Red Wing

"Red Wing" is a popular song written in 1907 with music by F.A Mills and lyrics by Thurland Chattaway. Mills adapted the music of the verse from Robert Schumann's piano composition "The Happy Farmer, Returning From Work" from his 1848 Album for the Young, Opus 68. The song tells of a young Indian girl's loss of her sweetheart who has died in battle. Lyrics There once lived an Indian maid, A shy little prairie maid, Who sang all day a love song gay, As on the plains she'd while away the day. She loved a warrior bold, This shy little maid of old, But brave and gay he rode one day To battle far away. Now the moon shines tonight on pretty Red Wing, The breeze is sighing, the night bird's crying, For afar 'neath his star her brave is sleeping, While Red Wing's weeping her heart away. She watched for him day and night; She lit all the campfires bright; And under the sky each night, she would lie And dream about his coming by and by, But when all the braves returned, The heart of Red Wing yearned, For far, far away, her warrior gay Fell bravely in the fray.