Aragon Mill

Aragon Mill At the east end of town at the foot of the hill;
Stands a chimney so tall that says "Aragon Mill."
But there's no smoke at all coming out of the stack;
For the mill has shut down and it ain't coming back.

Chorus:
And the only tune I hear is the sound of the wind;
As it blows through the town: weave and spin, weave and spin.
There's no children at all in the narrow empty streets;
All the looms have shut down and it's so quiet I can't sleep.

(Chorus)

Now I'm too old to work and I'm too young to die;
And there's no place to go for my woman and I.
For the mill has shut down, it's the only life I know;
Tell me, where shall I go? Tell me, where shall I go?

(Chorus)

Banks of the Ohio
Traditional

I asked my love to take a walk,
Just a walk a little way.
As we walked, oh me, we talked,
All about our wedding day.

(Chorus)

Only say that you'll be mine,
In our home we'll happy be.
Down beside where the waters flow,
On the banks of the Ohio.

I took her by her lilly white hand,
And dragged her down that bank of sand.
There I throwed in to drown,
I watched her as she floated down.

(Chorus)

Was walkin' home between twelve and one,
A thinking of what I had done.
I killed the girl I loved you see,
Because she would not marry me.

(Chorus)

The very next morn, about half past four,
Sheriff Smith knocked at my door,
Saying now young man, come now and go,
Down to the Banks of the Ohio.

(Chorus)

Blue Moon of Kentucky

by: Bill Monroe

Blue moon of Kentucky, keep on shining.
Shine on the one that's gone and proved untrue.
Blue moon of Kentucky, keep on shining.
Shine on the one that's gone and left me blue.

It was on a moonlight night,
The stars were shining bright.
And they whispered from on high,
Your love has said goodbye.

Blue moon of Kentucky, keep on shining.
Shine on the one that's gone and said goodbye.

Blue moon of Kentucky, keep on shining.
Shine on the one that's gone and proved untrue.
Blue moon of Kentucky, keep on shining.
Shine on the one that's gone and left me blue.
It was on a moonlight night,
The stars were shining bright.
And they whispered from on high,
Your love has said goodbye.

Blue moon of Kentucky, keep on shining.
Shine on the one that's gone and said goodbye.

Dark as the Dungeon

Come and listen, young fellers, so young and so fine
And seek not your fortune in the dark dreary mines
It will form as a habit and seep in your soul
'Til the stream of your blood runs as black as the coal

    Where it's dark as a dungeon and damp as the dew
    Where the dangers are double and the pleasures are few
    Where the rain never falls and the sun never shines
    It's dark as a dungeon way down in the mines

There's many a man who I've known in my day
Who lived just to labor his whole life away
Like a fiend with his dope or a drunkard his wine
A man will have lust for the lure of the mines  

Well I hope when I'm gone and the ages shall roll
My body will blacken and turn into coal
Then I'll look from the door of my heavenly home
And  pity the miner that's digging my bones

taken from:
author: Merle Travis

Fox on the Run

(Chorus)
She walks through the corn leading down to the river,
Her hair shone like gold in the hot morning sun.
She took all the love that a poor boy could give her,
And left me to die like a fox on the run.
Like a fox, like a fox, like a fox,like a fox, on the run.

Now everybody knows the reason for the fall,
When woman tempted man down in paradise of God.
Now women tempted me and took me for a ride,
And like a lonely fox, I need a place to hide.

(Chorus)

Now pour a glass of wine to fortify your soul.
We'll talk about the world and the friends we used to know.
Well, I see a stream of girls, who'll put me on the floor.
The game is nearly over, the hounds are at my door.

(Chorus)

I saw the Light

I wandered so aimless, life filled with sin

I wouldn't let my dear savior in

Then Jesus came like a stranger in the night

Praise the Lord, I saw the light.

Chorus: I saw the light, I saw the light

No more in darkness no more in night

Now I'm so happy, no sorrow in sight

Praise the Lord, I saw the light

Just like a blind man I wandered a long,

Worries and fears I claimed for my own.

Then like the blind man that God gave back my sight

Praise the Lord, I saw the light

Chorus:

 I was a fool to wander and stray,

Straight is the gate and narrow the way

Now I have traded the wrong for the right

Praise the Lord, I saw the light

Chorus:

In The Pines

Little girl, little girl, what have I done,
That makes you treat me so.
You have caused me to weep, you have caused me to mourn,
You have caused me to leave my home.

(Chorus)

In the pines, in the pines, where the sun never shines,
And you shiver when the cold wind blows.
In the pines, in the pines, where the sun never shines,
I'll shiver when the cold winds blow.

Little girl, little girl, where did you stay last night?
Not even your mother knows.
I stayed in the pines where the sun seldom shines,
Where you shiver when the cold wind blows.

(Chorus)

Look down, look down, that lonesome road,
Hand down your head and cry.
Through the pines, through the pines, where the sun never shines,
And you shiver when the cold wind blows.

(Chorus)

John Henry
Traditional-Public Domain

John Henry was a little colored boy,
You could put him in the palm of your hand.
And his Papa cried out with a lonesome farewell,
Son gonna be a steel driving man.
Son gonna be a steel driving man.

John Henry went upon the mountain,
Looked down on the other side.
Oh the mountain was so tall, John Henry watched it fall.
Laid down his hammer and he cried.
Lord, Lord, laid down his hammer and cried.

John Henry had a pretty little wife,
Her name was Liza Jane.
John Henry took sick, had to go to bed,
John draw steel like a man.

John Henry said to his Captain,
I want to go to bed.
Fix me a pallet, I wanna lay down,
But let it roll in my head,
Lord, Lord, let it roll in my head.

Little Maggie

Over yonder stands little Maggie, with a dram glass in her hand.
She's drinking away her troubles, and courting some other man
. Oh, how can I ever stand it to see them two blue eyes.
A shining in the moonlight like two diamonds in the sky.

Pretty flowers were made for blooming, pretty stars were made to shine.
Pretty women were made for loving; Little Maggie was made for mine.
Last time I saw my little Maggie, she was sitting on the banks of the sea.
with a forty-four strapped around her, and a banjo on her knee.

I'm going down to the station with my suitcase in my hand
. I'm a going to leave this country, and I'm a going to some far distant land.
Go away, go away little Maggie--- Go and do the best you can.
I'll get me another woman; you can get you another man.

Little Sadie
Traditional

I went out one night for to make a little round,
I met little Sadie and I shot her down.
Went back home, got into bed,
A forty-four pistol under my head.

I woke up the next morning about half past nine,
The hacks and the buggies all standing in line.
And then some gamblers standin' around,
Carried little Sadie to her buryin' ground.

Well I begun to think of what a deed I'd done,
I grabbed my hat and away I run.
I made a good run but a little too slow,
They overtook me in Jericho.

I was standin' on the corner a readin' the bill,
When up stepped the sheriff from Thomasville.
He said young man ain't your name Brown,
Remember the night you shot Sadie down.

Well I said no sir but my name is Lee,
And I shot little Sadie in the first degree.
First degree, second degree,
If you got any papers won't you read them to me.

They took me down town, dressed me in black,
And they put me on a train and started me back.
All the way back to that Thomasville jail,
And I had no money for to go my bail.

Well the judge and the jury took their stand,
The judge had the papers in his right hand.
Forty-one days, forty-one nights,
Forty-one years to wear the ball and stripes.

Matterhorn

We started out from Bern one sunny August morn,
There was just the four of us against the Matterhorn.
There was Albert the Australian and John the Irishman,
Me and Bill from Britain, mad dogs in the sun.

(Chorus)

Matterhorn, Matterhorn,
Many have tired and many have died to climb the Matterhorn.
That mighty Matterhorn.

Two miles up we lost John and our rations fell below,
Now Al and Bill are lying beneath an avalanche of snow.
Now here I am all alone and I know I cannot stop,
Two more yards in front of me before I reach the top.

(Chorus)

Now here I am a dying upon the Matterhorn,
Not a grief or a need of lying or a thing to keep me warm.
The Queen would surely knight me if I could get back down,
But it's closer here to heaven than it is back to the ground.

(Chorus)

That mighty Matterhorn.

Nine Pound Hammer
Traditional

Well this nine pound hammer. it's a little too heavy,
Yes for my size, buddy for my size.
(Chorus)
Well roll on buddy, Don't you roll so slow,
How can I roll, when my wheels won't roll?

I went up into the mountain just to see my honey,
And I ain't coming back, Lord I ain't coming back.
(Chorus)
It's a long way to Harlen, and a long way to Hazard,
Just to get a little brew, just to get a little brew.
(Chorus)
Well an eight pound hammer that's in this tunnel,
Got a ring like mine, got a ring like mine.
Chorus
I'm going down the mountain, now to see my baby,
And I ain't coming back, No, I ain't coming back.

Well roll on buddy, Roll a load of coal,
How can I pull, when my wheels won't roll?

Well the nine pound hammer, it's a little too heavy,
Yes for my size, honey for my size.
Chorus

Paradise

 Daddy, won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
    Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
    Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking
    Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away

When I was a boy my family would travel
Down to western Kentucky where my parents were born
There's a backwoods old town that's often remembered
So many times that my memories are worn

Well, sometimes we'd travel right down the Green River
To the abandoned old prison down by Adrie Hill
Where the air smelled like snakes and we'd shoot with our pistols
But empty pop bottles was all we would kill

Then the coal company came with the world's largest shovel
They tore down the timber and stripped all the land
Well, they dug for their coal til the land was forsaken
Then they wrote it all down as the progress of man

When I die let my ashes float down the Green River
Let my soul roll on up to the Rochester Dam
I'll be halfway to heaven with paradise waiting
Just five miles away from wherever I am

taken from: John Prine

Pretty Polly

Oh Polly, Pretty Polly, come go along with me.
Polly, Pretty Polly, come go along with me.
Before we get married some pleasures to see.

She got behind him and away they did go,
She got behind him and away they did go,
Over the hills and mountains to the valley below.

He rode her over hills and valleys so deep.
He rode her over hills and valleys so deep.
Pretty Polly mistrusted and then began to weep.

Oh Willie, Oh Willie, I'm afraid to of your ways.
Willie, Oh Willie, I'm afraid of your ways.
The way you've been acting, you'll lead me astray.

They went up a little farther, and what did they spy,
They went up a little farther and what did they spy,
A newly-dug grave, and a spade lying by.

Oh Polly, Pretty Polly, your guess is about right.
Polly, Pretty Polly, your guess is about right.
I dug on your grave the best part of last night.

She knelt down before him pleading for her life.
She knelt down before him pleading for her life.
Please let me be a single girl if I can't be your wife.

He stabbed her in the heart and her heart's blood did flow.
He stabbed her in the heart and her heart's blood did flow.
And into the grave Pretty Polly did go.

He threw something over her and turned to go home,
He threw something over her and turned to go home,
Leaving nothing behind him, but the girl left to mourn.

He went down to the jailhouse and what did he say.
He went down to the jailhouse and what did he say.
I killed Pretty Polly and tried to get away.

Oh gentlemen and ladies, I bid you farewell.
Oh gentlemen and ladies, I bid you farewell.
For killing Pretty Polly my soul will go to hell.

Rocky Top

Wish that I was on Ole Rocky Top,
Down in the Tennessee Hills.
Ain't no smoggy smoke on Rocky Top,
Ain't no telephone bills.

Once there was a girl on Rocky Top,
Half bear the other half cat.
Wild as a mink, sweet as soda pop,
I still dream about that.

(Chorus)

Rocky Top, you'll always be
Home sweet home to me.
Good ole Rocky Top,
Rocky Top Tennessee, Rocky Top Tennessee.

Once two strangers climbed on Rocky Top,
Lookin' for a moonshine still.
Strangers ain't come back from Rocky Top,
Guess they never will.

Corn won't grow at all on Rocky Top,
Dirt's too rocky by far.
That's why all the folks on Rocky Top
Get their corn from a jar.

(Chorus)

Now I've had years of cramped up city life,
Trapped like a duck in a pen.
Now all I know is it's a pity life,
Can't be simple again.

(Chorus)

Rocky Top Tennessee, Rocky Top Tennessee.
Yeah Rocky Top Tennesee eee eee eee