(MIDI)

Aura Lea or The Maid With Golden Hair
(Ора Ли)

Words by W. W. Fosdick
Music by G. R. Poulton

When the blackbird in the spring, on the willow tree,
Sat and rocked, I heard him sing, singing Aura Lea
Aura Lea, Aura Lea, maid of golden hair;
Sunshine came along with thee, and swallows in the air.

Chorus:

Aura Lea, Aura Lea, maid of golden hair;
Sunshine came along with thee, and swallows in the air.

In thy blush the rose was born, music when you spake,
Through thine azure eye the morn, sparkling seemed to break.
Aura Lea, Aura Lea, bird of crimson wing,
Never song have sung to me, as in that sweet spring.

Aura Lea! The bird may flee, the willow's golden hair
Swing through winter fitfully, on the stormy air.
Yet if thy blue eyes I see, gloom will soon depart;
For to me, sweet Aura Lea is sunshine through the heart.

When the mistletoe was green, midst the winter's snows,
Sunshine in thy face was seen, kissing lips of rose.
Aura Lea, Aura Lea, take my golden ring;
Love and light return with thee, and swallows with the spring.


«Ора Ли» - старинная южная баллада, за звание родины которой до сих пор спорят Теннесси, Джорджия и Алабама. На эту мелодию Элвис Пресли создал свою знаменитую песню "Love Me Tender". Была очень популярна у обеих воюющих сторон во времена Гражданской войны 1861-65.

В числе 23 лучших песен и мелодий вошла в документальный фильм Кена Бёрнса и Джима Брауна "Песни Гражданской войны" (Ken Burns, Jim Brown, THE SONGS OF CIVIL WAR, 1991), где ее мелодию исполнил Джон Хартфорд (John Hartford). На русский язык фильм переведен в 1999 и показан по телеканалу "Культура".