A beloved American folk standard originally published as “I’ll Twine ‘Mid the Ringlets” in 1860 by Maud Irving and J.P. Webster, telling the story of a woman abandoned by her beloved. The song was passed down in Southern families for nearly 70 years, with lyrics transformed through oral tradition – “ringlets of my raven black hair” became “mingles and waving black hair” in the Carter Family’s pivotal 1928 recording. Maybelle Carter said of the song, “I think some of the words have kind of gotten mixed up ….because they don’t make too much sense in a few places.” Sara Carter’s vocals and Maybelle Carter’s innovative “Carter scratch” guitar technique captured this folk evolution. In 1953, the Carter Sisters and Mother Maybelle recorded a second version as members of the Grand Ole Opry.
The original 1860 lyrics were rich with Victorian flower symbolism, where each bloom carried hidden meaning — red roses for passionate love, white lilies for purity, myrtle for marriage, and amaranthus for eternal devotion.
Left: I’ll Twin Mid the Ringlets Sheet Music
“I’ll Twine Mid the Ringlets” (1860)
Lyrics by Maud Irving, Music by Joseph Philbrick Webster
I will twine mid the ringlets of my raven black hair
The roses so red and the lilies so fair,
The myrtle so bright with its emerald hue,
The pale amaranthus and violets so blue.
I will sing and I’ll dance, my laugh shall be gay.
I’ll cease this wild weeping, drive sorrow away.
Though my heart is breaking, he never shall know
His name made me tremble, my pale cheeks to glow.
I’ll think of him never, I’ll be wildly gay.
I’ll charm every heart, the crowd I will sway.
I’ll live yet to see him regret the dark hour
That he won, then neglected, his pale wildwood flower.
He told me he loved me and promised to love
Through ill and misfortune all others above.
Another has won him! Ah, misery to tell,
He left me in silence, no words of farewell.
He taught me to love him and called me his flower
That blossomed for him all the brighter each hour.
But I woke from my dreaming: my idol was clay.
My visions of love have all faded away.
Key: C major
Tradition: Bluegrass
Type: Song
Year Written: 1860