Little Darling Pal Of Mine
A. P. Carter Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

My little darling, oh, how I love you
How I love you none can tell
In your heart you love another
Little darling pal of mine

Many a night while you lay sleeping
Dreaming of your rambler's life
Lay a poor boy brokenhearted

Listening to the wind outside
My little darling, oh, how I love you
How I love you none can tell
In your heart you love another
Little darling pal of mine

Many a day with you I've rambled
Countless hours with you I've spent
Thought I had your heart forever
But I find it only lent
My little darling, oh, how I love you
How I love you none can tell
In your heart you love another
Little darling pal of mine

There is just three things I wish for
That's a casket, shroud, and grave
When I'm dead, don't weep for me
Just kiss those lips that you betrayed
My little darling, oh, how I love you
How I love you none can tell

In your heart you love another
Little darling pal of mine

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of A. P. Carter's song "Little Darling Pal Of Mine" tell a story of unrequited love and heartbreak. The singer expresses his deep love for his "little darling" but knows that she loves someone else. He spends many nights listening to the wind outside, brokenhearted by her love for another man. Despite the pain, he reminisces on the happy times they had spent together and thought that he had her heart forever, but in the end, he finds out it was only lent.

The song takes a dark turn towards the end when the singer asks for just three things in death: a casket, shroud, and grave. He doesn't want his love to weep for him but instead wants her to kiss the lips that betrayed him. The lyrics suggest that the singer is ready to die and wants his love to feel guilty for the pain she caused him.

Line by Line Meaning

My little darling, oh, how I love you
I have an enormous affection for you, my dearest

How I love you none can tell
It's impossible to fully express how much I love you

In your heart you love another
Sadly, you have deep feelings for someone else

Little darling pal of mine
My cherished friend and companion

Many a night while you lay sleeping
When you were sleeping soundly at night

Dreaming of your rambler's life
Imagining a life of wandering and traveling

Lay a poor boy brokenhearted
I, a destitute boy, lay heartbroken

Listening to the wind outside
Hearing the sound of the wind blowing outside

Many a day with you I've rambled
I've spent many days wandering with you

Countless hours with you I've spent
I've spent an immeasurable amount of time with you

Thought I had your heart forever
I believed I held your heart for eternity

But I find it only lent
But it turns out I was only borrowing it

There is just three things I wish for
I only have three wishes

That's a casket, shroud, and grave
A coffin, burial sheet, and a grave to be buried in

When I'm dead, don't weep for me
When I pass away, please do not cry for me

Just kiss those lips that you betrayed
Instead, kiss the lips that you have deceived and betrayed

Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing
Written by: A.P. CARTER

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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Comments from YouTube:

Muffs 55mercury

4y↑6

My first Carter Family 78 that I found in 1997. Country music is not on the top of my interests but from the very opening notes I was hooked on this trio and their 1927-32 recordings and have since found 9 more of their 78s.

Bram Dourleijn

9y↑8

I love this song..thank you for sharing this great version...I'm a busker and love to play this one greetings from Holland, Bram

Efrem Wilder

2y↑2

This song will live forever.

Madness In Living Color

43w

Masterpiece. That’s all I have to say

julie glover

11y↑28

my husband used to sing this to me 30yrs ago ! he died christmas 2012, god bless you my pal of mine, ni night roy xxxx

dougie mccormack

6y↑5

i just love it and the singing fantastic

WildeNotesMusic

11y↑6

Listening to the Carters' "When The World's On Fire," I realize that its first 4 lines of melody are identical to "This Land Is Your Land" but the last 4 lines are the same tune as "Little Darling, Pal Of Mine."

Pearlie Ford

4y↑4

So lovely, priceless none like them

D. T. Miller

16y↑8

One of the very few Carter Family recordings featuring Mother Maybelle on the Dobro.

K.M. Slattery

T M Is there any record of her playing a dobro? I just noticed that this song and Moonlight both have "slide “ guitar. Maybelle was something else!😊

SirCoughsalot

It's not a dobro, it's just a slide guitar.

WildeNotesMusic

11y↑4

None of these tunes are duplicates (except maybe WTWOF, which I haven't heard). They just share some common melodic lines and/or phrasing and chord patterns.

WildeNotesMusic

14y↑1

@sandyjo55 "This Land Is Your Land" also sound a lot like "You Are My Sunshine." But the only melodic lines in TLIYL that are very similar to Little Darlin' Pal Of Mine are the first two, and the first lines of the 2 songs are the same only on the first 6 notes. There the melodies depart strikingly.

WildeNotesMusic

14y

@meplayin If you play the two tunes without the lyrics, I think you'll easily see that the two tunes are quite distinct and recognizable, even though the chord patterns are the same or similar (which happens with a lot of songs) and a couple of melodic phrases are shared between the two songs.

sandyjo55

14y↑2

Another Carter Family song that sounds like "This Land is Your Land" is "When the World's on Fire". Just wanted to note the comparison in the music in all three of the songs ;)

Tony Lupo

It's common knowledge that Woody Guthrie loved the Carter Family and borrowed the melody of this song for 'This Land is Your Land" And he borrowed some others melodies as well

WOOH Ent

1y↑1

This song originally was written by a black minister called “When the World Was on Fire” then taken by the carter family and turned to “Little darling,Pal of Mine” in 1928,which was THEN turned to “This Land is Your Land” I will forever love us we determine what the world does whether they like it or not just accept it🤣✌🏽🤌🏽💯🤷🏽‍♂️

WildeNotesMusic

11y↑1

Woody did borrow (to use his words, "steal 'em") some tunes and use them exactly as they were. But the tune to This Land Is Your Land is not the same tune as any other song I've ever heard, though parts of it do sound like some other songs.

Gene Weed

Almost all composers "borrow" melodies from one another. Thus the original 'works' seem to grow and get better over time. Thus a definitive 'Origin' of a particular tune cannot be, with utmost certainty, ever be established. Mathematical sequences [music] that trend over millennium are had to change due to the subsequent refinement of the pleasing mathematical trends it offers to our soul or memory, and it's current meaning to us.

Corey Wiley

14y↑2

"Take Me Back" by Frank Stokes sounds like this also.

Michael Lanning

9y↑14

Woody Guthrie nicked the beginning of this melody of r"This Land Is Your Land"

Jim Funk

3y↑2

Guthrie was a plagiarist who never would have been anybody had he not "nicked" the Carter's tune.

Jim Yates

11y↑1

It's on Youtube. Check it out and see what you think. I hadn't thought of You Are My Sunshine, but the the phrasing is the same. The tune is different. Lots of things in common though.

Willie Stratton

14y↑1

@aguerrero1 yes indeed they do, that's because he borrowed the melody from this song, which he did in a lot of his songs This Land is Your Land was actually written as a political response to God Bless America, which Woody didn't like, and thought it was unrealistic

Ciaran H

10y

she played the archtop guitar and raised the neck on the bridge.

K.M. Slattery

This is what seems unrealistic to me - that Maybelle was also adept at dobro guitar and her "scratch" technique. Combined with AP'S friend Lesley Riddle being an accomplished slide guitarist.

Tony Lupo

Maybelle made her own dobro so to speak, she loosened the strings on her guitar put a steel bar under strings and tuned it up and played with a metal slide (that she describes as another steel bar)on her finger. She explains it in an interview from 1963 and the interview is on You Tube.

Tony Lupo

And she refers to Mr. Riddle as "Esley" not Lesley in the same interview.

1 More Replies...

WildeNotesMusic

11y

I'm not familiar with that one, PHJimY. But I think the tune to "Little Darlin', Pal Of Mine" is closer to the tune of "You Are My Sunshine" than it is to "This Land Is Your Land."

Scott C. Miller

15y

You are right about that, Woody took this music added is owns words for This Land is Your Land in thr 1930's

Efrem Wilder

it's different no disrespect

nexwaval

14y↑2

The wanabees of today will never sound like this.

Ruth Dixon

44w

maybelle carter shines here on her self converted steel guirar.

dstrobel3

12y↑7

I had heard that Maybelle played "slide" on some songs but could never get anyone to give me a title....thanx much....pax doug

K.M. Slattery

dstrobel3 Can’t believe she played slide too! I am trying to find any documentation of this. Also, it sounds like a dobro guitar to me.

Jim Yates

11y↑2

How about Carter Family's "When the World's on Fire"?

Clint Dye

13y↑1

@dtoddmiller good to know. Thanks!

K.M. Slattery

Just can't help but doubt that the dobro is Maybelle. I would say it is the friend of AP- an African-American gentleman, Lesley Riddle.

hulud99

14y

@bigjaw1 Sounds LOUD enough to believe.

Gilly Gil

Why do I hear "You Are My Sunshine"? Or, is it "This Land Is Your Land"? This is very confusing for a guy that only play by ear and doesn't read music.