Wildwood Flower
Wildwood Flower is an American folk song with music by Joseph Philbrick Webster and lyrics by Maud Irving. It was created in 1860 and was originally called I'll Twine 'Mid the Ringlets . The song is about a person who is abandoned by her lover in complete surprise and without warning. Whether the narrator is male or female varies depending on the artist.
The piece became known in the late 1920s through the Carter Family , with AP Carter rewriting the text slightly; so the first line I'll twine 'mid the ringlets of my raven black hair no longer appears and became Oh, I'll twine with my mingles and waving black hair . Later cover versions were mostly based on the Carter Family version.
Other recordings were made by Joan Baez , Johnny Cash and Roger McGuinn . Hank Thompson and Merle Travis recorded an instrumental version of the piece together in 1955, which hit the top five of the charts. For the 2005 published biopic about Johnny Cash Walk the Line took Reese Witherspoon (in the film June Carter plays) the piece as well. A final version by June Carter herself appeared on the 2003 posthumously released album Wildwood Flower , which was recorded shortly before her death.