Song Of The Day #269 Plus discussion of #268

One of yesterday's selections, Zenda Waltz by Bill Boyd and The Cowboy Ramblers received the following comment from rabenau:

I think this waltz is titled Lucinda Waltz rather than The Zenda Waltz

I have three versions of the song, Boyd's and one by the Light Crust Doughboys, both titled Zenda Waltz and one by Fiddlin' Johnny titled Luzenda Waltz.

This is from The Fiddler's Companion:

ZENDA WALTZ. AKA and see "La Zenda Waltz," "Lucenda Waltz," "Zender Waltz," "Zinder Waltz." Canadian, Waltz. A Major ('A' part) & D Major ('B' part). Standard tuning. AB (Phillips): ABB (Messer). Frank Nims writes that the “Zenda Waltz” was “composed by Frank M. Witmark around 1896. It was written as incidental music for a stage version of the hit novel The Prisoner of Zenda (1894), an adventure set in the imaginary Balkan kingdom of Zenda. Anyhow, I know it as the theme song of magician Howard Thurston, a very big star in his time (~1910-1930). For decades after his passing, at magicians' gatherings, if somebody was demonstrating an especially show-bizzy sort of trick one of the onlookers was sure to start humming "Zenda Waltzes". I'm guessing it became known among traditional musicians via Thurston, who toured the country on a grand scale (ten freight cars worth of props & scenery in his prime). Although obviously it stands on its own merits now. Might be interesting to see how the folk process has changed it over the years.” Source for notated version: Jana Jae Greif [Phillips]. Messer (Anthology of Favorite Fiddle Tunes), 1980; No. 170, pgs. 114‑115. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), vol. 2, 1995; pg. 330. Voyager 340, Jim Herd - "Old Time Ozark Fiddling" (appears as "Zender's Waltz").

If you hit on the other titles, they all say "see Zenda Waltz" and the author of the song titled it Zenda Waltz so that appears to be the most correct title.

Here is the 1902 recording by Edison Concert Band of Zenda Waltz

	Edison Concert Band - Zenda waltz [Prisoner of Zenda. Selections] .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

I don't particularly care for the slower version by the Light Crust Doughboys, so here again is the 1940 recording of Zenda Waltz by Bill Boyd and the 1998 Fiddlin' Johnny recording, and we will have covered this baby from 1902 till 1998.