1. |
Simple Gifts
03:19
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'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,
'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gain'd,
To bow and to bend we will not be asham'd,
To turn, turn will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come round right.
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2. |
Monkey at the Throttle
03:10
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Once upon a time there was an engineer
Drove his locomotive both far and near
Accompanied by a monkey sittin’ on a stool
Watched everything that the engineer would do
One day the engineer went to get a bite to eat
Left the monkey sittin’ on the driver’s seat
The monkey pulled the throttle, locomotive jumped the gun
It went 90 miles per hour down the main line run
Chorus:
Woo, woo, monkey at the throttle
Woo, woo, goin’ down the line
Woo, woo, monkey at the throttle
He left the engineer with a worried mind
Badada, badada, badadada, ladadadadadada, dadadada
Called the operator on the phone
Asked him how the locomotive’s gone
The operator said now, that’s all right
The monkey’s got the main line sewed up tight
Chorus:
Called the dispatcher just in time
There’s another locomotive on the same main line
Now open ‘er up, let her through the hole
‘Cause the monkey’s got the locomotive under control
Chorus:
Repeat first:
Now, once upon a time there was an engineer
Drove his locomotive both far and near
Accompanied by a monkey sittin’ on a stool
Watched everything that the engineer would do
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3. |
Guabi Guabi
02:17
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Guabi Guabi kuzwan, le toum bwami
Ize les gambi, shooey entana
Guabi Guabi kuzwan, le toum bwami
Ize les gambi, shooey entana
Ni izome tanga, la mal bonza
Ize widgy, le banana
Ni izome tanga, la mal bonza
Ize widgy, le banana
Song meaning per Arlo Guthrie & Pete Seeger, et al:
The Truth of It All
Guabi, Guabi: a South African folk song tremendously popular with folkies in
the 60s and 70s, thanks to the recordings of Jack Elliott(1), Jim Kweskin,
and Arlo Guthrie. It's a Zulu children's song with a wonderful melody and
addictive guitar fingerpicking, and was taken from the singing and playing
of guitarist George Sibanda(2). It can be found on an album put out by Decca
called Guitars of Africa.
The song is about someone who teases his girlfriend by holding something
behind his back and saying, "Guess what I've got." It's an interesting mix
of Zulu and French expressions, and this English transliteration and
translation is from Andrew Tracy of the African Music Society thanks to the
guitar tutorials of Happy Traum (who put out a book with the tablature for
Guabi Guabi):
"Guabi, Guabi, guzwangle notamb yami,
(Hear, Guabi, Guabi, I have a girlfriend)
Ihlale nkamben', shu'ngyamtanda
(She lives at Nkamben, sure I love her)
Ngizamtenge la mabanzi, iziwichi le banana."
(I will buy her buns, sweets, and bananas.)
If you've never heard the song sung before, the above is miles away from the
actual sound of the African language. Such is the transliteration and its
shortcomings.
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4. |
Great Dreams From Heaven
03:22
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5. |
Are You Sleeping
03:11
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Are you sleeping, are you sleeping?
Brother John, Brother John?
Morning bells are ringing, morning bells are ringing
Ding dang dong, ding dang dong.
Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques,
Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous?
Sonnez les matines, sonnez les matines
Ding dang dong, ding dang dong.
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6. |
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A green frog lived at the bottom of the well
Ding dang dong go the wedding bells
And a pretty little mouse lived under the mill
Ding dang dong go the wedding bells
Here's to Cheshire, here's to cheese
Here's to the pears and the apple trees
And here's to the lovely strawberries
Ding dang dong go the wedding bells
Froggie went a-courtin' and he did ride
Said, "Ms. Mouse, won't you be my bride?""I'll have to ask my old Aunt Rat
Just what she does think of that"Now Aunt Rat laughed till her face got red
Just to think that a frog and mouse should wed.
Who's gonna weave the wedding town?
Old Ms. Spider from Pumpkin Town
So break open the oysters and spill the champagne
We're never going to see such a party again!
Oh while they were goin' it hot and strong
The good grey cat come prowlin' along
She sprang through the kitchen right out of the yard
She didn't even have no invitation card
Now this is the end of him and her
Guess there won't be no tadpoles covered with fur
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7. |
Hobo's Lullaby
05:24
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Go to sleep you weary hobo
Let the towns drift slowly by
Can't you hear the steel rails hummin'
That's the hobo's lullaby
I know your clothes are torn and ragged
And your hair is turning gray
Lift your head and smile at trouble
You'll find peace and rest someday
Now don't you worry 'bout tomorrow
Let tomorrow come and go
Tonight you're in a nice warm boxcar
Safe from all that wind and snow
I know the police cause you trouble
They cause trouble everywhere
But when you die and go to Heaven
You'll find no policemen there
So go to sleep you weary hobo
Let the towns drift slowly by
Listen to the steel rails hummin'
That's a hobo's lullaby
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8. |
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Like a ship out o’er the ocean, just a speck against the sky
Amelia Earhart flyin’ proud that day
With her partner Capt’n Noonan on the 2nd of July
She fell into the ocean far away
CHORUS, after each verse:
And there’s a beautiful, beautiful field
Far away in a land that is so fair
Happy landings to you Amelia Earhart
Farewell, first lady of the air
She radioed position just to say that all was well
The fuel within her tanks thought it was low
She’d land on Howland Island to refuel her monoplane
On her trip around the world she would go
Half an hour later, an SOS was heard
Her signal weak, but still her voice was brave
In shark infested waters, her plane went down that night
In the blue pacific to a watery grave
She’s aimed at Howland Island, from a thousand miles away
She likely missed it by a mile or two
Though many people claim that she did not die that fine day
She’s not been seen since then by me or you
And now you’ve heard the story of that awful tragedy
We Pray that she may fly home safe again
In years to come though others blaze a trail across the sky
We’ll ne’er forget Amelia and her plane
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9. |
Lady Franklin’s Lament
04:57
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'Twas homeward bound one night on deep
Swinging in my hammock and I fell asleep
I dreamed a dream, and I thought it true
Concerning Franklin and his gallant crew
With a hundred seamen he sailed away
To the frozen ocean in the month of May
To seek the passage around the pole
Where we poor seamen do sometimes go
Through many a hardship they manly strove
Their ship on mountains of ice was drove
And only the eskimo in his skin canoe
Was the only one to ever come through
In Baffin’s Bay where the whale fishes blow
The fate of Franklin no one can know
The fate of Franklin no tongue can tell
Lord Franklin along with his sailors do dwell
And now my burden it gives me pain
For my long lost Franklin I'd cross the main
‘Ten-thousand pounds would I freely give
'To say on earth now my Franklin do live!"
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10. |
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Take a trip with me in 1913,
To Calumet, Michigan, in the copper country.
I will take you to a place called Italian Hall,
Where the miners are having their big Christmas ball.
I will take you in a door and up a high stairs,
Singing and dancing is heard everywhere,
I will let you shake hands with the people you see,
And watch the kids dance around the big Christmas tree.
You ask about work and you ask about pay,
They'll tell you they make less than a dollar a day,
Working the copper claims, risking their lives,
So it's fun to spend Christmas with children and wives.
There's talking and laughing and songs in the air,
And the spirit of Christmas is there everywhere,
Before you know it you're friends with us all,
And you're dancing around and around in the hall.
Well a little girl sits down by the Christmas tree lights,
To play the piano so you gotta keep quiet,
To hear all this fun you would not realize,
That the copper boss' thug men are milling outside.
The copper boss' thugs stuck their heads in the door,
One of them yelled and he screamed, "there's a fire, "
A lady she hollered, "there's no such a thing.
Keep on with your party, there's no such thing."
A few people rushed and it was only a few,
"It's just the thugs and the scabs fooling you, "
A man grabbed his daughter and carried her down,
But the thugs held the door and he could not get out.
And then others followed, a hundred or more,
But most everybody remained on the floor,
The gun thugs they laughed at their murderous joke,
While the children were smothered on the stairs by the door.
Such a terrible sight I never did see,
We carried our children back up to their tree,
The scabs outside still laughed at their spree,
And the children that died there were seventy-three.
The piano played a slow funeral tune,
And the town was lit up by a cold Christmas moon,
The parents they cried and the miners they moaned,
"See what your greed for money has done."
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11. |
Billy the Kid
03:23
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I'll sing you a true song of Billy the Kid
I'll sing you the record of deeds that he did
Way out in New Mexico a long time ago
When a man's only friend was his own forty-four
Now when Billy the Kid was a very young lad
In old Silver City he went to the bad
Way out west with a knife in his hand
At the age of twelve years he killed his first man
Fair Mexican maidens play guitars and sing
Songs about Billy their boy bandit king
Before his young manhood had reached its sad end
He'd a notch on his pistol for twenty one men
It was on one black night that poor Billy died
He said to his friends, "I'm not satisfied
There's twenty one men that I've put bullets through
And sheriff Pat Garrett's gonna make twenty-two"
Well, this is how Billy the Kid met his fate
A big moon was shining and the hour was late
Shot down by Pat Garrett, Silver City's best friend
The poor outlaw's life had reached its sad end
I'll sing you a true song of Billy the Kid
I'll sing you the record of deeds that he did
Way out in New Mexico a long time ago
When a man's only friend was his own forty-four
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12. |
Sweet Betsy From Pike
05:40
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Did you ever hear tell of Sweet Betsy from Pike,
Who crossed the wide mountains with her lover Ike,
Two yoke of cattle, a large yeller dog,
A tall Shanghai rooster, and a one-spotted hog.
Refrain
Singing too-ra-li-oo-ra-li-oo-ra-li-ao
Singing too-ra-li-oo-ra-li-oo-ra-li-ay
One evening quite early they camped on the Platte,
Twas near by the road on a green shady flat.
Betsy, sore-footed, lay down to repose--
With wonder Ike gazed on that Pike County rose.
Refrain
They swam the wide rivers and crossed the tall peaks,
And camped on the prairie for weeks upon weeks.
Starvation and cholera, hard work and slaughter--
They reached California 'spite of hell and high water.
Refrain
Out on the prairie one bright starry night,
They broke out the whiskey and Betsy got tight.
She sang and she shouted and danced o'er the plain
And showed her bare arse to the whole wagon train.
Refrain
The Injuns came down in a thundering horde,
And Betsy was scared they would scalp her adored.
Instead of fighting, she parlayed and talked,
And across the desert in safety they walked.
Refrain
The alkali desert was burning and bare,
And Isaac's soul shrank from the death that lurked there.
"Dear old Pike County, I'll go back to you"--
Says Betsy, "You'll go by yourself if you do!"
Refrain
Did you ever hear tell of Sweet Betsy from Pike,
Who crossed the wide mountains with her lover Ike,
Two yoke of cattle, a large yeller dog,
A tall Shanghai rooster, and a one-spotted hog.
Refrain x2
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13. |
Wild Mountain Thyme
05:27
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The summertime is comin', and the leaves are sweetly bloomin
And the wild mountain thyme blooms around the purple heather,
Will you go, lassie, go?
Chorus:
And We'll all go together to pull wild mountain thyme
All around the bloomin' heather, will you go, lassie, go?
And I'll build my love a bower on yon clear and crystal fountain,
And on it I shall pile, all the flowers of the mountain,
Will you go, lassie, go?
Chorus:
And We'll all go together to pull wild mountain thyme
All around the bloomin' heather, will you go, lassie, go?
Since my true love is here with me, I shall truly need no other,
To pull wild mountain thyme all around the bloomin heather,
Will you go, lassie, go?
Chorus:
And We'll all go together to pull wild mountain thyme
All around the bloomin' heather, will you go, lassie, go?
The summertime is comin', and the leaves are sweetly bloomin
And the wild mountain thyme blooms around the purple heather,
Will you go, lassie, go?
Chorus:
And We'll all go together to pull wild mountain thyme
All around the bloomin' heather, will you go, lassie, go?
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A Sound Collective/Echo Lake Records Archives Houston, Texas
Coming soon...
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