Poor Wayfaring Stranger

Clawhammer banjo for the complete ignoramus cover

Poor Wayfaring Stranger

I’m just a poor wayfaring stranger
traveling through this world of woe
But there’s no sickness, toil, nor danger
In this bright world to which I go.

I’m going there is see my father,
I’m going there no more to roam
I’m just a going over Jordan,
I’m just a going over home.

I know dark clouds will gather round me
I know my way is rough and steep
Yet beauteous fields lie just before me
Where God’s redeemed their vigils keep.

I’m going there to see my mother
She said’ she’d meet me when I come

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Pig in a Pen

Pig in a Pen

Chorus:
I got a pig home in a pen,
Corn to feed him on,
All I need’s a pretty little girl,
To feed him when I’m gone.

Going on the mountain,
Sow a little cane.
Raise a barrel of sorghum,
Sweeten old Liza Jane. (Chorus)

Black clouds a-risin’,
Sure sign of rain,
Get your old grey bonnet on,
Sweet little Liza Jane.

Bake them biscuits baby,
Bake ‘em good and brown.
When I get my biscuits baked,
I’m Alabama bound. (Chorus)

Goin’ to Atlanta,
Just to look around.
If things don’t suit me,
I’ll find another

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Old Molly Hare

Old Molly Hare

Old Molly Hare what you doin’ there?
Sittin’ by the fireplace smokin’ my cigar.

Jump back, jump back, daddy shot a bear
Shot him in the eye and he never touched a hair.

Old Molly Hard what you doin’ there?
Runnin’ through the cotton patch as fast as I can tear.

Old Molly Hare what you doin’ there?
Sittin’ in the butter dish pickin’ out a hair.

I’d rather be here than to be over there
A whole mess of cockleberries tangled in my hair.

The following collected by Robert Gordon from W.E. Bird
Cullowhee, NC October

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Old Joe Clark

Clawhammer banjo for the complete ignoramus cover

Old Joe Clark

Wished I had a nickel,
Wished I had a dime.
Wished I had a pretty girl
To kiss and call her mine.

Fare thee well, Old Joe Clark,
Fare thee well, I say.
Fare thee well, Old Joe Clark
I’m a goin’ away.

I will not marry an old maid
I’ll tell you the reason why.
Her neck is so long and stringy
I’m afraid she’ll never die.

I asked my girl to marry me
And what do you think she said.
Time enough to marry you
When all the rest are dead.

Old Joe Clark did

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Old Blue

Clawhammer banjo for the complete ignoramus cover

Old Blue

I had an old dog and his name was Blue
I had an old dog and his name was Blue
I had an old dog and his name was Blue
Betcha five dollars he’s a good dog too.

Here Blue
You good dog you.

I shouldered my gun and tooted my horn,
Gonna find a possum in the new ground corn,
Old Blue barked and I went to see,
He corned a possum up in a tree.

When old Blue died, he died so hard,
Shook the ground in my back yard,
Lowered him down with a golden

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New River Train

Clawhammer banjo for the complete ignoramus cover

New River Train

I’m riding on the New River train
I’m riding on the New River train
It’s the same old train that brought me here
And it’s soon gonna carry me away

Darling you can’t love one (2X)
You can’t love one and have any fun
Oh Darling you can’t love one

Darling, you can’t love two (2X)
You can’t love two and still be true
Darling you can’t love two

Darling, you can’t love three (2X)
You can’t love three and still love me
Darling you can’t love three

Darling you can’t love four (2X)
You can’t love

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Muley’s Daughter

Clawhammer banjo for the complete ignoramus cover

Muley’s Daugher

by Wayne Erbsen © 1974

Gain’ down to the spring
Fetch a pail of water
Goin’ to old Muley’s house
Gonna marry his daughter
Gonna marry his daughter

Throw a stone out in the pond
Let the ripples show
When I find that girl of mine
Some flowers we will sow, love,
Flowers we will sow

Take my love by the hand
To the mountain far
Lay there on a summer’s night
Countin’ all the stars, love,
Countin’ all the stars

Way up on the mountain there
Gonna build a house so fine
Look down over the valley

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Mama Don’t Allow

Mama Don’t Allow

Mama don’t ‘low no guitar pickin’ ‘round here,
Mama don’t ‘low no guitar pickin’ ‘round here.
I don’t care what mama don’t allow, pick my guitar anyhow,
Mama don’t ‘low no guitar pickin’ ‘round here.

Mama don’t ’low no banjo pickin’ ‘round here,
Mama don’t ‘low no banjo pickin’ ‘round here.
I don’t care what mama don’t allow, pick my banjo anyhow,
Mama don’t ‘low no banjo pickin’ ‘round here.

Mama don’t ‘low no fiddle playin’ ‘round here,
Mama don’t ‘low no fiddle playin’ ‘round here.
I don’t care what mama don’t allow, play my fiddle anyhow,

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Lynchburg Town

Lynchburg Town

Who’s goin’ down to town
Who’s goin’ down to town
Who’s goin’ down to Wilmington
To carry my tobacco ‘round.

Once I had an old big dog
I wished they’d bring him back
Run them big hogs over the fence
And the little ones through the cracks.

Well, I married a little gal
And I brought her from the South
She balled her hair so doggone tight
She couldn’t shut her mouth.

Possum up a ‘simmon tree
Raccoon on the ground
Raccoon said, you son of a gun,
Throw them ‘simmons down.

Possom shake the tree ‘Simmons start

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Love of the Mountains

Love of the Mountains

© by Allen Mills, Poplar Camp Music (BMI) Used by Permission.

Two trees on a hillside of the mountain,
Always looking up towards the sky.
Remind me of my papa and my mama,
Who lived there eighty years before they died.

Chorus:
Now a bright moon is shining in the valley,
An old wagon leans against a stack of hay.
Two graves on a hillside by a cabin,
My mom and dad are resting there today.

The burning of the green wood in the fireplace,
The fallen snow around the red bud trees.
The branches of

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