STORY SONGS FOR COUNTRY FOLKS
(Mercury SR-60896) '64
Produced by Jerry Kennedy
Jerry Kennedy, Grady Martin - lead guitar
Harold Bradley - bass guitar
Ray Edenton - rh.guitar
Pete Drake, Lloyd Green - steel
Bob Moore - bass
Buddy Harman - drums
Hargus Pig Robbins - piano
Charlie McCoy - harmonica/vibes
Vocal accompaniment by The Jordanaires
Recorded Oct 1963, Nashville
1.
RHINESTONES
(Merle Kilgore)
« © '63 Painted Desert Music, BMI »
Rhinestone rhinestones for your pretty hand
Daddy bought 'em from the rhinestone man
Rhinestone rhinestones for your curly hair
Just like the ones your mommie used to wear
(Just like the ones your mommie used to wear)
Oh mommie's gone so far away and daddy thinks of mommie every day
I don't know but I believe up there mommie's wearin' diamonds in her hair
(Mommie's wearin' diamonds in her hair)
Oh I wish things could be just like they were
Mommie left you here and you look so much like her
And everytime rhinestones you wanna wear
I think of her rhinestones in her hair
Rhinestone rhinestones...
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2.
SAW MILL
(Mel Tillis - Horace Whatley)
« © '59 Cedarwood Publishing, BMI »
Well once I was a slave at the sawmill
Talk about a poor boy talk about a poor boy never saw a dollar bill
My work was so hard at the sawmill
Think about a poor boy think about a poor boy let me have a dollar bill
Well see my teardrops falling down my wife left the sawmill town
She said sawmill life had been a sin the gravy was too thin
And I'd work no more at the sawmill
Mercy of a poor boy mercy a poor boy let me have a dollar bill
And if you bring your wife to the sawmill
How you gonna please her how you gonna please her
When she wants a dollar bill
They're not satisfied at the sawmill
Cause women like a dollar women like a dollar yes and women always will
Oh see my teardrops falling down...
Mercy of a poor boy mercy a poor boy let me have a dollar bill
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3.
FAMILY BIBLE
(Paul Buskirk - Claude Gray - Walt Breeland)
« © '60 Glad Music, BMI / Pappy Daily Music, BMI »
(Rock of ages rock of ages cleft for me)
There's a family Bible on the table each page is torn and hard to read
But the family Bible on the table will ever be my key to memories
At the end of day when work was over and when the evening meal was done
Dad would read to us all from the old family Bible
And we'd count our many blessings one by one
I can see us sittin' round the table when from the family Bible dad would read
And I can still hear my mother softly singing rock of ages rock of ages cleft for me
Now this world would oh so much better be
If we'd find more Bibles on the tables and mothers singing rock of ages cleft for me
Rock of ages rock of ages cleft for me
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4.
COMPANY'S COMIN'
(Johnny Mullins)
« © '54 Budde Songs, BMI »
Oh mama I'm excited I'm almost out of breath
And what I saw the light that made me run myself to death
I was on the mountain side when I looked down below
And glory be I thought I'd better come and let you know
That we got company comin' yeah there's company comin'
We got company comin' up the road
They're down the road about a mile they'll be here in a little while
There's company comin' up the road
Well Granny change your apron and Willie shine your shoes
Sally put your new dress on we got no time to lose
Gotta find that welcome mat and spread it out with cheer
I don't know yet just who they are can't pick 'em out from here
But we got company comin' yeah there's company comin'
We got company comin' up the road
They're comin' up the mountain side Susie don't you run and hide
There's company comin' up the road
Well we'll run out to the henhouse and we'll wring a neck or two
We'll have chicken and dumplings and some yellow gravy too
Grandpa get that fiddle down they might want a tune
Everybody hurry up cause them folks will be here soon
Yeah we got company comin' yeah there's company comin'
We got company comin' up the road
Well let them folks shout out aloud they'll be here in a minute now
There's company comin' up the road road road road
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5.
PICKIN' TIME
(Johnny Cash)
« © '58 Anne Rachel Music, ASCAP »
Well I got cotton in the bottom land
It's up and growin' and I got a good stand
My good wife and them kids of mine
Gonna get new shoes come pickin' time
(Get new shoes come pickin' time)
Every night when I go to bed
I thank the Lord that my kids are fed
They live on beans eight days of nine
But I get 'em fat come pickin' time
(Got 'em fat come pickin' time)
Corn is yeller and the beans are high
That sun's hot in the lazy ol' sky
The work is hard till layin' by
Layin' by till pickin' time
(Layin' by till pickin' time)
Well it's hard to see by the coaloil light
And I turn it off pretty early every night
Cause a jug of coaloil costs a dime
But I'll stay up late come pickin' time
(stay up late come pickin' time)
Yes my ol' wagon barely gets me to town
I patched the wheels I watered 'em down
Keep her in shape so she'll be fine
To haul my cotton come pickin' time
(Haul my cotton come pickin' time)
Last Sunday morning when they passed the hat
It was still nearly empty back where I sat
But the preacher smiled and he said that's fine
(The Lord's gonna wait till pickin' time)
Yes the Lord's gonna wait till pickin' time
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6.
BUSTED
(Harlan Howard)
« © '62 Tree Publishing, BMI »
Well my bills are all due and the baby needs shoes and I'm busted
Cotton is down to a quarter a pound but I'm busted
I got a cow that went dry and a hen that won't lay
A big stack of bills that gets bigger each day
The county's gonna haul my belongings away and I'm busted
Now I went to my brother to ask for a loan cause I was busted
I hate to beg like a dog without a bone but I'm busted
My brother said there ain't a thing I can do
My wife and my kids are all down with the flu
And I was just thinkin' about calling on you and I'm busted
Well I am no thief but a man can go wrong when he's busted
The food that we canned last summer is gone and I'm busted
The fields are all bare and the cotton won't grow
Me and my family's gotta pack up and go
But I'll make a living just where I don't know cause I'm busted
Lord I'm broke ain't got no biscuits in this house
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7.
SHARECROPPER FAMILY
(Jerry Smith)
« © '63 Careers Music, BMI »
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8.
OLD COURTHOUSE
(Wayne P. Walker - Danny Dill)
« © '63 Cedarwood Publishing, BMI »
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9.
PO' FOLKS
(Bill Anderson)
« © '62 Johnny Bienstock Music, BMI / Songs Of Universal, BMI »
There's a whole lotta people lookin' down their noses at me
Cause I didn't come from a wealthy family
There was ten of us livin' in a two room shack
On the banks of the river by the railroad track
And we kept chickens in a pen in the back and everybody said we was po' folks
My daddy was a farmer but all he ever raised was us
Dug a forty foot well struck thirty-six gallons of dust
Salvation Army gave us clothes to wear a man from the county came to cut our hair
We lived next door to a millionare but that's how it is when you're po' folks
We was po' folks livin' in a rich folks world we sure was a hungry bunch
And if the wolf would ever come to our front door he'd had to brought a picnic lunch
My grandaddy's pension was a dollar and thirty-three cents
That was ten dollars less than the landlord wanted for rent
Oh the landlord's letters got nasty indeed he wrote get out but pa couldn't read
And we was too broke to even pay heed and that's how it is when you're po' folks
And that's how it is when you're po' folks
We was po' folks livin' in a rich folks world we sure was a hungry bunch
And if the wolf would ever come to our front door he'd had to brought a picnic lunch
But we had something in our house money can't buy
Kept us warm in the winter and cool when the sun's high
For whenever we didn't have food enough and the howling winds would get pretty rough
We patched the cracks and set the table with love
Cause that's how it is when you're po' folks and we wadn't nothin' but po' folks
My mama and my papa was po' folks my sister and my brother was po' folks
My dog and my cat was po' folks and that's how it is when you're po' folks
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10.
MAMA SANG A SONG
(Bill Anderson)
« © '61 Tree Publishing, BMI / Songs Of Universal, BMI »
(God put a song in the heart of an angel and softly she sang it to me)
You know I get to thinking a lotta times about back when I was a boy
The old homeplace where I grew up of the days both good and bad
My overalls were hand-me-downs my shoes they were full of holes
I used to walk four miles to school every day through the rain the sleet and the cold
I've seen the nights when my daddy would cry
For the things that his family would need
But all he ever got was a badland farm and seven hungry mouths to feed
And yet and yet our homefire never flickered once
Cause when all these things went wrong
Mama took the hymn book down and mama sang a song
(What a friend we have in Jesus)
Oh I've been rocked to sleep many a night to the tune of What a Friend
And come morning Rock of Ages why it would wake me gently once again
And then dad he'd reach up and he'd take the Bible down
And he'd read it read it loud and long
And I always felt that maybe our home was blessed
When daddy would say mama sing a song
Let see sister left home first I guess
And there was Bob and then Tommy and at last was Dan
By then dad's hair was turning white and I had to be my mama's little man
But it seemed that as daddy's back grew weak
My mother's faith just grew that much strong
And those were the greatest days of all it was there when mama sang a song
(Rock of ages cleft for me let me hide myself in Thee)
I guess the house is still standing I don't get to go back there anymore
Least much no voice is left to fill those halls
And I bet there ain't even no steps to grace the floor
Cause you see my mama sings in heaven now up around God's golden throne
But I'll always believe that this world is a better place to live
Because one time my mama sang a song
(Precious mem'ries flod my soul)
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11.
BLACKLAND FARMER
(Frankie Miller)
« © '59 Peer International, BMI »
When the Lord made me he made a simple man
Not much money and not much land
He didn't make me no baker or legal charmer
And the Lord made me a blackland farmer
Well my hands ain't smooth my face is rough
But my heart is warm and my ways ain't tough
I guess I'm the luckiest man ever born
Cause the Lord gave me help and a blackland farm
I've been breakin' up the new ground early in the day
I'm ganna plant some cotton I'm gonna plant some hay
I love to smell the sweet breeze blowin' through the corn
Lord you sure done me right on my blackland farm
I feel like I'm gettin' closer to you God
A plantin' the ground and breakin' up the sod
My mind is at ease and I could do no harm
Lord I owe it all to you and the blackland farm
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12.
Y'ALL COME
(Arlie Duff)
« © '53 Fort Knox Music, BMI / Trio Music, BMI »
Well when you live in the country everybody is your neighbor
On this one thing you can rely
They'll all come to see you and they'll never never leave you
Saying y'all come to see us by and by
Y'all come (y'all come) y'all come (y'all come)
Oh y'all come to see us when you can
Y'all come (y'all come) y'all come (y'all come)
Oh y'all come to see us now and then
[ guitar ]
The kinfolks're comin' they're comin' by the dozen
They're eatin' everything from soup to hay
And right after dinner they ain't looking any thinner
And here's what you'll hear 'em say
Y'all come (y'all come)...
[ guitar ]
Well now grandma's a wishing they'd come to kitchen
And help her do the dishes right away
But they all start leavin' even though she's a grievin'
You can still hear grandma say
Y'all come (y'all come)...
Y'all come (y'all come)...
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