The "Singing Brakeman", Jimmie Rodgers, was my late grandfather's favorite performer. No surprise; my grandfather was a Roadmaster for the Santa Fe Railroad for many, many years. Whenever my ear hears a Jimmie Rodgers tune, my heart hears my PawPaw's strong voice - just as nasally as his hero's, and the rich tones of his guitar. With his well-worn Lucchese boots keeping a steady tap on the hollow-sounding pier and beam floor, his old six-string placed just so across his lap, PawPaw could sing those blue yodels like nobody's business. I remember trying to mimic his lilting full-throated yodels, never succeeding but feeling the pure joy of belting those notes from the top of my voice. It's no wonder every Jimmie Rodgers's song seems heartbreaking to me - they always remind me of my loss, though it's been 36 years since my PawPaw's unexpected death from a heart attack at age 61. Like Jimmie, he was taken before his time.
Willis and family, ca 1949.
"The Soldier's Sweetheart" was written by Jimmie in honor of an old friend, Sammie Williams:
"A pal of Jimmie's, Sammie Williams, told his sweetheart good-bye and went to France -- to be killed in action. So before the war (WWI) was over, Jimmie found time to pick out words and air to his first composition, a sentimental song.... From the first his railroad buddies liked the song, and the young fellows in Meridian who were his boon companions liked it. With banjo, guitar, uke, they hung around the all-night places or strolled the streets playing and singing Jimmie's song along with 'Sweet Adeline' and other sentimental ballads. But it was not until some ten years later that the world heard -- and approved of it."
From 'My Husband, Jimmie Rodgers,' reprinted in Dorothy Horstman, Sing Your Heart Out, Country Boy, New York, NY, 1976, p. 282
Once I had a sweetheart,
A sweetheart brave and true.
His hair was dark and curly,
His loving eyes were blue.
He told me that he loved me,
And he often proved it so.
And he often came to see me,
When the ev'ning sun was low.
But fate took him away
To this awful German war,
And when he came to say goodbye,
My heart did overflow.
He says, "Goodbye, little darling,
To France I must go."
He takes the golden finger ring
and he placed it on my hand,
Said, "Remember me, little darling,
When I'm in no man's land.
He promised he would write to me,
That promise he's kept true.
And when I read this letter, friend,
I pray the war is through.
The second letter I got from him,
The war was just ahead.
The third one, wrote by his captain,
My darling dear was dead.
I'll keep all of his letters,
I'll keep his gold ring, too.
And I'll always live a single life
For the soldier who was so true.
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