Lyrics to songs on Take Me Home
All songs traditional, arranged (purposely or not) by Luke Abbott, and public domain.
- Sweet Sunny South
- The Blackest Crow
- I’ve Always Been a Rambler
- Way Down the Old Plank Road
- Wagoner’s Lad
- Wind and Rain
- A Sailor Being Tired
- Goin’ Across the Sea
- Country Blues
- Willie Moore
- Little Sadie
- A-Rovin’ on a Winter’s Night
- Keep That Skillet Good and Greasy
- House of the Rising Sun
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No? Then don't read these lyrics of these songs until you've heard them! :-)
Sweet Sunny South
Take me home to the place where I first saw the light
To the sweet sunny South take me home
Where the mockingbird sang me to rest every night
Oh, why was I tempted to roam
I think with regret of the dear home I left
Of the kind hearts that sheltered me then
Of the wife and the dear ones of whom I’m bereft
And I sigh for the old place again
Take me home to the land where the orange trees grow
To my cot in the evergreen shade
Where the flowers on the river’s green margin may blow
Their sweet on the banks where we played
The path to our cottage they say has grown green
And the place is quite lonely around
And I know that the smiles and the forms that I’ve seen
Now lie deep in the dark mossy ground
Take me home, let me see what is left that I knew
Can it be that the old house is gone
The dear friends of my childhood indeed must be few
And I must lament all alone
But yet I’ll return to the place of my birth
Where the children have played around the door
Where they pulled the white blossoms to garnish the hearth
That will echo their footsteps no more
Take me back to the place where I first saw the light
To the sweet sunny South take me home
Where the mockingbird sang me to rest every night
Oh, why was I tempted to roam
Tell me, why was I tempted to roam
The Blackest Crow
As time draws near my dearest dear
When you and I must part
How little do you know of the grief and woe
In my poor aching heart
Each night I suffer for your sake
You’re the girl I love so dear
I wish that I was going with you
Or you were staying here
I wish my breast were made of glass
Wherein you might behold
Oh there your name lies wrote my dear
In letters made of gold
In letters made of gold, my dear
Believe me what I say
You are the one I will adore
Until my dying day
The blackest crow that ever flew
Would surely turn to white
If ever I prove false to you
Bright day be turned to night
Bright day be turned to night, my dear
The elements would mourn
If ever I prove false to you
The seas would rage and burn
And when you’re on some distant shore
Think on your absent friend
And when the wind blows high and clear
A line to me, pray send
And when the wind blows high and clear
Pray send your love to me
That I may know by your hand-write
How time as gone with thee
I’ve Always Been a Rambler
I’ve always been a rambler
My fortune’s been quite hard
I’ve always loved the women
Drink whiskey and play cards
My parents treated me kindly
As they had no boy but me
My mind was bent on rambling
At home I couldn’t agree
There was a wealthy merchant
Who lived in the country by
He had a beautiful daughter
To whom I cast an eye
She was so tall and handsome
So pretty and so fair
There never was a girl
in this wide world
To her I could compare
I asked if it’d make any difference
If I crossed o’er the plain
She said it’d make no difference
If you return again
She said that she’d prove true to me
Until I proved unkind
So we shook hands and parted
And I left that girl behind
I traveled out one morning
To the salt works I were bound
And when I reached the salt works
I viewed the city all around
Where the work and
the money were plentiful
And the girls all treated me kind
But the only object of my heart
Was the one I left behind
I rambled out one evening
Down on the public square
The mail had just arriven
I met the carrier there
He handed me a letter
Which caused me to understand
That the girl I left in Tennessee
Had married another man
I read a few lines further
And I found out it was true
My heart was filled with tumult
I didn’t know what to do
My heart was filled with trouble
And trouble was on my mind
I’m a-goin’ to drink and gamble
For the girl I left behind
Way Down the Old Plank Road
I’d rather be in Richmond in all the heat and rain
Then to be in Georgia, boys, a-wearing that ball and chain
Won’t get drunk no more
Won’t get drunk no more
Won’t get drunk no more
Way down the old plank road
Donie, oh dear Donie, what makes you treat me so
Caused me to wear the ball and chain and now my ankle’s sore…
Gonna build me a cabin on some mountain high
So I can see the pretty girls as they go riding by…
Now Knoxville is a pretty thing, Memphis is a beauty
If you want to see them pretty girls, now hop to Chattanoogie…
Well, my wife died on Friday night, Saturday she was buried
Sunday was my courting day and Monday I got married…
Wagoner’s Lad
Oh, hard is the fortune of all womankind
They’re always controlled, they’re always confined
Controlled by their parents until they’re a wife
Then slaves to their husbands the rest of their lives
Oh, I’m just a poor girl, my fortune is sad
I’ve always been courted by the wagoner’s lad
He’s courted me daily, by night and by day
And now he is loading and going away
Your parents don’t like me because I am poor
They say I’m not worthy of entering their door
I work for my living, my money’s my own
And them that don’t like me, they can leave me alone
Your horses are hungry, go feed them some hay
Then sit down here by me as long as you may
My horses ain’t hungry, they won’t eat your hay
So fare thee well, darling, I’ll be on my way
Your wagon needs greasing, your whip’s for to mend
Then sit down here by me as long as you can
My wagon is greasy, my whip’s in my hand
So fare thee well, darling, no longer to stand
Wind and Rain
It was early one morning in the month of May
Oh the wind and rain
Two lovers went fishing on a hot summer day
Crying, oh the dreadful wind and rain
He said to the lady won’t you marry me…
Then my little wife you’ll always be…
She said, oh no, that’ll never do…
I love you but I can’t marry you…
Then he knocked her down and he kicked her around…
He hit her in the head with an awful sound…
Then he threw her into the river to drown…
And watched her as she floated down…
She floated ‘til she came to the miller’s pond…
Oh father, oh father, there swims a swam…
The miller pushed her out with a fishing hook…
Drew that fair maid from the brook…
Out of the woods came a fiddler fair…
Took thirty strands of her long yellow hair…
And he made a fiddle bow of her long yellow hair…
Made a fiddle bow of her long yellow hair…
And he made a fiddle pegs of her long finger bones…
He made a fiddle pegs of her long finger bones…
And he made a little fiddle of her breast bone…
The sound could melt the heart of stone…
But the only tune that the fiddle would play
Was oh the wind and rain
The only tune that the fiddle would play
Was oh the dreadful wind and rain
A Sailor Being Tired
‘Tis a sailor being tired, well, he hung down his head
‘Tis a sailor being tired, well, he hung down his head
He asked the little maid to show him the bed
Well, she showed him the bed like a maid ought to do
Well, she showed him the bed like a maid ought to do
Say, it’s come my little honey won’t you come to bed too
It’s a maid being young, not thinking any harm
She got into the bed, rolled up into his arms
It’s what I done there, well I wouldn’t tell here
But I wish that night coulda been a long year
It’s a six months passed, and eight rolled by
It’s a six months passed, and eight rolled by
It’s her shoes they wasn’t buttoned,
Lord, her apron wasn’t tied
If it is a girl, just dress it in red
Bounce it on your knee, Lord, comb it’s curly head
If it is a boy-child, name it after me
Put a pistol in its pocket, Lord, and send him to the sea
Put a pistol in its pocket, Lord, and dress him in blue
Tell it to hug the women like his daddy used to do
Goin’ Across the Sea
I’m going across the sea, stay forever more
Left my little darlin’ standing in the door
Won’t you come and go
Come and go with me
Fly to me my pretty little Miss
I’m going across the sea
Wind is howling low, wind is howling high
Go with me my pretty little love until the day I die
Would you give a nickel would you give a dime
Would you give one dollar bill to call your name as mine
Donie, Donie, Donie, what makes your face so red
Working out in the crops, son, I got a fever in my head
Like my momma told me, it has come to past
Drinkin’ and a-gamblin’ gonna be my ruin at last
Country Blues
Come all you good time people
While I’ve got money to spend
Tomorrow might be Monday
And I’ll neither have a dollar nor a friend
Now when I had plenty of money, good people
My friends were all standing around
Just as soon as my pocketbook was empty
Not a friend on this earth to be found
Well, my papa taught me a-plenty, good people
My mama, she told me more
Saying, son if you don’t quit your rough and rowdy ways
You’ll have trouble at your door
Well I wrote my woman a letter, good people
Told her I had landed in jail
She wrote me back her answer
Saying, honey I’ve no money to go your bail
All around this old jailhouse is haunted, good people
Forty dollars won’t pay my fine
Corn whisky has surrounded my body
Pretty women a-troubling my mind
Boys, if you don’t quit your drinking
Someday you’ll be just like me
A workin’ out your living
In a penitentiary
Go dig a hole in the meadow, good people
Dig a hole in that cold, cold ground
You can gather around all you good-time friends
And see this poor rounder go down
And when I am dead and buried, good people
My pale face turned to the sun
You can stand around and mourn, little woman
And think of the way you have done
Willie Moore
Willie Moore was a king, his age twenty-one
He courted a lady fair
Oh, her eyes were as bright as the diamonds in the night
And wavy black was her hair
He courted her both night and day
‘Til to marry they did agree
But when he went to get her parents’ consent
They said it could never be
She threw herself in Willie Moore’s arms
As ofttimes had done before
But little did he think when they parted that night
Sweet Annie he would see no more
It was on about the tenth of May
The time I remember well
The very same night her body disappeared
In a way no tongue could tell
Sweet Anna was loved both far and near
Had friends most all around
And in a little brook before the cottage door
The body of sweet Annie was found
She was taken by her weeping friends
And carried to her parents’ room
Her head was wrapped in a shroud of snowy white
And laid in a lonely tomb
Her parents now are left alone
One mourns while the other weeps
And in the grassy mound before the cottage door
The body of sweet Anna sleeps
Willie Moore never spoke that anyone knew
And at length from his friends did part
And the last I heard of him, he’d gone to Montreal
Where he died of a broken heart
Little Sadie
I went out one night to take a little round
I met little Sadie and I blowed her down
I run back home and I got into bed
Forty-four smokeless under my head
Woke up next mornin’ ‘bout half past nine
The hacks and the buggies standing in line
Gents and the gamblers standing all around
To carry little Sadie to the burying ground
Well I begin to think, what a deed I done
I grabbed my hat and away I did run
I made a good run, just a little too slow
They overtook me in Jericho
Standing on the corner readin’ the bill
Up stepped the sheriff from Thomasville
He said, young man, ain’t your name Brown
Remember the night you blowed Sadie down
Oh yes, Sir, my name is Lee
I murdered little Sadie in the first degree
The first degree and the second degree
If you got any papers, don’t you read ‘em to me
They took me downtown, they dressed me in black
They put me on the train and they started me back
I had no money for to go my bail
So they crammed me back in the county jail
Judge and the jury took their stand
Judge he had the papers in his right hand
Forty-one days, forty-one nights
Forty-one years to wear the ball and the stripes
A-Rovin’ on a Winter’s Night
A-rovin’ on last winter’s night
Drinkin’ good old wine
Thinkin’ about that pretty little girl
She broke this heart of mine
She is just like a bud of rose
Bloomin’ in the month of June
Or like some musical instrument
That’s just been laid in tune
Perhaps it’s a trip to a foreign land
A trip to France or Spain
But if I go ten thousand miles
I’m comin’ back again
And who’s a-gonna shoe your poor little feet
Who will glove your hand
Who’s gonna kiss your ruby red lips
And who’s gonna be your man
I’ll love you ‘til the sea runs dry
And the rocks all melt with the sun
I’ll love you ‘til the day I die
Though you’ll never be my own
Keep That Skillet Good and Greasy
Well, I’m a-goin’ downtown, gonna buy me sack of flour
Bake a hoecake every hour
Keep that skillet good and greasy all the time, time, time
Keep that skillet good and greasy all the time
Honey if you say so, I’ll never work no more
I’m gonna lay around your shanty all the time…
Got a chicken in the sack, got the bloodhounds on my track
Keep that skillet good and greasy all the time…
If they beat me to the door, I’m gonna sic ‘em on the floor
Keep that skillet good and greasy all the time…
Well, I’m a-goin’ downtown, gonna buy me a jug of brandy
Gonna give it all to Nancy
Keep her good and drunk and goosy all the time…
Well, I’m a-goin’ downtown, gonna buy me a jug of whisky
Gonna make my baby frisky
Keep that skillet good and greasy all the time…
House of the Rising Sun
There is a house down in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun
And it’s been the ruin of a many poor girl
And me, oh God, for one
Oh mothers, tell your children
Not to do the things I’ve done
But to shun that house down in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun
Well the only thing that a rounder needs
Is a suitcase and a trunk
And the only time he’s ever satisfied
Is when he’s on a drunk
So fill the glasses to the brim
Let the drinks flow merrily around
And we’ll drink to the health of a rounder, poor boy
Who goes from town to town
Well one foot’s on the platform
And the other one’s on the train
I’m a-goin’ back, back to New Orleans
To wear that ball and chain
Yeah I’m going back, back to New Orleans
For my race is nearly run
Gonna spend the rest of my wicked life
Beneath the rising sun
There is a house down in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun
And it’s been the ruin of a many poor girl
And me, oh God, for one
And me, oh God, for one