Welcome to Day 9 of a Fiddle Tune a Day. I’m back home again in Colorado, and glad to be able to relax and catch up on my sleep after the Colorado State Fiddle Contest. Today, I’m playing Aura Lea, better known today as the tune that lends its melody to West Point’s “Army Blue”, and Elvis Presley’s “Love me tender”.
About 150 years ago, two men wrote a song together. One of them was a famous speaker and writer, named William Fosdick. The other was an unknown music teacher at a small school in New York. Aura Lea became one of the most popular tunes of the Civil War era, popular in the south as well as the north. The melody of Aura Lea lives on in Love me Tender and Army Blue.
George R. Poulton was my Grandmother’s Great Uncle, and I am proud to have this music in my family.
Learn to play Aura Lea on fiddle here
Beautiful musical performance !
Thank you, Michael!
This morning’s fiddle tune made me feel like staying in the house with a hot cup of coffee and ignor shoveling the huge snow (+8 inches) we got yesterday and last night.
Beautiful song. Better than Elvis.
Thanks, Cody. That's quite a compliment.
Thanks, Michael. This tune is really special to me.