Cindy

Cindy.jpg

This is one of the great American folk songs that I learned at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago. I love playing banjo on this song, which according to John Lomax is originally from North Carolina. Cindy is a widely known frolic tune, appearing in many folk music collections and even old elementary school songbooks.
Lyrics:
CINDY

[C] You ought to see my Cindy
She lives away down [G] south
[C] She’s so sweet the [F] honeybees
[C] Swarm [G] around her [C] mouth.

cho: Get along [F] home, Cindy Cindy
Get along [C] home.
Get along [F] home, Cindy Cindy
I’ll [C] marry [G] you some [C] day. (I’m a-gonna leave you now)

Wish I was an apple
Hangin on a tree
An’ every time that Cindy passed
She’d take a bite o’ me

cho: Get along [F] home, Cindy Cindy
Get along [C] home.
Get along [F] home, Cindy Cindy
I’ll [C] marry [G] you some [C] day. (I’m a-gonna leave you now)

She took me to the parlor
She cooled me with her fan
She said I was the prettiest thing
In the shape of mortal man

cho: Get along [F] home, Cindy Cindy
Get along [C] home.
Get along [F] home, Cindy Cindy
I’ll [C] marry [G] you some [C] day. (I’m a-gonna leave you now)

Now Cindy got religion,
She had it once before
When she heered my old banjo
She’s the first one on the floor.

cho: Get along [F] home, Cindy Cindy
Get along [C] home.
Get along [F] home, Cindy Cindy
I’ll [C] marry [G] you some [C] day. (I’m a-gonna leave you now)

Now Cindy got religion,
She wheeled round and round
She got so full of glory
That she knocked the preacher down

cho: Get along [F] home, Cindy Cindy
Get along [C] home.
Get along [F] home, Cindy Cindy
I’ll [C] marry [G] you some [C] day. (I’m a-gonna leave you now)

[C] You ought to see my Cindy
She lives away down [G] south
[C] She’s so sweet that [F] honeybees
[C] Swarm [G] around her [C] mouth.

cho: Get along [F] home, Cindy Cindy
Get along [C] home.
Get along [F] home, Cindy Cindy
I’ll [C] marry [G] you some [C] day. (X2)

Some additional verses:

Cindy in the summertime
Cindy in the fall
If I can’t have Cindy all the time
Have no one at all.

Cindy is a pretty girl
Cindy is a peach;
Threw her arms around my neck
Hung on like a leach.

Cindy got religion,
Tell you what she done:
Walked up to the minister
Chawed her chewin’ gum.

Cindy got religion,
She had it once before
When she heered my old banjo
She’s the first one on the floor.

Cindy got religion
She really went to town;
Got so full of glory, Lord,
Shook her stockin’s down.

If I had a pretty gal
I’d put her on a shelf;
Ev’ry time she smiled at me,
I’d jump right up myself.

Cindy had one blue eye
She also had one brown
One eye looked in the country
The other one looked in town

Wish I had a needle and thread
Wish that I could sew
I’d sew that gal to my coat tails
And down the road we’d go

alt chorus:
Git along home, Cindy
Git along home to stay
Git along home, Cindy
One more night ‘n’ day

alt cho: It’s kiss me, gal
Kiss me once again.
Oh, it’s kiss me, gal
All night long.