Category: Song Lyrics

‘Stagolee’: The Legend, Music & Lyrics

By Wayne Erbsen

His real name was Stack Lee, but they all called him Stagolee. At birth, a fortune teller was summoned because the newborn was double-jointed and had a full set of teeth. What worried the fortune teller most was that he was born with a veil over his face, a sign that Stagolee would come to no good.

The fortune teller’s warnings all came true. One day, the devil carried Stagolee off to the graveyard. Knowing his weakness for fine Stetson hats, the devil bought his soul in exchange for a magic oxblood Stetson hat made from a

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‘I’ve Been All Around This World’ + Clawhammer Banjo Tab

By Wayne Erbsen

Of all the many kinds of songs there are to sing, by far my favorites are what I call “real songs.” These were not written in an air conditioned office on the fourteenth floor by fancy pants professional songwriters. Instead, they were written about events that really happened, by real people who were there to witness it.

Judge Parker “I’ve Been All Around This World” could not be any more real if it tried. The outlaw captured in this song was reportedly hanged for murder in Fort Smith, Arkansas, in the 1870s. If this is true, the chances are

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‘In the Pines’ + Music, Lyrics & Tips for Playing

By Wayne Erbsen

Talk about a dark and spooky song! In the Pines has it all: a young girl who shivers when the cold winds blow, and then sells herself to the men in the mines. As if that’s not quite bad enough, she then gets her head cut off when she fell under the driving wheel of a train. After all that, she didn’t even get a proper burial because “her body has never been found.”

Originating around the time of the Civil War, the history of In the Pines is entangled with such songs as The Longest Train

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“Drifting Too Far From the Shore” by Charles E. Moody

Charles E. Moody was not your average gospel songwriter. He alone wrote both the words and the melody of two of the bedrock classics of country and bluegrass gospel, “Kneel at the Cross” and “Drifting Too Far From the Shore.” To get a handle on this man and the songs he wrote, let’s go back to Moody’s beginnings in rural Georgia.

cabin illustrationOne of eight children, Moody was born in a log cabin on October 8,1891, near Tifton, Georgia. In this rural farming community, music was a favorite pastime, and as a young man Moody learned to play the harmonica and

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Working on a Building

Working on a Building

If I was a sinner, I’d tell you what I’d do,
I’d quit my sinning and I’d work on a building too.

Chorus:

I’m working on a building, I’m working on a building,
I’m working on a building for my Lord, for my Lord.
It’s a Holy Ghost building, It’s a Holy Ghost building,
It’s a Holy Ghost building for my Lord, for my Lord.

If I was a preacher, I’d tell you what I’d do,
I’d keep on preaching and I’d work on a building too. (Chorus)

If I was a liar, I’d tell you

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Wildwood Flower

Clawhammer banjo for the complete ignoramus cover

Wildwood Flower

I’ll twine ‘mid the ringlets of my raven black hair
The lilies so pale and the roses so fair,
The myrtle so bright with an emerald hue,
And the pale aronatus with eyes of bright blue.

I’ll sing and I’ll dance my laugh shall be gay
I’ll cease this wild weeping drive sorrow away;
Tho’ my heart is now breaking he never shall know
That his name made me tremble and my pale cheek to glow.

I’ll think of him never, I’ll be wildly gay,
I’ll charm every heart and the crowd I will sway;
I’ll live yet

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Wild Bill Jones

Wild Bill Jones

As I went out for to take a little walk
And I walked upon that Wild Bill Jones
He was walkin’ and talkin’ by my true lover’s side
I forbid him for to leave her alone

He says my age it is just twenty-one,
Too old for to be controlled
I drew my revolver from my side
I destroyed that poor boy’s soul.

Well he kicked and he staggered boys he fell to the ground
And he give one dying groan
I throwed  my arms around my true lover’s neck
Saying baby you’ll be left alone.

I’ve

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Wandering Boy

Wandering Boy

Out in the cold world and far away from home,
Some mother’s boy is wandering all alone,
No one to guide him or keep his footsteps right,
Some mother’s boy is homeless tonight.

Chorus:
Oh, bring back to me, my wandering boy,
For there is no other left to give me joy,
Tell him it’s mother with faded cheeks and hair,
She’s at the old home a-waiting him here.

Out in the hall way there stands a vacant chair,
With an old pair of shoes that used to wear,
Empty now the cradle the one he loved so

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Take This Hammer

Take This Hammer

Chorus:
Take this hammer, carry it to the captain,
Take this hammer, carry it to the captain,
Take this hammer, carry it to the captain,
Tell him I’m a gone, you tell him I’m gone,
Tell him I’m a gone

If he asks you, was I running,
If he asks you, was I running,
If he asks you, was I running,
Tell him I was flying, tell him I was flying. (Chorus)

I don’t want your cold iron shackles,
I don’t want your cold iron shackles,
I don’t want your cold iron shackles,
It hurts my leg,

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Sweet Sunny South

Clawhammer banjo for the complete ignoramus cover

Sweet Sunny South

Take me home to the place where I first saw the light,
To the sweet, sunny south take me home,
Where the mockingbird sung me to rest every night,
Ah! Why was I tempted to roam!

Take me home to the place where my little ones sleep,
Poor massa lies buried close by.
O’er the graves of the loved ones I long to weep,
Among them to rest when I die.

I think with regret of the dear ones I left,
Of the warm hearts that sheltered me there.
Of the wife and dear ones of whom

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