Willie Moore

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Drone in G, and play melody Video version HERE.
Lyrics:
Willie Moore was a King, his age twenty-one
Courted a maiden fair;
Her eyes were like two diamonds bright
Raven black was her hair, hmmm hmmm hmmm…
He courted her both day and night,
To marry him she did agree,
But when they went to get her parents' consent,
They said, 'This could never be,' hmmm, hmmm, hmmm…
'I love Willie Moore,' sweet Annie replied,
'Better than I love my life,
And l would rather die than weep here and cry,
Never to be his wife,' hmmm, hmmm, hmmm…
That very same night sweet Anne disappeared,
They searched the country 'round
In a little stream down by the cabin door,
The body of sweet Annie was found' hmmm, hmmm, hmm
Sweet Annie's parents they live all alone,
One mourns, the other cries,
In a little grave down by the cabin door
The body of sweet Annie now lies.
Willie Moore scarce spoke that anyone knew,
Soon from his friends did part;
And the last heard of him was he's on Montreal
Where he died of a broken heart.

Kilgary Mountain

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I first heard this song sung by Bob Gibson in the late 50’s. In 1961 I recorded it with the Chad Mitchell Trio. In April 2000, I recorded it again with Tommy Makem for my forthcoming CD ‘Roger McGuinn – Treasures from the Folk Den’ which will be released on Appleseed Recordings in the spring of 2001. This CD will contain duets featuring Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Tommy Makem, Jean Ritchie, Odetta, Judy Collins and many more wonderful folk artists, singing the best songs from the Folk Den with me.
Lyrics:
D Bm
As I was a-walkin’ over Kilgary Mountain

G D

I met with Capt. Pepper and his money he was countin’

D Bm

I rattled my pistols and I drew forth my saber

G D

Sayin’, ‘Stand and deliver, for I am the bold deceiver’

A

Musha rig um du rum da

D
Whack fol the daddy o

G
Whack fol the daddy o

D A D
There’s whiskey in the jar

I counted out his money, and it made a pretty penny

I put it in my pocket for to take it home to Jenny

She promised and she vowed she never would deceive me

But the devil’s in the women and they always lie so easy

When I was awakened between six and seven

The guards all around me in numbers odd and even

I flew to my pistols, but alas I was mistaken

For Jenny’s drawn my pistols and a prisoner I was taken

They put me into prison without judge or writin’

For robbing Capt. Pepper on Kilgary Mountain

But they didn’t take my fists so I knocked the sentry down

And bid a fond farewell to the jail in Limric town

I wish I’d find my brother, the one that’s in the army

I don’t know where he’s stationed, in Cork or in Kelarny

Together we’d go ramblin o’er the mountains of Kilkenny

I know he’s treat me better than my darlin’ sportin’ Jenny

Now some take delight in fishin’ and a-bowlin’

And others take delight in carriages a-rollin’

But I take delight in the juice of the barley

And courtin’ pretty maidens in the morning oh so early

Lilly of the West

I don’t know the origin of this song, but it has the same basic tune as The Buffalo Skinners. It’s a sad tale of betrayal and a crime of passion. In France, I’m told they have different penalties for such crimes. The photo is of a Bulgarian Bluegrass musician who’s named her latest CD after the title of this song. Click her picture to learn more.
Lyrics:
Am C G
When first I came to Louisville
F Am
Some pleasure there to find
C F G
A damsel there from Lexington
Am
Was pleasin’ to my mind
Am C G
Her ruby lips her rosy cheeks
Am
Like arrows pierced my breast
Am C G
The name she bore was Flora
F Am
The Lilly of the West

I courted lovely Flora
Some pleasure there to find
But she turned onto another man
Which sore distressed my mind

She stole away my liberty
Deprived me of my rest
Then go my lovely Flora
The Lilly of the West

Way down in yonder shady grove
A man of low degree
Conversin’ with my Flora there
It seemed so strange to me

The answer that she gave to him
It sore did me oppress
I was betrayed by Flora
The Lilly of the West

I stepped up to my rival
My dagger in my hand
I seized him by the collar
And I boldly bade him stand

Be mad to desperation
I pierced him in his breast
Then go my lovely Flora
The Lilly of the West

And then I had to stand my trial
I had to make my plea
They put me in the criminal box
And then commenced on me

Although she swore my life away
Deprived me of my rest
Still I love my faithless Flora
The Lilly of the West

Traditional / Arr. Roger McGuinn (C) 2000 McGuinn Music

Dink’s Song

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John A. Lomax made his memorable recording. Lomax tells the tale in his remarkable book, Adventures Of A Ballad Hunter, published by MacMillan in 1947:

‘A few miles away from College Station (ie the Texas A&M College, where Lomax first began collecting folk songs) runs the Brazos River. The broad bottom lands of that river were covered with large cotton plantations. There, one day in 1908, behind lowered curtains in the home of a bachelor overseer I first saw jazz danced between the sexes. Even this rough man was unwilling to allow the public to know that he permitted young Negroes to dance in the postures now accepted as a matter of course in barrel-houses and honkytonks in cities of the South. I discovered at this time the Ballet Of The Boll Weevil, Dink’s Fare You Well, Oh Honey and many ‘blues’. Carl Sandburg, whom I place first among all present amateur folk singers, uses regularly the first two songs on his programmes. He says that Dink’s song reminds him of Sappho.

I found Dink washing her man’s clothes outside their tent on the bank of the Brazos River in Texas. Many other similar tents stood around. The black men and women they sheltered belonged to a levee-building outfit from the Mississippi River Delta, the women having been shipped from Memphis along with the mules and the iron scrapers, while the men, all skilful levee-builders, came from Vicksburg. A white foreman volunteered: ‘Without women of their own, these levee Negroes would have been all over the bottoms every night hunting for women. That would mean trouble, serious trouble. Negroes can’t work when sliced up with razors.’

The two groups of men and women had never seen each other until they met on the river bank in Texas where the white levee contractor gave them the opportunity presented to Adam and Eve – they were left alone to mate after looking each other over. While her man built the levee, each woman kept his tent, toted the water, cut the firewood, cooked, washed his clothes and warmed his bed. Down on the dumps nearer the river, clouds of drifting dust swirled from the feet of moving mules and from piles of shifted earth, while the shouts of the muleskinners sometimes grouped themselves into long-drawn-out couplets with a semi-tune – levee camp hollers:

I looked all over the corral,
Lawd, I couldn’t find a mule with his shoulder well.

Lawd, they won’t ‘low me to beat ’em,
Got to beg ’em along.

But Dink, reputedly the best singer in the camp, would give me no songs. ‘Today ain’t my singin’ day,’ she would reply to my urging. Finally, a bottle of gin, bought at a nearby plantation commissary, loosed her muse. The bottle of liquor soon disappeared. She sang, as she scrubbed her man’s dirty clothes, the pathetic story of a woman deserted by her lover when she needs him most – a very old story. Dink ended the refrain with a subdued cry of despair and longing – the sobbing of a woman deserted by her man.

Lyrics:
E A E
If I had wings like Norah’s dove
C#m A
I’d fly up the river to the one I love
E A E B7 E
Fare thee well, oh my honey, fare thee well

I’ve got a man, he’s long and tall
Moves his body like a cannon ball
Fare thee well, oh my honey, fare thee well

One of these days and it won’t be long
Call my name and I’ll be gone
Fare thee well, oh my honey, fare thee well

I remember one night, a drizzling rain
Round my heart I felt a pain
Fare thee well, oh my honey, fare thee well

If I had listened to what my mama said
I’d be at home in my mama’s bed
Fare thee well, oh my honey, fare thee well

(c) 2000 McGuinn Music / Roger McGuinn

Greenland Whale Fisheries

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This is a slightly different version of a very popular whaling song.
Lyrics:
G D G
They signed us with a whaling crew
C Em D
For the icy Greenland ground
G Em C Am
They said weÂ’d take a shorter way,
Am G D G Em
While we was outward bound brave boys
Em G D G
While we was outward bound

Oh the lookout up in the barrel stood
With a spyglass in his hand
ThereÂ’s a whale thereÂ’s a whale thereÂ’s a whale he cried
And she blows at every span brave boys
And she blows at every span

The captain stood on the quarter-deck
And the ice was in his eye
Overhaul overhaul let your davit tackles fall
And put your boats to sea brave boys
And put your boats to sea

Well the boats got down and the men aboard
And the whale was full in view
Resolve resolve let these whaler men know
To see where the whale fish blew brave boys
To see where the whale fish blew

Well the harpoon struck, the line ran out
The whale give a floody with his tail
And he upset the boat, we lost half a dozen men
No more, no more Greenland for you brave boys
No more no more Greenland for you

Bad news bad news the captain said
And it grieved his heart full sore
But the losing of that hundred pound whale
Oh it grieved him ten times more brave boys
Oh it grieved him ten times more

Oh Greenland is a dreadful place
A land thatÂ’s never green
Where the cold winds blow and the whale fish go
And the daylight's seldom seen brave boys
And the daylight's seldom seen

Traditional / Arr. Roger McGuinn
(c) 2000 McGuinn Music / Roger McGuinn

Auld Lang Syne

Lyrics:
D A
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
D G
And never brought to mind?
D A
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
G D
And days of auld lang syne?
D A
And days of auld lang syne, my dear,
D G
And days of auld lang syne.
D A
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
G D
And days of auld lang syne?

We twa hae run aboot the braes
And pu’d the gowans fine.
We’ve wandered mony a weary foot,
Sin’ days of auld lang syne.
Sin’ days of auld lang syne, my dear,
Sin’ days of auld lang syne,
We’ve wandered mony a weary foot,
Sin’ days of auld ang syne.

We twa hae sported i’ the burn,
From morning sun till dine,
But seas between us braid hae roared
Sin’ days of auld lang syne.
Sin’ days of auld lang syne, my dear,
Sin’ days of auld lang syne.
But seas between us braid hae roared
Sin’ days of auld lang syne.

And ther’s a hand, my trusty friend,
And gie’s a hand o’ thine;
We’ll tak’ a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak’ a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

(c) 2000 McGuinn Music / Roger McGuinn

I Saw Three Ships

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Lyrics:
G
I saw three ships come sailing in
D
On Christmas day, on Christmas day
G
I saw three ships come sailing in
D G
On Christmas day in the morning.

And what was in those ships all three?
On Christmas Day, etc. And what was in etc. On Christmas day
in etc.

Our Saviour, Christ, and His Lady.

Pray, whither sailed those ships all three?

O, they sailed to Bethlehem.

And all the bells on earth shall ring.

And all the angels in heaven shall sing.

And all the souls on earth shall sing.

Then let us all rejoice and sing.

Tradidional / Arr. Roger McGuinn
(c) 1999 McGuinn Music

Ain’t No Mo Cane On De Brasis AKA Cane Blues

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This is a Southern chain gang song
Lyrics:
G D Em
It ain’ no mo’ cane on de Brazis
Am D Bm
Oh… Oh Oh
C Am G Em
Done groun’ it all in molazzis,
Am D G
Oh… Oh Oh

B’lieve I’ll do like ol’ Riley,
Ol’ Riley walked de Brazis.

One o’ dese mornin’s an’ it won’ be long,
You gonna call me an’I’ll be gone.

Oughta come on de river in nineteen-O-fo’,
You could fin’ a dead man on every turn row.

Oughta come on de river in nineteen an’ ten,
Dey was drivin’ de women jes’ like de men.

I looked at my Ol’ Hannah’ an’she’s turnin’red,
I looked at my podner an’ he’s almos’dead.

Well, I wonder what’s de matter, somepin’ mus’ be wrong
We’re stil I here rollin, Shorty George done gone.

Go down, Ol’ Hannah, doncha rise no mo’,
Ef you rise any mo’ bring judgment day.

It ain’ no mo’ cane on de Brazis
Done groun’ it all in molazzis,

(c) 1999 McGuinn Music / Roger McGuinn

Fair Nottamun Town

This is one of those enigmatic songs with a lovely haunting melody. I first heard 'Fair Nottamun Town' performed in 1957, by Jean Ritchie on an Elektra Records Folk Sampler. The name of the town was originally Nottingham, and the lyrics got 'distilled' in the Appalachian Mountains. This is a great example of the folk process.

The lyrics are quite surreal, and may have originally been inspired by a battle of The English Civil Wars of 1642-51. The tension between Charles and Parliament was still great, since none of the issues raised by the Short
Parliament had been resolved. This tension was brought to a head on January 4th, 1642 when Charles attempted to arrest five members of parliament. This attempt failed, since they were spirited away before the king's troops arrived. Charles left London and both he and parliament began to stockpile military resources and recruit troops.

Charles officially began the war by raising his standard at Nottingham in August, 1642. This song may have been the bizarre observations of one of King Charles' mounted soldiers.

Jean Ritchie writes:

Dear Roger McGuinn,

This is Jean Ritchie here; I loved listening to your music on the web, and
appreciate your interest in folk music. Your singing of 'Fair Nottamun Town'
was especially fine and I felt I must write to give you my history with the
song. The version you perform is the Ritchie Family (Kentucky) version. I
have never heard JJ Niles sing it, nor has anyone else I know- I knew him
quite well; he visited and got songs from the family in his early days, and
it was there he saw his first dulcimer, but to my knowledge he never
performed, 'Nottamun Town.' The time you heard him must have been the only
one, and he certainly learned it from the Ritchies.

The song has been in our family back many generations, and was collected at
the Hindman Settlement School in Knott County, KY by Cecil Sharp around 1917
from the singing of my sister Una who was a student there (Una was 4th in our
family of 14; I'm 'the baby one,' and am 77 now). Our family ancestors came
over from England, Scotland, Ireland, the earliest ones we know of arrived in
1768. Our family still cherishes and sings the songs they brought with them.

If you will check in Sharp's book of Appalachian songs he collected, you will
find the Ritchie version- the one you sing- as notated from the singing of
Una and Sabrina Ritchie (Sabrina was our cousin). I added the 'mule roany
mare' phrase, instead of 'that was called a grey mare.' Also, it always
bothered me that one-half of one of the verses was missing- just filled in
with dots…. then the last two lines are the ones beginning, 'I bought me
a quart…' For years, I sang, 'la,la,la,' for those missing lines, but
finally just put in two of my own, 'They laughed and they smiled, not a soul
did look gay; they talked all the while, not a word did they say…'

In the sixties, when the Kingston Trio and others began performing and
copywriting (as writers) our family songs, I applied for several copyrights
for the family. A copyright for 'Fair Nottamun Town' was approved in 1964,
based on the changes I had made in the lyrics. I have contributed much of
the royalties (from Bob Dylan and others) to Kentucky charities over the
years.

Your suggestion that the song may have been inspired by the English Civil
Wars of 1642-51 is most interesting. I had heard another suggestion of it's
possible origins, years ago, saying that it may have been composed during
the Great Plague! When I did my Fulbright year, searching for sources of
our family songs,in 1952, I spent time researching in Nottingham, and could
find not a mention of it in the libraries, nor could any scholar tell me
anything. Douglas Kennedy said that it was most likely the 'magic song'
used in an early Nottingham mummrs' play. This could not be confirmed,
because I couldn't find in any historical account any news of mummers' plays
in that city. Douglas said that even though it was not now remembered, that
of course there HAD been a mummers' play, as every city had one… This
seemed to me to be the most likely explanation, as the words do go along
with the 'topsy-turvy' nature of the plays (clothing exchanged & turned
inside out to hide identities, etc). One old mummer in Marshfield, when I
asked him what the song might mean,
said, '…why, lass, if the meaning's found out- the magic is lost!'

Another interesting thing is that there is not another similar variant of
'Nottamun Town' in this country, or in England. An English group recorded it
years ago, but they had learned it from me, at Newport I think. Can't
remember the group's name, but it had Martin Carthy in it, and maybe Peter
Bellamy. Many folk scholars have noticed and commended our family on our
unique preservation of several old and rare ballads- one is our, 'Fair Annie
of the Lochroyan,' a mixing-up of the words, 'The Lass of Roch Royal.'

All the best,

Jean Ritchie

Lyrics:
[Em]In Fair Nottamun Town, not a soul would look [G] up

Not a soul would look [Em] up, not a [D] soul would look [Em]down

Not a soul would look [Em] up, not a [D] soul would look [Em] down

To [Am] show me the [Em] way to fair [D] Nottamun [Em]town

I rode a grey horse, a mule roany mare
Grey mane and grey tail, a green stripe down her back
Grey mane and grey tail, a green stripe down her back
There wa'nt a hair on her be-what was coal black

She stood so still, she threw me to the dirt
She tore my hide and she bruised my shirt
From saddle to stirrup I mounted again
And on my ten toes I rode over the plain

Met the King and the Queen and a company more
A-riding behind and a-marching before
Came a stark naked drummer a-beating a drum
With his heels in his bosom come a marching along

They laughed and they smiled, not a soul did look gay
They talked for a while, not a word did they say
I bought me a quart to drive gladness away
And to stifle the dust, for it rained the whole day

Sat down on a hard, hot cold frozen stone
Ten thousand stood round me and yet I's alone
Took my hat in my hand for to keep my head warm
Ten thousand got drownded that never was born

Repeat first verse.

(copyright notice here) Jean Ritchie 1964, 1971 Geordie Music Publishing Co. ASCAP

Sail Away Lady

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'Sail Away Lady' is typical of the kind of dance music that was popular in America in the period between the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. By the 17th Century the banjo had been introduced to this continent from West Africa. The European settlers generally used the violin unaccompanied for dancing, and sang unaccompanied or with a violin only. Increased social contacts of various kinds during the middle 19th century popularized the violin – banjo combination. This tune can be found in almost every collection of fiddle music.

I first heard 'Sail Away Lady' in the mid '50s at the Gate of Horn in Chicago, sung by Odetta. She had a big rolling style on this song with a huge crescendo on the choruses.

Lyrics:
G D G
Ain't no use to sit and cry
G D G
Sail away lady sail away
G D G
You'll be an angel bye and bye
G D G
Sail away lady sail away

C
Don't you rock 'im die – de – O
G
Don't you rock 'im die – de – O
D
Don't you rock 'im die – de – O
G
Don't you rock 'im die – de -O

Well I've got a home in Tennessee
Sail away lady sail away
That is where I'd rather be
Sail away lady sail away

Don't you rock 'im die – de – O
Don't you rock 'im die – de – O
Don't you rock 'im die – de – O
Don't you rock 'im die – de – O

Now come along boys and go with me
Sail away lady sail away
We'll go down to Tennessee
Sail away lady sail away

Don't you rock 'im die – de – O
Don't you rock 'im die – de – O
Don't you rock 'im die – de – O
Don't you rock 'im die – de – O

Whenever I get my new house done
Sail away lady sail away
Love you pretty girls one by one
Sail away lady sail away

Don't you rock 'im die – de – O
Don't you rock 'im die – de – O
Don't you rock 'im die – de – O
Don't you rock 'im die – de – O

Hush little baby don't you cry
Sail away lady sail away
You'll be an angel bye and bye
Sail away lady sail away

Don't you rock 'im die – de – O
Don't you rock 'im die – de – O
Don't you rock 'im die – de – O
Don't you rock 'im die – de – O

Don't you rock 'im die – de – O
Don't you rock 'im die – de – O
Don't you rock 'im die – de – O
Don't you rock 'im die – de – O

© 1999 McGuinn Music / Roger McGuinn