Swanee River (OT2003-3012-007)

Swanee River (OT2003-3012-007)

Song excerpted from audio recording OT2003-3012, part of VFC2003-0007 Margaret MacArthur Collection.

Margaret MacArthur Collection -- VFC2003-0007. Vermont Folklife Center Archive, Vermont Folklife Center, Middlebury, Vermont, United States of America.

1964-07-15

en

VFC2003-0007 OT2003-3012-007

Vermont Folklife Center

Swanee River

Old Folks at Home

Folk Music Index (http://www.ibiblio.org/folkindex)

Way down upon the Swanee ribber
Far, far away
That is where my heart is turning ever
That is where the old folks stay

    All the world am sad and dreary
    Eberywhere I roam
    Oh darkies how my heart grows weary
    Far from the old folks at home

When I was playing with my brother
All around his home
When I was playing with my brother
When I was young [Atwood has difficulty recalling lyrics here]

When will I hear the bees a-humming
All around their comb
When will I hear the banjo twumming
Down in that old good home

    All the world am sad and dreary
    Eberywhere I roam
    Oh darkies how my heart grows weary
    Far from the old folks at home

When I was playing with my brother
Happy was I
Oh take me to the kind dear old mother
There let me live and die

    All the world am sad and dreary
    Eberywhere I roam
    Oh darkies how my heart grows weary
    Far from the old folks at home

One little hut among the bushes
One that I love
Oh [unintelligible] and memory rushes
[Fred Atwood cannot recall lyrics, begins a new song]

References:

• Pattengill, H.R. "School Song Knapsack: A Collection of Songs for Common Schools." Robert Smith Printing Co. (Michigan, 1897). 13th ed. 38-9.

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