"Aura Lea" (sometimes spelled "Aura Lee") is an American Civil War song about a maiden. It was written by W. W. Fosdick (lyrics) and George R. Poulton (music). The melody was used in Elvis Presley's 1956 hit song "Love Me Tender".
History Aura Lea was published by Poulton, an Englishman who had come to the USA with his family as a boy in 1838, and Fosdick in 1861. It was a sentimental ballad at a time when upbeat and cheerful songs were more popular in the music halls. It became popular as a minstrel song, and the tune was also taken up by the U.S. Military Academy as a graduating class song, called "Army Blue"; new lyrics by L. W. Becklaw were sung to the original melody.
The Civil War began shortly after the song's release; "Aura Lea" was adopted by soldiers on both sides, and was often sung around campfires.
The tune is familiar to modern audiences from the 1956 Elvis Presley #1 hit "Love Me Tender" with new lyrics by Ken Darby, a derivative adaptation of the original. A later Presley recording for the film The Trouble with Girls entitled "Violet (Flower of N.Y.U.)" also used the melody of "Aura Lea".
Lyrics The lyrics as written by Fosdick:
In popular culture "Aura Lee" was sung by Frances Farmer and a male chorus in the 1936 film Come and Get It, based on Edna Ferber's novel. It is the running theme music in the background of the 1954 John Ford film The Long Gray Line. Satirist Tom Lehrer adapted Aura Lea's melody, frequently performed by college acapella groups such as The Whiffenpoofs, for his 1959 song Bright College Days.
References
External links Aura Lea sheet music at the Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music, Johns Hopkins University Libraries