# Red Wing (song)

"Red Wing" is a popular song written in 1907 with music by F.A Mills and lyrics by Thurland Chattaway. Mills adapted the music of the verse from Robert Schumann's piano composition "The Happy Farmer, Returning From Work" from his 1848 Album for the Young, Opus 68. The song tells of a young Indian girl's loss of her sweetheart who has died in battle.

## Lyrics

    There once lived an Indian maid,
    A shy little prairie maid,
    Who sang all day a love song gay,
    As on the plains she'd while away the day.
    She loved a warrior bold,
    This shy little maid of old,
    But brave and gay he rode one day
    To battle far away.
    Now the moon shines tonight on pretty Red Wing,
    The breeze is sighing, the night bird's crying,
    For afar 'neath his star her brave is sleeping,
    While Red Wing's weeping her heart away.
    She watched for him day and night;
    She lit all the campfires bright;
    And under the sky each night, she would lie
    And dream about his coming by and by,
    But when all the braves returned,
    The heart of Red Wing yearned,
    For far, far away, her warrior gay
    Fell bravely in the fray.
    Now the moon shines tonight on pretty Red Wing,
    The breeze is sighing, the night bird's crying,
    For afar 'neath his star her brave is sleeping,
    While Red Wing's weeping her heart away.
* ↑ in later versions usually: "For a far far away her brave is dying"

## Covers

The song has been recorded numerous times in many styles. In 1950 Oscar Brand recorded a bawdy version in his Bawdy Songs & Backroom Ballads, Volume 3.
* The song was connected with and often performed by actress Princess Red Wing. It "achieved a folk song-like popularity" and became a standard for"Native American fiddlers". Its name refers to Red Wing, Minnesota, which is named for Mdewakanton Dakota Chief Red Wing.
* Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys recorded a Western swing cover of Red Wing in the 1940s.
* George Lewis helped make it a standard of the traditional jazz revival era.
* An instrumental version, with Chet Atkins on guitar, was released by Asleep at the Wheel in 1993.
* American roots music group The Steel Wheels recorded a version with new lyrics in 2011.
* Slim Whitman, country music singer

## In popular culture

The chorus of Red Wing is the jingle for the Ice Cream Wagon ice cream truck company of Denver, Colorado.
The music has been played during intermissions at Olympia Stadium, Joe Louis Arena, and Little Caesars Arena ever since the Detroit Falcons became the Detroit Red Wings.
A few seconds of the song were sung by John Wayne in the 1943 film In Old Oklahoma and again by John Wayne and Lee Marvin in the 1961 film The Comancheros.

## "Union Maid" by Woody Guthrie

In 1940 Woody Guthrie wrote new lyrics to the tune, retitled "Union Maid". Guthrie's are perhaps the most famous of alternative words for the song; his song begins:
    There once was a union maid, she never was afraid
    Of goons and ginks and company finks and the deputy sheriffs who made the raid.
    She went to the union hall when a meeting it was called,
    And when the Legion boys come 'round
    She always stood her ground.
    Oh, you can't scare me, I'm sticking to the union,
    I'm sticking to the union, I'm sticking to the union.
    Oh, you can't scare me, I'm sticking to the union,
    I'm sticking to the union 'til the day I die.

## The Moon Shines Bright on Charlie Chaplin

Red Wing was parodied in a version popular among British troops during the First World War, which begins with the line, "Now the moon shines bright on Charlie Chaplin." This variant originated in response to the comedian's refusal to enlist, and was featured in the movie Oh! What A Lovely War. It was subsequently perpetuated among British schoolchildren. During the 1970s, Harry Boardman and the Oldham Tinkers folk group recorded a version incorporating all of the verses that they remembered from their childhood.

### First World War

The following version was published in 1916 by B. Feldman.
    You've sung of the boys in blue,
    You've sung of their girls so true,
    You've marched to the strain of the well-known refrain
    Of "Who's Your Lady Friend?" and "Tipperary" too,
    Our Tommies so brave and strong
    Have sung ev'ry kind of song
    But what is the lay they're singing today
    As they go marching along?
       Refrain
       When the moon shines bright on Charlie Chaplin
       His shoes are cracking, for want of blacking
       And his little baggy trousers they want mending
       Before we send him to the Dardanelles.
    Some day there will come a time
    To "Wind up the Watch on the Rhine",
    And Tommy and Jack will come marching back
    And take a cup for the sake of "Auld Lang Syne".
    But ere that happy day
    The Germans have got to pay,
    When we march in to capture Berlin
    We will sing this little lay.
       Refrain
A variant of the refrain goes
       When the moon shines bright on Charlie Chaplin
       His boots are cracking, for want of blacking
       And the bottoms of his shoes, they won't need mending
       Before they send him to the Dardanelles.
Another variant (some years later, and without the war reference) goes
       Oh, the moon shines bright on Charlie Chaplin
       His boots are cracking, they need a blacking
       And his old gray trousers need a patching
       Cause he's been scratching
       Mosquito bites!

### Oldham Tinkers

       Refrain
       The moon shines bright on Charlie Chaplin
       His boots are crackin’ for want of blackin‘
       And his owd fusty coat is wanting mending
       Until they send him to the Dardenelles
    Charlie Chaplin had no sense
    He bought a flute for 18 pence
    But the only tune that he could play
    Was ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay
       Refrain
    Charlie Chaplin meek and mild
    Stole a sausage from a child
    But when the child began to cry
    Charlie socked him in the eye
       Refrain
    Charlie Chaplin went to France
    To teach the ladies how to dance
    First you heel, and then you toe
    Lift your skirts and up you go
       Refrain
    Charlie Chaplin Chuck-Chuck-Chuck
    Went to bed with three white ducks
    One died and Charlie cried
    Charlie Chaplin Chuck-Chuck-Chuck
       Refrain