[1][2][3] It relates the story of a singer dreaming of his sweetheart, now dead and buried, and a mockingbird, whose song the couple once enjoyed, now singing over her grave.
"Listen to the Mocking Bird" was one of the most popular ballads of the era and sold more than twenty million copies of sheet music.
"[5] Some of the earliest popular recordings were by John Yorke AtLee (1891); Joe Belmont (1899); Frank Stanley and Corinne Morgan (1904); and Alma Gluck (1915).
The melody is a standard in the repertoire of many bluegrass and old-time country fiddlers, often as a novelty tune and including various bird calls played on the violin strings.
In 2013, the Gettysburg College Singers released a cover of the song as part of a collection of music of the American Civil War.