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"The Yellow Rose of Texas" is a traditional folk song of the Southern United States, which became popular in 1955 in a recording by Mitch Miller. The author is unknown; the publisher (Phillips) only gives the author's initials as "J. K."^[1] The author is popularly presumed to have been African American, and the Yellow Rose's lover.^[2] The soundtrack to the TV minseries James A. Michener's Texas dates the song to 1927 and co-credits its authorship to Gene Autry. The Yellow Rose was Emily West Morgan, and, according to at least one source, the original title of the song was "Emily, the Maid of Morgan's Point."^[3]

Contents 1 Legend 2 History 3 Lyrics 4 Civil War song 5 Racial references in lyrics 6 Trivia 7 See also 8 References 9 Further reading 10 External links

The song is based on a Texas legend from the days of the Texas War of Independence. According to the legend, a free African American woman named Emily D. West, seized by Mexican forces during the looting of Galveston, seduced General Antonio López de Santa Anna, President of Mexico and commander of the Mexican forces. The legend credits her supposed seduction with lowering the guard of the Mexican army and facilitating the Texan victory in the battle of San Jacinto waged in 1836 near present-day Houston. Santa Anna's opponent was General Sam Houston, who won the battle literally in minutes, and with almost no casualties.

This legend is comparable to the Biblical war story of Jael and Sisera, found in Judges 4:14–22 and repeated in poetry in Judges 5:23–27. Jael's story was popular with Protestant Christians of the time and would have been familiar to slaves and freedmen as well as the white population.

Historians assert that if West was with Santa Anna, it was not by her choice, nor did she play any part in deciding the battle. The seduction legend was largely unknown until the publication of English tourist William Bollaert's diary in the 1950s, when amateur historians propagated an embellished version.

The basic facts^[2] appear to be that Emily West migrated to Texas from New York City in late 1835. Sources describe her as a teen or as a woman of twenty. According to one version of the legend, she became an indentured servant on the plantation of James Morgan near what was then called New Washington and is now Morgan's Point. Because of her indenture to Morgan, some historians say, she became known by his surname, as was the custom for indentured servants as well as slaves.^{[citation needed]}

Santa Anna reportedly saw West in April 1836 when he invaded New Washington prior to the Battle of San Jacinto. Legend states that she was forcibly placed in his camp. Allegedly, Santa Anna was with her when Texan General Sam Houston's troops arrived, forcing him to flee without weapons or armor and enabling his capture the next day.

In 2005, African-American journalist Denise McVea wrote a book arguing that Emily West was not a servant but was in fact Emily de Zavala, the wife of Lorenzo de Zavala, the vice-president of the Republic of Texas. In her book, McVea cites a marriage certificate found in family records at the University of Texas at Austin that confirms West married Zavala in a New York Catholic church on November 12, 1831.^[4]

There's a yellow rose in Texas, that I am going to see,

Nobody else could miss her, not half as much as me.

She cried so when I left her, it like to broke my heart,

And if I ever find her, we nevermore will part.

(Chorus)

She's the sweetest rose of color

This darky every (sic) knew

Her eyes are bright as diamonds

They sparkle like the dew

You may talk about dearest May

And sing of Rosa Lee

But the yellow rose of Texas

Beats the belles of Tennessee

When the Rio Grande is flowing, the starry skies are bright,

She walks along the river in the quiet summer night:

I know that she remembers, when we parted long ago,

I promise to return again, and not to leave her so.

(Chorus)

Oh now I'm going to find her, for my heart is full of woe,

And we'll sing the songs together, that we sang so long ago

We'll play the banjo gaily, and we'll sing the songs of yore,

And the yellow rose of Texas shall be mine forevermore.

(Chorus)

The song became popular with Confederate Army troops, especially those from Texas, though the last verse is slightly different.

Oh my feet are torn and bloody, and my heart if full of woe,

I'm going back to Georgia, to find my Uncle Joe,

You may talk about your Beauregard, sing of General Lee,

But the gallant Hood of Texas, played hell in Tennessee.

This refers to famous Confederate generals Joseph Johnston, Robert E. Lee, P. G. T. Beauregard, and John Bell Hood.

The expressions "high yellow" or simply "yellow" were used during this time period to refer to a light-skinned African-American with significant Caucasian ancestry, and the original lyrics refer to a biracial woman as the "yellow rose":

There's a yellow rose in Texas, That I am going to see

No other darky knows her, No one only me

The second line is putatively a reference to the author, "J.K.", who may have been an African-American man and West's sweetheart. The lyrics were modified in the popular version of the 1950s to bowdlerize the racial references:

There's a yellow rose of Texas I'm goin' for to see,

No other soldier knows her, nobody only me.

"Rose of color" was bowdlerized into "little rosebud."^[2]

Owing to the use of ballad meter, the lyrics are interchangeable with those of many other songs and poems. Popular examples are many of the poems of Emily Dickinson, the hymn Amazing Grace and The Ballad of Gilligan's Isle.

The SRM firmware of DEC Alpha computers plays this song on the internal speaker when typing the undocumented sound command.

Satirical songwriter Allan Sherman produced a Jewish-centered parody called "Melvin Rose of Texas". Sherman's four-line version of the song was part of one of his "Schticks and Stones" medleys.

The First Lady of Texas is popularly given the nickname the "Yellow Rose of Texas" by the Texan people. The title is unofficial and is widely, although not universally, accepted.

Another popular version replaces the chorus's fifth-line name with "Clementine" ...
"You may talk about your Clementine
And sing of Rosa Lee
But the yellow rose of Texas
Beats the belles of Tennessee"

The music is currently being used (without lyrics) in an advertisement in Tokyo, Japan for a loan company. (December 2007)

• The Yellow Rose of Texas (flower)

1. ^ Kuntz, Andrew The Fiddler’s Companion - - accessed 20 November 2006.
2. ^ ^{a b c} Harris, Trudier, (1997). "The Yellow Rose of Texas: A Different Cultural View." Callaloo 20.1 pp. 8–19 at 12.
3. ^ In Search of the "Yellow Rose of Texas" by Mark Whitelaw, accessed August 26, 2006.
4. ^ McVea, Denise (2006). Making Myth of Emily: Emily West de Zavala and the Yellow Rose of Texas Legend. San Antonio, Texas: Auris Books., p.101. ISBN 0-9773465-0-1

• Bunkley, Anita (1989; reprint 1999). Emily, The Yellow Rose. Houston: Rinard Publishing. ISBN
• McVea, Denise (2006). Making Myth of Emily: Emily West de Zavala and the Yellow Rose of Texas Legend. San Antonio, Texas: Auris Books. ISBN 0-9773465-0-1.
• Turner, Martha Anne (1971) "The Yellow Rose of Texas: The Story of a Song," Southwestern Studies, Monograph No. 31. University of Texas at El Paso: Texas Western Press, pp. 3-19.
• Turner, Martha Anne (1976) "The Yellow Rose of Texas": Her Saga and Her Song. Austin: Shoal Creek Publishers.

• Handbook of Texas Online
• Easybyte "The Yellow Rose of Texas" - free easy piano arrangement, plus midi sound file.
• "Yellow Rose of Texas"