RCA released a slew of "Our Man" albums in 1963 to promote artists from Paul Anka to Pérez Prado in association with various cities or regions. Eddy Arnold represented the South by offering, among others, interpretations of Pat Boone's tragedy hit "Moody River," Johnny Horton's "The Ballad of New Orleans" (with different lyrics), Billy Walker's "Charlie's Shoes," Ray Price's "My Shoes Keep Walking Back To You," and Leroy Van Dyke's "Black Cloud." There is no theme beyond the series' concept, and there are no hits either, since these cover versions were not issued on singles. Still, it's a lively and entertaining album that bears a personal endorsement by the governor of Tennessee.
EDDY ARNOLD
OUR MAN DOWN SOUTH (RCA Victor LSP-2596)
January/1963
Produced by Chet Atkins
Vocal accompaniment by The Jordanaires
Recorded: 1962, RCA Victor Studio, Nashville
I must say that I don't care hold my head up in the air
Even tell my friends I'm glad that you don't call
But when the day is through my heartache starts anew
And that's when I miss you most of all
And my arms keep reaching for you my eyes keep searching for you
My lips keep calling for you and my shoes keep walking back to you [ strings ]
No matter how much I pretend I wish I had you back again
For nothing else means half as much as you
Our old world just seemed to die the day you said goodbye
And I can't forget no matter what I do
And my arms keep reaching for you...
(My arms my eyes my lips keep calling for you)
My shoes keep walking back to you
**********
Just because I asked a friend about her
Just because I spoke her name somewhere
Just because I rang her number by mistake today
She thinks I still care
Just because I haunt the same old places
Where the mem'ries of her lingers everywhere
Just because I'm not the happy guy I used to be
She thinks I still care
But if she's happy thinking I still need her
Then let that silly notion bring her cheer
But how could she ever be so foolish
h where could she get such an idea
Just because I asked a friend about her
Just because I spoke her name somewhere
Just bacause I saw her then went all to pieces
She thinks I still care
She thinks I still care
**********
Last Saturday evening I came to the old oak tree
That stands beside the river where you were to meet me
On the ground your glove I found with a note addressed to me
It read dear love I've done you wrong now I must set you free
No longer can I live with this hurt and this sin
I just couldn't tell you that guy was just a friend [ piano ]
Moody River more deadly...
I looked into the muddy water and what could I see
I saw a lonely lonely face just looking back at me
Tears in his eyes and the prayer on his lips
And the glove of his lost love at his fingertips [ piano ]
Moody River more deadly...
**********
Now I'm wearing out the shoes that Charlie wore
Walking back and forth across the floor
The troubles that drove him away I've got for company
These nights in Charlie's shoes are killing me [ strings ]
The greener grass that turned my head so swiftly did turn brown
Cause every little dream I build she's always tearing down
I never knew that Charlie's shoes could have so many tacks
Of disappointing sorrows and I wish he had 'em back
Cause I'm wearing out the shoes that Charlie wore...
**********
On the very first Saturday of every month
I go to town to get my some pay
When I ask my bossman about the draw
This is what my bossman say
There's a black cloud hanging over my head...
Well I earn my livin' by sweatin' my brow
I work so hard at my job every day
With that old black cloud hanging over my head
That drive my dreams away
And if it wasn't for the help of the one I love
To tell my troubles to
There just ain't no tellin' what that old black cloud
Might drive this poor boy to
Black cloud hanging over my head...
I've got a seed in the ground for to grow me a tree
This is what that black cloud done
They said all the locust to eat up the tree
I'm gonna cook my brains in the sun
In one of these days when I bade away
I know that cloud can't wait
It's gonna holler over me on Judgement Day
To keep me out of the pearly gate
Black cloud hanging over my head...
Black cloud over my head black cloud over my head
Black cloud over my head
**********
May your heartaches be forgotten may all tears be spilled
May old acquaintance be remembered when your cup of time is filled
And may you always be a dreamer may your wildest dream come true
May you find someone to love as much as I love you
(Should old acquaintance be remembered)
**********
Oh my poor Nellie Gray they have taken you away
And I'll never see my darling anymore
I'm a sittin' by the river and I'm weeping all the day
For you've gone from the old Kentucky shore [ harmonica ]
When the moon had climbed the mountain and the stars were shining too
Then I'd take my darling Nellie Gray
And we'd float down the river in my little red canoe
While my banjo I would sweetly play
Twas so good to be young then to be close to the earth
And to stand by your wife at the moment of birth
(A time just for plantin' a time just for plaughin'
A time just for livin' a place for to die)
Twas so good to be young then to be close to the earth
Now the green leaves of summer are calling me home
Twas so good to be young then to be close to the earth
Now the green leaves of summer are calling me home
The green leaves of summer are calling me home
**********
I'd go the earth in search of this
I knew I'd know you know you by your kiss
And by your kiss you shown true love
I'm yours forever my own true love [ harmonica ]
I knew I'd know you know you by your kiss...
**********
When the sun's pourin' gold on the meadow
And the land's laying still and serene
Then the folks will allow that they reckon as how
It's comin' comin' green
And the fields start to pretty up in blossom
And the hills start a puttin' on the shore
And the seeds are kind of playin' possum
Pretending likey they're never gonna grow
But you walk out your door of a morning
That's like no other morning you've seen
And you don't have a care cause God's been out there
And it's comin' comin' green
**********
We fired our guns and the British kept a comin'
There wasn't night as many as there was a while ago
We fired once more and they began to runnin'
Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico
We seen Morse Jackson a walkin' down the street
And a talkin' to a pirate by the name of Jean Lafitte
He gave Jean a drink that he brought from Tennessee
And the pirate said he'd help us drive the British in the sea
The French said Andrew you'd better run
For Pakenham's a comin' with a bullet in his gun
Old Hickory said that we didn't give a damn
He was gonna whip the britches off of General Pakenham
We fired our guns...
Well we fired our cannon till the barrel melted down
Then we grabbed an alligator and we fought another round
We filled his head with cannonballs and powdered his behind
And when we took the powder off the 'gator lost his mind
They lost their pants and their pretty shiny coats
And their tails were always showin' like a bunch of billy goats
They ran down the river with their tongues a hangin' out
And they said they got a lickin' which there wasn't any doubt
We fired our guns...
We marched back to town in our dirty ragged pants
And we danced all night with them pretty girls from France
We couldn't understand them but they had the sweetest charms
And we understood them better when we got them in our arms
We'll march back home but we'll never be content
Till we make Old Hickory the people's President
And every time we think about the bacon and the beans
We'll think about the fun we had way down in New Orleans
Well they ran through the briars and they ran through the brambles
And they ran through the bushes where a rabbit couldn't go
They ran so fast that the hounds couldn't catch 'em
On down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico
**********
