You're going to reap, boy...

[jpgray]

...just what you sew.



Post your favorite old-timey country/folk/bluegrass lyrics!

[HuskerDU]

1. Semi-new timey: 'Mama's Opry' by Iris Dement

She grew up plain and simple in a farming town.
Her daddy played the fiddle and used to do the calling when they had hoedowns.
She says the neighbors would come and they'd move all my grandma's furniture 'round.
And there'd be twenty or more there on the old wooden floor dancin' to a country sound.

The Carters and Jimmy Rodgers played her favourite songs.
And on Saturday nights there was a radio show and she would sing along.
And I'll never forget her face when she revealed to me,
That she'd dreamed about singing at The Grand Ol' Opry.

Her eyes, oh, how they sparkled when she sang those songs.
While she was hanging the clothes on the line, I was a kid just a hummin' along.
Well, I'd be playing in the grass, to her, what might've seemed, obliviously,
But there ain't no doubt about it: she sure made her mark on me.

An' she played old gospel records on the phonograph.
She turned them up loud and we'd sing along, but those days have passed.
Just now that I am older it occurs to me,
That I was singing in the grandest opry.

And we sang Sweet Rose of Sharon, Abide With Me,
'Til I ride The Gospel Ship to Heaven's Jubilee.
And In That Great Triumphant Morning my soul will be free,
And My Burdens Will Be Lifted when my Saviour's face I see.

So I Don't Want to Get Adjusted to This World below,
But I know He'll Pilot Me 'til it comes time to go.
Oh, nothing on this earth is half as dear to me,
As the sound of my Mama's Opry

And we sang Sweet Rose of Sharon, Abide With Me,
'Til I ride The Gospel Ship to Heaven's Jubilee.
And In That Great Triumphant Morning my soul will be free,
And My Burdens Will Be Lifted when my Saviour's face I see.

So I Don't Want to Get Adjusted to This World below,
But I know He'll Pilot Me 'til it comes time to go.
Oh, nothing on this earth is half as dear to me,
As the sound of my Mama's Opry

[mark414]

2. I'm a rollin stone all alone and lost,

For a life of sin I have paid the cost
When I pass by all the people say
Just another guy on the lost highway

Just a deck of cards and a jug of wine
And a womans lies makes a life like mine
O the day we met, I went astray
I started rolling down that lost highway

I was just a lad, nearly 22
Neither good nor bad, just a kid like you
And now Im lost, too late to pray
Lord I take a cost, o the lost highway

Now boys dont start to ramblin round
On this road of sin are you sorrow bound
Take my advice or youll curse the day
You started rollin down that lost highway

- Hank Williams "Lost Highway"


(i could spend hours in this thread)

[darkstar]

9. Yeah...that's a good one

for sure

:toast:

[Ptah]

3. Tennessee Stud

http://youtube.com/watch?v=i0yYcUrKwJw



Along about eighteen and twenty-five
I left Tennessee very much alive
I never would have got through the Arkansas mud
If I hadn't been a-ridin on the Tennessee stud

I had some trouble with my sweetheart's pa
One of her brothers was a bad outlaw
I sent her a letter by my Uncle Fud
And I rode away on the Tennessee stud


The Tennessee stud was long and lean
The color of the sun and his eyes were green
He had the nerve and he had the blood
And there never was a hoss like the Tennessee stud

One day I was ridin' in the beautiful land
And ran smack into an Indian band
They jerked their knives with a whoop and a yell
But I rode away like a bat out of hell

Well I circled their camp for a time or two
And showed what a Tennessee hoss could do
And them redskin boys never got my blood
'Cause I was a-ridin' on the Tennessee stud

The Tennessee stud was long and lean
The color of the sun and his eyes were green
He had the nerve and he had the blood
And there never was a hoss like the Tennessee stud

We drifted on down into no man's land
We crossed the river called the Rio Grande
I raced my hoss with the Spaniards bold
Till I got me a skin full of silver and gold

Me and a gambler we couldn't agree
We got in a fight over Tennessee
We jerked our guns, he fell with a thud
And I got away on the Tennessee stud

The Tennessee stud was long and lean
The color of the sun and his eyes were green
He had the nerve and he had the blood
And there never was a hoss like the Tennessee stud

Well, I got as lonesome as a man can be
Dreamin' of my girl in Tennessee
The Tennessee stud's green eyes turned blue
'Cause he was a-dneamin' of a sweetheart too

We loped on back across Arkansas
I whipped her brother and I whipped her pa
I found that girl with the golden hair
And she was ridin' on a Tennessee mare

The Tennessee stud was long and lean
The color of the sun and his eyes were green
He had the nerve and he had the blood
And there never was a hoss like the Tennessee stud

Stirrup to stirrup and side by side
We crossed the mountains and the valleys wide
We came to Big Muddy and we forded the flood
On the Tennessee mare and the Tennessee stud

Pretty little baby on the cabin floor
Little hoss colt playin' 'round the door
I love the girl with golden hair
And the Tennessee stud loves the Tennessee mare

The Tennessee stud was long and lean
The color of the sun and his eyes were green
He had the nerve and he had the blood
And there never was a hoss like the Tennessee stud

[bridgit]

4. Doc Watson - Deep River Blues & Intoxicated Rat...

Let it rain, let it pour,
Let it rain a whole lot more,
'Cause I got them deep river blues.
Let the rain drive right on,
Let the waves sweep along,
'Cause I got them deep river blues.

My old gal's a good old pal,
And she looks like a water fowl,
When I get them deep river blues.
Ain't no one to cry for me,
And the fish all go out on a spree
When I get them deep river blues.

Give me back my old boat,
I'm gonna sail if she'll float,
'Cause I got them deep river blues,
I'm goin' back to Muscle Shoals,
Times are better there I'm told,
Cause I got them deep river blues.

Let it rain, let it pour,
Let it rain a whole lot more,
'Cause I got them deep river blues,
Let the rain drive right on,
Let the waves sweep along,
'Cause I got them deep river blues.

If my boat sinks with me.
I'll go down, don't you see,
'Cause I got them deep river blues,
Now I'm gonna say goodbye,
And if I sink, just let me die,
'Cause I got them deep river blues.

Let it rain, let it pour,
Let it rain a whole lot more,
'Cause I got them deep river blues,
Let the rain drive right on,
Let the waves sweep along,
'Cause I got them deep river blues

Intoxicated Rat

The other night when I come in, so drunk I couldn't see
I hooked my toe in the old doormat and fell as flat as I could be

I had me a little old bottle o' booze (and I didn't have no more)
When I fell down - the cork flew outta the bottle (Plop!-glug glug glug....hic) - 'n spilled it

There's a little old rat in his hidin' place, he got that whiskey scent
He slipped right up 'n he got him a sssshrlp, 'n back to his hole he went

Says back to his hole he went, back to his hole he went
He slipped right up 'n he got him a sssshrlp (he's drinkin' it all) 'n back to his hole he
went

He slipped right up to my puddle o' gin and he lapped up more and more
He says "Doggone, my red-eyed soul, I'm a-gonna get drunk once more"

"I gonna get drunk once more, I'm a-gonna get drunk once more
He says "Doggone, my red-eyed soul, I'm a-gonna get drunk once more"

He washed his face with his front paws and on his hind leg he sat
And he's a-gettin' pretty high when he winked one eye and he says "(hic) Hey, where's that
old tom-cat?"

"Now where's that old tom-cat? I said where's that old tom-cat?
He's a-gettin' high when he winked one eye and he says "(hic) Hey, buddy, where's
that old tom-cat? (I can lick him and his brother)"

The old tom-cat come a-slippin' in, dashed over to the middle o' the floor
The cat jumped over and the rat got sober and he never got drunk no more

He didn' get drunk no more, no he never got drunk no more
The cat jumped over and the rat got sober (poor little feller) and he never got dunk no
more

[mark414]

5. also, for anyone on this thread who hasn't heard of it: the Goodbye Babylon box set

http://www.slate.com/id/2096651/

one of the greatest collections of old folk soul and gospel music i've ever heard

[jpgray]

12. Great Lomax's ghost! I might just check that out.

[idgiehkt]

14. thanks for posting that

:hi:

anyone wanting contemporary bluegrass players to listen to

Rhonda Vincent and the Rage
http://www.myspace.com/rhondavincent13
2007 has been a phenomenal year for Vincent and her band The Rage. Vincent received a double Grammy nomination in the bluegrass album category for "All American Bluegrass Girl" and Country Vocal Collaboration as a duet with Bobby Osborne for "Midnight Angel", from her "All American Bluegrass Girl" album

Rhonda Vincent & The Rage were collectively nominated for 12 International Bluegrass Music Awards. Nominations were announced on August 16, 2007 at the Ford Theatre in Nashville, TN, located in the Country Music Hall of Fame
http://www.thanksforthemusic.com/events/rvincent01.html

two recent finds of mine
The Dixie BeeLiners
http://www.myspace.com/thedixiebeeliners
they have a great rustic sound, have a bit of a celtic sound


Hillbilly Gypsies
http://www.myspace.com/thehillbillygypsies
their sound is very 'old-timey', rather than polished and pop-country-fied, they have some great videos on youtube. They perform around one mike, the old-fashioned way, and their live performances look electric. Doing Muleskinner Blues
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YctdxEOSbFE

[EstimatedProphet]

6. This reminds me of 16 Horsepower

Heel on the Shovel

I'm diggin' you a shallow grave
And to the sun your face I'll raise
I'm diggin' you a shallow grave
One hundred buzzards buzzin'

I seen death hangin' from the tallest tree
Eyes closed no lookin' back at me
Ye they came and took him in the night
The one who kissed him was greed

O everyone will see and everyone will know
Boy you reap what you sew
O everyone will see yes everyone will know
That boy, you reap what you sew

[EstimatedProphet]

7. This is an interesting song

Not country, but I like the lyrics

Sow Your Life-Jebediah

In light of recent trends come gather round your friends
So much to talk about but words just won't come out
Oh no
The future is heel bent won't stop when you say "when"
The atmosphere is staid just why are we so afraid
Cuz we're always impatient with the life we created
And we're always frustrated or something
But you can sow your life back together
You can sow your life back
In light of recent trends come gather round your friends
Cuz something's going wrong it hits just like a bomb
Cuz we're always elated with the prize overstated
It's like we're always inflated or something
But you can sow your life back together
You can sow your life back

[greatauntoftriplets]

8. Sew what?

:shrug:

[darkstar]

10. another horse song: Molly and Tenbrooks

Molly And Tenbrooks

Run O Molly run, run O Molly run
Tenbrooks gonna beat you to the bright shinin' sun.
To the bright shinin' sun O Lord to the bright shinin' sun

Tenbrooks was a big bay horse he wore that shaggy mane
He run all around Memphis he beat the Memphis train
Beat the Memphis train O Lord beat the Memphis train

See that train a-comin' it's comin' round the curve
See old Tenbrooks runnin' he's strainin' every nerve
Strainin' every nerve O Lord strainin' every nerve

Tenbrooks said to Molly what makes your head so red?
Runnin' in the hot sun puts fever in my head
Fever in my head O Lord fever in my head

Molly said to Tenbrooks you're lookin' mighty squirrel
Tenbrooks said to Molly I'm a-leavin' this old world
Leavin' this old world O Lord leavin' this old world

Out in California where Molly done as she pleased
Come back to old Kentucky got beat with all ease
Beat with all ease O Lord beat with all ease

The women all a-laughin' the child'n all a cryin'
The men all a-hollerin' old Tenbrooks a-flyin'
Old Tenbrooks a-flyin' O Lord old Tenbrooks a-flyin'

Kyper Kyper you're not A-ridin' right
Molly's beatin' old Tenbrooks clear out sight
Clear out of sight O Lord clear out of sight

Kyper Kyper Kyper my son
Give old Tenbrooks the bridle let old Tenbrooks run
Let old Tenbrooks run O Lord let old Tenbrooks run

Go and catch old Tenbrooks and hitch him in the shade
We're gonna bury old Molly in a coffin ready made
Coffin ready made O Lord coffin ready made

[darkstar]

11. And one from the existential side--Rank Strangers

Rank Strangers

I wandered again to my home in the mountains
Where in youth's early dawn I was happy and free
I looked for my friends but I never could find them
I found they were all rank strangers to me

Everybody I met seemed to be a rank stranger
No mother or dad not a friend could I see
They knew not my name and I knew not their faces
I found they were all rank strangers to me.

Now they've all moved away said the voice of a stranger
To a beautiful home by a bright crystal sea
And some day I'll meet them all up in Heaven
Where no one will be a rank stranger to me.

[idgiehkt]

13. Disaster at the Mannington Mine by Hazel Dickens

http://www.fortunecity.com/tinpan/parton/2/mann.html
the last two lines chill me every time I read them:

We read in the paper and the radio tells
Us to to raise our children to be miners as well.
Oh tell them how safe the mines are today
And to be like your daddy, bring home a big pay.
Now don't you believe them, my boy,
That story's a lie.
Remember the disaster at the Mannington mine
Where seventy-eight miners were buried alive,
Because of unsafe conditions your daddy died.
They lure us with money, it sure is a sight.
When you may never live to see the daylight
With your name among the big headlines
Like that awful disaster at the Mannington mine.
So don't you believe them, my boy,
That story's a lie.
Remember the disaster at the Mannington mine
Where seventy-eight miners were buried alive,
Because of unsafe conditions your daddy died.
There's a man in a big house way up on the hill
Far, far from the shacks where the poor miners live.
He's got plenty of money, Lord, everything's fine
And he has forgotten the Mannington mine.
Yes, he has forgotten the Mannington mine.
There is a grave way down in the Mannington mine
There is a grave way down in the Mannington mine.
Oh, what were their last thoughts, what were their cries
As the flames overtook them in the Mannington mine.

So don't you believe them, my boy,
That story's a lie.
Remember the disaster at the Mannington mine
Where seventy-eight good men so uselessly died
Oh, don't follow your daddy to the Mannington mine.
How can God forgive you, you do know what you've done.
You've killed my husband, now you want my son.

Hazel doing another mining song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZCLTmhnpJQ






Also:

Which Side Are You On?
by Florence Reese
Come all of you good workers
Good news to you I'll tell
Of how that good old union
Has come in here to dwell

(Chorus)
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?

My daddy was a miner
And I'm a miner's son
And I'll stick with the union
Till every battle's won

They say in Harlan County
There are no neutrals there
You'll either be a union man
Or a thug for J.H. Blair

Oh, workers can you stand it?
Oh, tell me how you can
Will you be a lousy scab
Or will you be a man?

Don't scab for the bosses
Don't listen to their lies
Us poor folks haven't got a chance
Unless we organize

[Redneck Socialist]

22. Hazel's awesome!

Hard to listen to Black Lung without shedding a tear.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

15. Fox On The Run

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcqcdMQJuu0

She walks through the corn leadin down to the river
Her hair shone like gold in the hot mornin sun
She took all the love that a poor boy could give her
And left me to die like a fox on the run
Like a fox, like a fox, like a fox on the run

Now everybody knows the reason for my fall
A woman tempted me down in paradise hall
This woman tempted me and she took me for a ride
Like a lonely fox, boys, I need a place to hide

Oh, well drink a glass of wine, boys, to purify our soul
Well talk about the world and the friends we used to know
I see a string of girls who have put me on before
The game is nearly over and the hounds are at the door

[SOteric]

16. Woody Guthrie, "Talking Blues"

Woody Guthrie
» Talking Blues

If you want to get to heaven, let me tell you what to do,
You gotta grease your feet in a little mutton stew.
Slide right out of the devil's hand,
And ease over to the Promised Land.
Take it easy! Go greasy!

I was down in the holler just a'settin' on a log,
My finger on the trigger and my eye on a hog;
I pulled that trigger and the gun went "zip"
And I grabbed that hog with all of my grip
'Course l can't eat hog eyes, but I love chitlins

Down in the hen house on my knees,
I thought I heard a chicken sneeze,
But it was only the rooster sayin' his prayers
Thankin' the Lord for the hens upstairs.
Rooster prayin', hens a-layin',

Poor little pullets just pluggin' away best they know how.

Mama's in the kitchen fixin' the yeast,
Poppa's in the bedroom greasin' his feets
Sister's in the cellar squeezin' up the hops,
Brother's at the window just a-watchin' for the cops.
Drinkin' home brew- makes you happy.

Now, I'm just a city dude a-livin' out of town.
Everybody knows me as Moonshine Brown;
I make the beer, and I drink the slop,
Got nine little orphans that call me Pop.
I'm patriotic...raisin' soldiers. Red cross nurses.

Ain't no use me workin' so hard,
I got a gal in the rich folks' yard.
They kill a chicken, she sends me the head.
She thinks I'm workin', I'm a-layin' up in bed.
Just dreamin' about her. Havin' a good time. . .Two other women.

[jpgray]

17. Woody rules

[SOteric]

23. Yes.

Every man I've ever met seems to think so.

[EstimatedProphet]

18. Evil Dead - Reap What You Sew

As I look into your eyes I see a dark spiritual being
Then in the darkness, your soul, writhing, bleeding, screaming...
Hating, fighting, loathing, reject, the hands of death take your life away
Search for the light at the end of the tunnel
Black or white your soul will travel
Reap what you sew
Reap what you sew
The seed's implanted!
Reap what you sew.

[RetroLounge]

19. Waiting for a Train - Jimmie Rodgers

All around the water tank
Waitin' for a train
A thousand miles away from home
Sleeping in the rain.
I walked up to a brakeman
To give him a line of talk
He says if you've got money
I'll see that you don't walk.
I haven't got a nickle
Not a penny can I show
He said get off you railroad bum
And slammed the boxcar door.
Oh la-ee, oh la-ee, oh la-ee
Oh la-ee, oh la-ee, oh.
He put me off in Texas
A place I surely love
Wide open spaces 'round me
The moon and stars above.
Nobody seems to want me
Or lend me a helping hand
I'm on my way from 'Frisco
Goin' back to Dixieland.
My pocketbook is empty
And my heart is filled with pain
I'm a thousand miles away from home
Just waiting for a train.
Oh la-ee, oh la-ee, oh la-ee
Oh la-ee, oh la-ee, oh.



RL

[RetroLounge]

20. Wreck of the Old 97 - Johnny Cash (and others)

On one cloudless morning I stood on the mountain
Just watching the smoke from below
It was coming from a tall, slim smokestack
Way down on the southern railroad

It was 97, the fastest train
Ever ran the southern line
All the freight trains and pass'gers take the side for 97
For she's bound to be at stations on time

They gave him his orders at Monroe, Virginia
Saying, "Stevie, you're way behind time
This is not 38, but it's Old 97
You must put her into Spencer on time"

He looked 'round and said to his black greasy fireman
"Just shovel in a little more coal
And when I cross that old White Oak Mountain
You can just watch Old 97 roll"

It's a mighty rough road from Lynchburg to Danville
And the lie was a three-mile grade
It was on that grade that he lost his air brakes
And you see what a jump that she made

He was going down the grade making 90 miles an hour
When his whistle began to scream
He was found in that wreck with his hand on the throttle
He was scalded to death by the steam

Did she ever pull in? No, she never pulled in
And at 1:45 he was due
For hours and hours has the switchman been waiting
For that fast mail that never pulled through

Did she ever pull in? No, she never pulled in
And that poor boy, he must be dead
Oh, yonder he lays on the railroad track
With the cart wheels over his head

97, she was the fastest train
That the south had ever seen
But she run so fast on that Sunday morning
That the death score was numbered 14

Now, ladies, you must take warning
From this time now and on
Never speak harsh words to your true loving husband
He may leave you and never return

RL

[jpgray]

21. I think it was the first song Lester Flatt learned on guitar

:thumbsup:

[tigereye]

25. so that's where they got their name!

cool.

[tigereye]

24. I am a man of constant sorrow

I've seen trouble all my days...