texans charged the Mexican camp on April 21, but it was not by choice. She could not have known Houston’s plans, nor could she have intentionally delayed Santa Anna. Moreover, in their official reports after returning to Mexico, none of his disaffected officers mentioned the presence of a woman or even that el presidente was in a state of undress.” (https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/west-emily-d ). I imagine most people know the first one or two lines of the song, but I doubt anyone knows all four verses. Includes the music score.