1. |
Bear Me Away
04:39
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Long long ago in the days of my childhood
Fond were the mem’ries when I stood at mother's knee
Then she placed a kiss on my forehead
Down by the window where my mother used to pray
CHO:
Bear me away on the breeze of the morning
Bear me away to my old home far away
Let me sit down by the old family bible
Down by the window where my mother used to pray
I remember when she lay on her pillow
Breathing a prayer to her father in the sky
Then she'd say 'where he leads I must follow'
Follow my savior where no tear may dim the eye
Long since I stood by her grave on the hillside
Long since they laid my dear mother in the grave
Long since she placed a kiss on my forehead
Down by the window where my mother used to pray.
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2. |
Strange Land
03:06
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Travelin thru a strange land, strange land
Stranger in a strange land, strange land
No one takes my hand, takes my hand.
For it is, for it is a hard road, hard road.
Through the heat and cold I have journeyed far
Through the heat and cold I have journeyed far
Who will shelter me, shelter me.
For it is....
Dearest friends and family left behind
Dearest friends and family left behind
Who will love me now, love me now.
For it is....
I'm a child of God, a child of God
I'm a child of God, a child of God.
Who will pray for me, pray for me.
For it is....
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3. |
Wedding Dress
03:33
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Well, my little Doney Gal, don't you guess
Better be making your wedding dress
Wedding dress, wedding dress
Better be making your wedding dress
Well, it's already made, trimmed in green
Prettiest dress you've ever seen
Ever seen, ever seen
Prettiest dress you've ever seen
Well, it's already made, trimmed in red
Stitched and sewed with a golden thread
Golden thread, golden thread
Stitched and sewed with a golden thread
Well, it's already made, trimmed in brown
Stitched all around with a golden crown
Golden crown, golden crown
Stitched all around with a golden crown
Well, it's already made, trimmed in white
Gonna be married on Saturday night
Saturday night, Saturday night
Gonna be married on Saturday night
Well, she wouldn't say yes and she wouldn't say no
All she'd do was sit and sew
Sit and sew, sit and sew
All she'd do was sit and sew
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4. |
You Take Me for Granted
03:10
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My legs, my feet have walked till they can’t hardly
Move from tryin to please you
And my back is sore from bending over backwards
To just lay the world at your door
And I’m trying hard to keep a smile on a sad face
While deep down it’s breaking my heart
And as sure as the sun shines
I’ll be a lifetime
Not knowing if I’ve done my part.
BRIDGE:
Cause you take me for granted
And it’s breaking my heart
As sure as the sun shines I’ll be a lifetime
Not knowing if I’ve done part.
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5. |
Follow the Music
03:20
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Since I was a child I been a-lookin for a home
Been everywhere and I been nowhere at all
Thought it was a place, thought I saw it in your face
& sometimes in the comfort of a lovers warm embrace.
I'm out in this old world just a-ramblin around
Ramblin in the country, ramblin in the town
Followin the river, cross the ocean deep and wide
Stars stretchin out for miles keep me thru the night
CHO; Follow the music
Follow the music home
Follow the music home
Sometimes in the night I hear a lonesome old song
Or a ghostly fiddle calling, where you been so long
And if I follow the music to where I want to go
It'll take me to safe harbor and guide me home
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6. |
Boll Weevil
03:10
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Boll weevil told the farmer
You’d better treat me right
I’ll eat up all of your cotton
Sleep in your granary tonight.
Boll weevil told the farmer
Don’t need no Ford machine
I’ll eat up all of your cotton
Can’t buy no gasoline.
Don’t see no water
But I’m about to drown
Don’t see no fire
But I’m a-burnin down.
I seen a spider
Runnin up and down the wall
He must’ve been a-goin
To get his ashes hauled.
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7. |
Love Was the Price
03:23
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Forgotten, forgotten
Can no longer see
My eyes have gone blind, my soul can’t feel
The love we once had like a bird fallen down
Once gliding and soaring, now dyin on the ground
Nothin to hold it, no nowhere to go
Just down to the marshes to lay and grow cold.
And it wasn’t in May,
No it wasn’t December
The place that love ended had no name and no number
One by one the doors closed and the walls grew higher
Torment the seller and destruction the buyer
Til neither knew how, til neither knew why
Just knew it was done and that love was the price.
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8. |
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PAGE BY PAGE OUR LIFE IS WRITTEN
IN THE MASTERS BOOK ABOVE
WONDER IF HE MAKES AN ENTRY
FOR EACH DARLING MOTHERS LOVE
LIKE THE ONE I SAW THIS MORNING
ENTER THRU THE STATION DOOR
SHE WAS CRYING SOFTLY CRYING
TEARDROPS FALLING IN THE SNOW.
AS SHE CAME UP TO THE WINDOW
PASSING ME A LETTER THRU
SHE WAS WAITING FOR A CASKET
ONE DRAPED IN RED WHITE & BLUE
THEN SHE SAID I’LL WAIT OUTSIDE SIR
SOON I KNOW THE TRAIN WILL BLOW
I COULD SEE HER THRU THE WINDOW
TEARDROPS FALLING IN THE SNOW.
THEN THE WHISTLE OF THE ENGINE
BROKE THE SILENCE OF THE AIR
AS THE TRAIN WAS SLOWLY STOPPING
ON HER LIPS THERE WAS A PRAYER
ON THE BOX THERE WAS A NUMBER
AND A NAME INSCRIBED BELOW
AS SHE LOOKED UPON THE CASKET
TEARDROPS FALLING IN THE SHOW.
THERE’S A NEW MADE GRAVE AWAITING
AND ITS DEPTHS ARE DARK AND COLD
JUST TO CLAIM THIS MOTHERS DARLING
WAR FOR HER HAS TAKEN TOLL
BUT I’M SURE THEY’LL MEET UP YONDER
WHERE GOD’S CHILDREN ALWAYS GO
AND I ALWAYS WILL REMEMBER
TEARDROPS FALLING IN THE SNOW.
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9. |
Foolish Lover's Waltz
03:03
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The midnight hour has come and gone
Moonlight fading soon
Foolish lovers they dance on
While the piper plays the tune, tune
The piper plays the tune.
Shadows dancing on the wall
Truth and lies entwine
Lovers lovin love again
And the moment hides the time, time
The moment hides the time.
Bendin the rules
Kids out of school
Playin parts, breakin hearts
Words they can’t undo
They whirl, they twirl, spin faster now
They know they’ll never fall
But the piper always plays his tune
And the foolish lovers waltz, waltz
The foolish lovers waltz.
Secrets and lies
Somethin to hide
They don’t care, chance and dare
Makin up their minds
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10. |
The Vulture
08:13
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I’ve been among those mighty Alps
I’ve wandered through their vales
I’ve heard the oldest mountaineers
Relate their dismal tales
Whispering around the fire in their cottage homes
When their daily work was o’er
They would talk of those who had disappeared
And ne’er returned no more.
It’s there I from a shepherd learned
A narrative of fear
He told a mortal story there
That mothers might not hear.
O the tears were standing in his eyes
O his voice so low & hushed
O a-wipin all those tears away
He told his story thus.
Among those might and craggy rocks
The ravenous vulture dwells
He never fattens from a prey
Till which afar he smells
O its patient waiting hours & hours
O on some lonely rock
O then choosing out a truant lamb
His victim from some flock.
It was on one clear September morn
The sun was rolling high
When from my children on the green
I heard a dismal cry
O as if some awful deed were done
O a cry of grief & pain
O a cry I humbly trust to God
I ne’er may hear again.
I hurried out to learn the cause
(Tho overcome with fright)
My infants shrieked in wild dismay
When from my frenzied sight
O I missed the youngest of my babes
The darling of my care
O when something caught my searching eye
Slow sailing through the air.
Now what a hard spectacle oh, to meet a mother’s eye
My infant made a vultures prey
Just hastening o’er to die
To know alas with bursting heart
And with a manic rave
No human power could not prevent
This infant child to save.
My infant reached his little hands
Imploring unto me
While struggling in those raptor’s claws
So vainly to get free
I heard his agonizing cries
As loud he shrieked and screamed
O until upon that azure sky
A lessening spot he seemed.
The vulture flopped his sail like wings
And heavenly he flew
Until upon that sun’s broad face
He came into my view
But it’s once I thought I saw him swoop
O as if as for to light
It was all but a deluded thought
For all had vanished quite.
Long years went by with the rolling times
This child was ne’er forgot
Until a daring hunter climbed
Up to a lofty spot
O and there upon that craggy old rock
Where the sun most ne’er had reached
There lay the bones of an infant one
The elements had bleached.
I hurried up those craggy rocks
I could not stay away
I knew that was my infant’s bones
Just hastening to decay
But the tattered garment it still remained
Though tore to many a shred
O the crimsy cap that he wore that morn
Was still upon his head.
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11. |
Goodbyes
05:18
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Don't, don't you hate goodbyes
Don't, don't you never wanna say goodbye again
Cause I know how it feels to lose
And I know just what it feels like to say goodbye.
Friends, oh you miss them so much
And memories they come back to me as we loosen our clutch
And we all want to relive them but we know
That we, we all must go on with the show.
And I wish, wish you wouldn't leave
I wish, wish you wouldn't leave
Because it would make my life so much easier
Just knowin there's hope and care comin fom a friend who would gladly share
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Alice Gerrard Durham, North Carolina
A singer and songwriter, Alice’s recordings with Hazel Dickens during the 1960s and ’70s influenced a generation of women musicians from Laurie Lewis to the Judds. Nominated for a Grammy in 2015, she was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Assoc. Hall of Fame in 2017. A documentary film about Alice, "You Gave Me a Song" premiered at the Full Frame Independent Film Festival in 2019. ... more
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