"Willow Weep for Me" by Ann Ronell

"Willow Weep for Me" was copyrighted in 1932 by Irving Berlin, with both words and music composed by Ann Ronell (1905-1993). Ronell dedicated the song to her mentor, George Gershwin, with whom she shared a "sister-like" relationship, according to biographer Michael G. Garber (Songs She Wrote: Forty Hits by Pioneering Women of Popular Music, Rowman & Littlefield, 2025). Scores of singers and instrumentalists have performed and recorded this standard. Some of my favorite recordings include those featuring June Christy, Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Paul Whiteman (with vocals by Irene Taylor), Art Tatum, Mary Lou Williams, Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James, Sarah Vaughan, and Frank Sinatra. According to jazzstandards.com it stands today as the most performed jazz standard composed by a woman and ranks #13 among the top 20 most performed standards in history. The decades-long staying power of this jazz standard speaks to the effectiveness and simple brilliance of its marriage between music and lyrics.

Melody

The most obvious motif at first hearing is the repetitive use of a descending octave leap in the melody. This displays wordpainting in two ways: first, a willow tends to be a very tall tree with branches that hang and dangle toward the ground quite loosely, so loose that they move easily with the wind. The dropping octave reflects the dropping tendency and overall droopy look of willow branches. Second, the downward falling of teardrops that the character begs the willow to weep on his/her behalf give even more credence to the octave being a vehicle for telling the story. On the phrases in the A theme that do not include octave leaps ("Listen to my plea—listen, willow, and... ") the melodic contour is still downward—this time with two consecutive, steady, 5-note descending, stepwise minor scales from scale degree 5 to scale degree 1. The point is not lost on the astute listener that downward motion is the main musical contour of this song. Also, the octave leaps occur on the fifth scale degree rather than on tonic. While it always leads to a melodic touch of the tonic, the melodic subphrase ends on the sixth degree rather than tonic ("Willow, weep for me... "), suggesting more of the story is coming, and that perhaps this sad rumination is unresolvable...

At the bridge (corresponding to lyrics "Whisper to the wind... ") Ronell provides refreshing contrast by inverting the contour of the first phrase to become ascending instead of descending. This may also suggest a hopeful lifting upward of the character's voice toward the wind and to the night sky overhead. The consequent phrase which answers the antecedent phrase still descends ("To leave my heart a-breaking and making a moan ... ") as if initial efforts to ascend are intended to build intensity and speak to the tree rather than to lift spirits. In the antecedent phrases the character implores specific action from the willow, first to whisper to the wind and second to speak to the night. These imploring messages are made with an urgency shown by the ascending melody after so much depressive, downward-spiraling sentiment shared thus far. When fully understanding just how much the music paints the meaning of the song's intent, a singer or instrumentalist can bring so much more expressive color to their performance.

Rhythm

Melodic rhythm of the antecedent sub-phrases of A ("Willow, weep for me, willow, weep for me... ") consists of moving eighth notes before each sub-phrase lingers briefly on a half note. The consequent phrase maintains eighth notes for twice the duration of the previous sub-phrases, then completes the thought on a half note in keeping with the antecedent phrase endings. This builds intensity somewhat toward the moment the melody descends through two melodic 5-note scales. The same moving eighth note pattern that pauses on a final half note continues through the end of all the song's A sections.

Harmony

Overall, the harmonic structure of this standard is rather simple. I-IV7-I-IV7 alternations in the opening lines of the A section of this AABA form resemble a slow—moving traveler lumbering heavily through a time of crisis. The bluesy flat 7th in the IV chord displays an air of sadness in a progression that, without the seventh, would normally sound light and forward-moving (I-IV). The addition of the flat seventh slightly obscures the direction of the line, and its vacillations back and forth to I suggest a lack of motivation or conviction about one's destination. The ii-V7-I pattern followed by the ascending, stepwise bass line in measures 3-4 provide a bit more guidance, finally landing back on that IV7, leading to another ii-V7-I with a two-measure vamp of I-IV7-I-IV7 again. The bridge begins with a transformation of the IV7 into a minor tonic (using the same root) after which harmony steps downward through a stepwise series of dominant 7th chords while it simultaneously descends melodically ("leave my heart a—breaking and making a moan.") Being a harmonically simple tune, this pattern repeats exactly, ending the bridge on a ii-V7 in the original tonic to bring the listener back to the A theme. Sharp 5 dominant chords provide an expanded harmonic palette at the juncture of B to A sections as well as at the "weep for me" text which completes every A section before the harmony returns to the I-IV7 drone. Those sharp 5 chords also provide the turnback harmony immediately before every A section throughout the song. Interestingly, Ronell also added a minor 7 flat 5 chord (which usually signals the impending arrival of a minor tonic) that precedes the V7#5 at measures 6 and 30, but never arrives to the expected minor key—she uses a major tonic instead. This further reiterates the charm and originality of this standard.

Lyrics

The song clearly defines itself as a lament in the opening line. The character asks first for the tree's pity, then for it to bend and listen to his story. He proceeds to explain that his summer lover's dream is gone, leaving him alone to cry his tears. He then implores the willow to whisper on his behalf to the wind and to murmur to the night with a request to dim the stars' light to render him invisible amid his grief. In the final A section, this poetic rendering of a willow tree mothering the character of the story, ("bend your branches down upon the ground and cover me... ") creates a beautiful metaphor that stamps its originality all over the song.

Ann Ronell's "Willow, Weep for Me" represents a time-tested standard whose originality lies in the treatment of the subject matter (heartbreak) as an opportunity to commune with nature in a literal way. Using tools of wordpainting, metaphor, and deceptively simple harmonic and melodic language, Ronell successfully spun a well—loved song whose uniqueness continues to live in both the music and the words, rendering a beautiful exploration of grief and hope.

 

Comments