Category: songs

Sarah Pirtle 1988

 

Sarah Pirtle: The Colors of Earth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOW7-UdKqFo

Tell me the names of the colors of Earth, the purple of eggplant, the purple of peach The green and the gray of the rocks on the beach, the dappled brown trees in the morning. Chorus: We are made of the colors of earth. Each color is different, each color is true. We are made of the colors of earth.ÿ And I love the colors that made you. When I look in the eyes of my friends, I can see topaz, I can see sky. The green and the gray of the sea rolling by and a dazzling brown river in the morning. When I look at the hands of my friends, I can see chestnut, I can see corn. The color of wheat fields and a dappled brown fawn. And the rain-kissed black trees in the morning. Earth that I love, do you know how I feel How much I love seashells how much I love stone When I walk barefoot in the fields all alone I sing out a song to the morning

 

 

trad 

Come all you garners gay That are just now in your prime
I wish I was in that bonny girl’s arms Where I’ve been many a time

Refrain:
Where I’ve been many a time
Where I’ve been many a time
I wish I was in that bonny girl’s arms
Where I’ve been many a time.

Green willows they will twist Green willows they will twine
I wish I was in that bonny girl’s arms Where I’ve been many a time

For it’s once I had thyme enough And it flourished by night and day
Until that girl, that bonny, bonny girl Come and stole all my thyme away

So now my whole thyme is gone And I cannot plant any new
For the very same place where the old thyme grew It’s all over running, running rue

O the rue, the running, running rue It’s not the flower for me
I will pluck up all that running, running rue And plant down the sturdy oak tree

Stand you fast, stand you fast, sturdy oak Stand you fast, don’t ever die
And I’ll prove as true to my own true love As the stars prove true to the sky

For it’s very nice drinking ale And it’s far better drinking wine
But I like to sleep in that bonny girl’s arms Where I’ve been many a time

Brendan Taaffe <2013   Written to celebrate the wedding of Addie Rose Holland and Dan Rosenberg, this song was inspired by the melody of the traditional Macedonian song Shto Mi E Milo. Original poetry inspired by the Song of Solomon.

Come, love away, like the deer on the mountain then swift as the morning, oh come love away Come, love away, like the bee in the orchard draw from dew and nectar oh come love away Chorus: Now shall your heart beat forever with my heart Now shall your arms be forever my home Come, love away, to the shores of the river, come let the water wash all cares away Come, love away, to the trees of the forest, the lark sings so sweet at the dawn of the day Come, love, we’ll lie ‘neath the apple in blossom, the perfume of heaven, yes come love we’ll lie

 

 

Robert Johnson 1936

 

Crooked Still: https://crookedstill.bandcamp.com/track/come-on-in-my-kitchen-r-johnson

https://crookedstill.bandcamp.com/track/come-on-in-my-kitchen-r-johnson

Chorus: You’d better come on in my kitchen babe it going to be rainin outdoors Ah the woman I love took from my best friend Some joker got lucky stiole her back again Oh-ah she’s gone I know she won’t come back again I’ve taken the last nickel out of her nation sack When a woman gets in trouble everybody throws her down Lookin for her good friend none can be found Winter time’s comin its gonna be slow You can’t make the winter babe thats dry long so

 

 

Paul Davenport 2014

 

Rewritten by Alex Ellis from “Come See the Boys Go Round”

Melrose Quartet: https://melrosequartet.bandcamp.com/track/come-see-the-boys-go-round

https://melrosequartet.bandcamp.com/track/come-see-the-boys-go-round

Chorus: Come, see the swords go round, How sweet the music flows. Bring forth the plough to break the ground, Raise up the shining Rose. When Christmastide is gone and past, When fields lie stark and bare, Then let us brave the winter’s blast Without a fear or care. Without a fear or care, my boys, Let each with one accord. Now dance the round on frozen ground With ribbons, drum and sword. Now first of all comes Besom Bess, A-sweeping with her broom, To drive out winter’s cold distress, To clear and make the room. To clear and make the room, my boys, That we may sport and play With swords that clash and brightly flash Upon this holiday. Let Lord and Lady start the game, Let Tom Fool sing the song That wakes those heroes of great fame Who roll the year along. Who roll the year along, my boys, For only they know how The plough becomes the shining sword, The sword becomes the plough. Now enter in those heroes bold, Those heroes of great fame. Their forefathers in days of old Each bore a glorious name. Each bore a glorious name, my boys, Likewise a shining blade They leap and spin, the swords go in, And thus the Rose is made!

 

 

Phil Ochs 

 

Phil Ochs: Cops of the World

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgrehW44g5s

Come, get out of the way, boys Quick, get out of the way You’d better watch what you say, boys Better watch what you say We’ve rammed in your harbor and tied to your port And our pistols are hungry and our tempers are short So bring your daughters around to the fort ‘Cause we’re the cops of the world, boys We’re the cops of the world We pick and choose as we please, boys Pick and choose as we please You’d best get down on your knees, boys Best get down on your knees We’re hairy and horny and ready to shack And we don’t care if you’re yellow or black Just take off your clothes and lay down on your back ‘Cause we’re the cops of the world, boys We’re the cops of the world Our boots are needing a shine, boys Boots are needing a shine But our Coca-Cola is fine, boys Coca-Cola is fine We’ve got to protect all our citizens fair So we’ll send a battalion for everyone there And maybe we’ll leave in a couple of years ‘Cause we’re the cops of the world, boys We’re the cops of the world And dump the Reds in a pile, boys Dump the Reds in a pile You’d better wipe off that smile, boys Better wipe off that smile We’ll spit through the streets of the cities we wreck And we’ll find you a leader that you can elect Those treaties we signed were a pain in the neck ‘Cause we’re the cops of the world, boys We’re the cops of the world And clean the johns with a rag, boys Clean the johns with a rag If you like you can use your flag, boys If you like you can use your flag We’ve got too much money, we’re looking for toys And guns will be guns and boys will be boys But we’ll gladly pay for all we destroy ‘Cause we’re the cops of the world, boys We’re the cops of the world Please stay off of the grass, boys Please stay off of the grass Here’s a kick in the ass, boys Here’s a kick in the ass We’ll smash down your doors, we don’t bother to knock We’ve done it before, so why all the shock? We’re the biggest and the toughest kids on the block And we’re the cops of the world, boys We’re the cops of the world And when we butchered your sons, boys When we butchered your sons Have a stick of our gum, boys Have a stick of our bubblegum We own half the world, oh say can you see? And the name for our profits is democracy So like it or not, you will have to be free ‘Cause we’re the cops of the world, boys We’re the cops of the world

 

 

trad 

 

Carolina Chocolate Drops: Cornbread and Butter Beans

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcn7-W57x1M

Chorus: Cornbread and butterbeans and you across the table Eatin’ them beans and makin’ love as long as I am able Hoein’ corn and cotton too, and when the day is over Ride the mule and cut the fool and love again all over Goodbye, don’t you cry, I’m going to Louisiana To buy a coon dog and a big fat hog and marry Susie Anna Sing-song, ding-dong, I’ll take a trip to China Cornbread and butterbeans, then back to North Carolina Wearin’ shoes and drinking booze, it goes against the Bible A necktie will make you die and cause you lots of trouble Streetcars and whiskey bars and kissing pretty women Women, yeah that’s the end of a terrible beginning I can’t read and don’t care and education is awful Raising heck and writin’ checks, it ought to be unlawful Silk hose and frilly clothes is just a waste of money Come with me and stay with me and say you’ll be my honey

 

 

Roger Bryant 1991

 

Inspired by closure of the last tin mines in Cornwall. The replacement of tin cans with aluminum and the use of protective coatings inside cans tanked demand for tin by the early 1980s, and in 1985 efforts to keep the price of tin at a level where mining was economical failed. In 1990, Geevor Mine, the second-to-last large tin mine in Cornwall and a large employer, closed. Shortly before this, Bryant recalls one summer visiting family and hearing the constant engine thrum of Russian factory ships out on the water 24/7 turning mackerel caught by Scottish trawlers into fish meal and carted away, boatload after boatload. That winter of 1990-91, Bryant was on a winter walk in Porthleven, and every house was shuttered with signs advertising vacation rentals, with not a person to be seen. All of this made him so angry, and the chorus of the song just came to him, and the rest of the song developed from there.

Chorus Well Cornish lads are fishermen And Cornish lads are miners too But when the fish and tin are gone what are the Cornish boys to do? From Newly town we used to sail Through rain and mist and lashing gale The mackerel shoals we hoped to find And soon we’ve left Land’s End behind We’ve searched the seven stones all around But not a sign or shoal we’ve found Round Island light is now in sight But Scillies are a barren ground The winding engines used to sing A melody to Cornish tin And Geevor lads they all would grin At pay day on a Friday The water now reclaims the mine And young men talk of old men’s time And go to work in gold or coal Or face a life upon the dole The hammer of the auction man Is the only sound we soon will hear And visitors will make the noise And order drinks from Cornish boys We’ll do as we have done before Go out to roam the wild world o’er Wherever sea or ship are found Or there’s a hole down underground

 

 

Hedy West 

 

West wrote in 1963: “When my father was a child, a pack-peddler from Atlanta came through Gilmer County, Georgia, each summer selling wares strapped to his back in black oil-cloth. He often stayed overnight and told of cotton mills farther south and out of the mountains, where you could earn $5 and $6 a week in wages. In search of this better living, my great-grandfather, Nathaniel Benjamin West, moved his family down to Bartow County, Georgia; in 1915 my grandfather, Oliver West, and his family followed. Nathaniel West became a janitor at Atco Mills. His daughters became mill hands. Even before the depression came, they had a tough time making a living in the mills. My great aunt, Mae, learned a two-verse song at Atco, which I have expanded to the present form of Cotton Mill Girls.”

Sally Rogers: https://youtu.be/xaQKcHvXXUo?si=ndwLqbjzKbN59Zz_&t=123

https://youtu.be/xaQKcHvXXUo?si=ndwLqbjzKbN59Zz_&t=123

Worked in the cotton mill all my life Ain’t got nothing but a Barlow knife And it’s hard times, cotton mill girls It’s hard times everywhere Chorus: Hard times, cotton mill girls (x3) Hard times everywhere In 1915 we heard it said Move to cotton country and get ahead And it’s hard times, cotton mill girls Hard times everywhere Us kids worked twelve hours a day For fourteen cents of measly pay And it’s hard times, cotton mill girls Hard times everywhere Rumor to Barlow’s a long long way Down Elijay from Corticay And it’s hard times, cotton mill girls Hard times everywhere When I die don’t bury me at all Just hang me up on the spinning room wall Pickle my bones in alcohol It’s hard times everywhere

 

 

trad 

 

Bert Lloyd wrote on the Watersons’ 1975 recording: “Idyllic songs, praising country pleasures, mostly belong to a time before the agricultural revolution of the 18th and early 19th centuries turned the smallholders into a rural proletariat with grievances. The Watersons got this one from Mick Taylor, a sheepdog trainer of Hawes in Wensleydale.” Mainly Norfolk says “There was some discussion on Mudcat whether the chorus should have the line “Merrily upon the laylum” or “Merrily upon the layland” with layland meaning fallow ground according to the Webster dictionary. Eliza Carthy says: ‘They sing laylum and take it to mean chorus.'”

The Watersons: The Watersons-Country Life

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV9M6x8PIJc

Chorus I like to rise when the sun she rises, Early in the morning. And I like to hear them small birds singing, Merrily upon their layland And hurrah for the life of a country boy, And to ramble in the new mown hay. In summer when the sun is hot We sing, we dance, and we drink a lot We spend all night in sport and play And go rambling in the new mown hay. In Autumn when the oak trees turn We gather all the wood that’s fit to burn We cut and stash and stow away And go rambling in the new mown hay. In Winter when the sky’s grey We hedge and ditch are times away But in Summer when the sun shines gay We go ramblin’ through the new mowed hay. In Spring we sow at the harvest mow And that is how the seasons round they go But of all the times choose I may I’d be rambling through the new mowed hay. Oh Nancy is my darling gay And she blooms like the flowers every day But I love her best in the month of May When we’re rambling through the new mown hay.