Red Wing - guitar tab, notes and lyrics
"Red Wing" is a traditional bluegrass song from 1907 with lyrics by Thurland Chattaway and music by F.A Mills (based on a piano work by Robert Schumann). The song is also known as "The Ice Cream Truck Song". A third version is associated the American singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie who in 1940 wrote new lyrics as well as a new title: "Union Maid".
The music transcriptions of the song with tabs and notes are available for download as PDFs. It's free for personal use only.
Melody & full accompaniment
Free tabs and notes plus sound.
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Red Wing guitar tab and notes (pdf)
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Red Wing instrumental guitar (mp3)
Red Wing (full accompaniment)
"Red Wing" for guitar with accompaniment including bass walks. Free download in pdf-file and audio.
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Red Wing (only melody)
"Red Wing" standard and tablature notation for guitar.
Tips on how to learn this song
The most challenging element of this song is probably the tempo. I should be played rather fast (listen to audio above for an indication), and perhaps it will help if you play with a pick and use some alternate picking. Notice also the structure: the song can be divided into two parts, which each repeats once.
Lyrics
Red Wing lyrics
Verse 1:
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.
Chorus:
Now the moon shines tonight on pretty Red Wing,
The breeze is sighing, the night bird's crying,
For a far far away her brave is dying,
While Red Wing's weeping her heart away.
Verse 2:
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.
Chorus (reprise):
Now the moon shines tonight on pretty Red Wing,
The breeze is sighing, the night bird's crying,
For a far far away her brave is dying,
While Red Wing's weeping her heart away.
Key, time, tuning and tempo
Information about "Red Wing" considering musical key, time signature, tuning and bpm.
Key
The presented version of Red Wing is played in the key of G.
Time signature
The song is played in 4/4 tempo (counted one, two, three, four for each measure).
Tuning
The song is normally played in standard tuning (EADGBE).
Tempo (BPM)
The tempo in beats per minute is 180 for the presented version.