Boil the Cabbage Down - Traditional Song Lyrics

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This old folk song is a favorite among mountain musicians here in the southern Appalachians. There are many variations to the words as well as the tune which is very popular for square dances, frolics and back porch pickin' sessions. This old version is from singing of the Queen and Prince families of Western North Carolina. A tune from the CD Mary Jane Queen Songs I Like.


Boil the cabbage down, stir'em round and round
Come on girls, now dont be slow
But, Boil them cabbage down.

Raccoon on the rail fence, waitin for the sun
Long eared hounds coming down the road
Old racoon better run.

Boil them cabbage down, stir'em up and down
Hurry up liza, now dont be slow
Said, boil them cabbage down.

She cut across the broom sage field, I come down the lane
Run my finger through the crack of the fence
Up jumped liza jane.

Boil the cabbage down, stir'em round and round
Get up gals, and dont be slow
Said, bile them cabbage down.

Mountain Folk - Song Lyrics

Growing up in the mountains of Western North Carolina there was a lions share of old time traditional music within my family, both the Queens and Princes are very gifted when it comes to music making. I learned a lot of the mountain music and songs I perform directly from my family. This is a photograph of my Grandpa James S. Prince born in th mountains of Western North Carolina in 1876 and started playing banjo, fiddle and collecting music and folk songs at a very early age. Grandpa inspired a lot of my music and these lyrics I composed out of those memories. Original song from Henry Queen Highest Quality Music CD.




Grandpa - Mountain Folk Song Lyrics

A straight back hardwood chair, sits there on the front porch
Been there through the sunshine, through the rains and wind
Keeps ever close to me, sweet memories of Grandpa
An old time music maker, yes a true mountain man.

A thirty acre farm, way back in the Smoky Mountains
Scotch-Irish blood running through him, a skin weathered and brown
With a clawhammer banjo, and sweet mountain fiddle
He could make the people dance and sing for miles and miles around.

Chorus
Grandpa sang the blues of the working man, ballads of the mountains
Songs of religion in that old time mountain way
Some of the songs Grandpa sang for pleasure
And some of the songs, he lived by everyday.

When the family all could gather there at Grandpa's house in the evenings
There was picking and singing in a good time mountain way
Although Grandpa's gone his music is deep within me
And he sings in my memory like only yesterday.

Whoa Mule - Folk Song lyrics/video

Traditional folk song video,  lyrics for the Whoa Mule song collected in the mountains of Western North Carolina.



"Whoa Mule"

Johnson bought him an old gray mule, and called him Simon slick
He'd wall his eyes and switch his tail, um! how that mule could kick.

Whoa Mule Whoa, Whoa Mule I holler
Tie a knot in that old mules tail
And cram him in the collar.

Take him on down below the house, and hitch him in to plow
With a gee and a haw, its gee and haw, with a gee and a haw Whoa now.

Whoa Mule Whoa, whoa mule I said
Take your seat little Liza Jane
And hold tight to the sled.

Old Time Religion Song - Lyrics

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Traditional African-American spiritual song first published in the late 1800s and always a favorite sing along at old time music gatherings.

(Chorus)
Tis the old time religion
Give me that old time religion
Tis the old time religion
And its good enough for me

It Makes me love everybody
It Makes me love everybody
It Makes me love everybody
And its good enough for me

It was good for Paul and Peter
It was good for Paul and Peter
It was good for Paul and Peter
And its good enough for me

It was good for the hebrew children
It was good for the hebrew children
It was good for the hebrew children
And its good enough for me

Give me that old time religion
Give me that old time religion
Give me that old time religion
And Its good enough for me



A song sample from An Unclouded Day-Appalachian Folklore Cd

Sally Goodin - Traditional Song Lyrics

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Public Domain Traditional Song Lyrics.

These words for the Sally Goodin' song comes from the Queen and Prince families, Western North Carolina. Generations of mountain musicians, singers and keepers of traditional ballads and folk music of the southern Appalachian region.

SALLY GOODIN'

Love her, love Sally Goodin'
Love her, sweet thing Sally Goodin'

A big piece of pie, a big piece of puddin'
Give it all away, to hug Sally Goodin'

Looked on the hill, seen Sally runnin'
Yes my my, sweet thing Sally comin'

Up and down the road , the road all muddy
To hug Sally Goodin, till she can't stand steady

Upon the hillside, hewin' on a log
Frogs in the millpond, barking like a dog

Before you hear that rooster crow
Sprinkle little meal before her door

Folk Lyrics-Pretty Saro

A-cappella ballad singing is one of the older forms of Appalachian folk entertainment, where-as the words and story are the focal point unaccompanied by music themes. The lyrics provided here is an arrangement Mary Jane Queen learned as a young girl growing up in in the mountains of North Carolina. This version Mary Jane learned from her father Jim Prince, old-time mountain musician, ballad singer.

Pretty Saro/traditional song lyrics.

When first to this country a stranger I came
I placed my affections on a handsome young dame
I looked all around me and I was alone
Yes me a young stranger and a long ways from home

Pretty Saro Pretty Saro I love you I know
I love you Pretty Saro where ever I go
No toung can express it no poet can tell
How truely I love you yes I love you so well

If I were a poet and could write a fine hand
I'd write my true love a letter that she might understand
I would send it by the waters that dont overflow
And think of Pretty Saro wherever I go

My love she don't love me as I understand
She wants some freeholder and I have no land
But I can maintain her with silver and gold
Or all of the fine things that my loves house could hold

Its not the long journey Im dreading to go
Or leaving this country for the debts that I owe
There is but one thing that troubles my mind
Thats a leaving Pretty Saro my true love behind

Farewell my dear father likewise mother too
Im going to ramble this country all through
When I get tired I'll sit down and weep
And think of Pretty Saro wherever she be

I love you Pretty Saro I love you I know
I love you Pretty Saro wherever I go
On the banks of the ocean or the mountains sad brow
I loved you then dearly and I still love you now

Traditional Folk Song Lyrics

Henry Queen's
Traditional lyrics - Public Domain Ballads, Folk Songs, Music Arrangements

"Wild Bill Jones" 

While out a walkin' on a Saturday night
I walked up on Wild Bill Jones
He was a walkin' and a talkin' with my true lover there
I bid him for to leave her alone

He says my age is past twenty one
To old for you to control
When he reached for a knife and I pulled out my gun
Destroyed that poor boy's soul

He staggered and stumbled and fell to the ground
Gave out one dying moan
I threw my arms round my true lover there
Saying darlin' its time we be ridin' along

We rode that ole train while she whistled all the night
Rode her while she whistled for the day
Pulling hills and curves straining every nerve
Carring me and my sweet darlin' on far away

While out a walkin' on a saturday nite
I walked up on "Wild Bill Jones"