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Down the Road
Traditional Old-Time Breakdown and Song- Southeast US
ARTIST: From "Last Forever," New and old songs out of the American tradition, written and arranged by Dick Connette. Based on Gus Cannon’s “Feather Bed”
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes; DATE: Early 1900’s
RECORDING INFO: Flatt & Scruggs- Country Music/Mercury 6211, 1949; Tony Rice - The Bluegrass Album Volume 3; Family Apostalic. Family Apostalic, Vanguard VSD 79301/2, LP (1969), cut# 1; Greenbriar Boys. Greenbriar Boys, Vanguard VRS-9104, LP (196?), cut#A.07; Grey, Sara. Back in the Airly Days, Waterbug WBG 0044, CD (1998), cut#20; Jenkins, Oren. American Banjo, Folkways FA 2314, LP (1966), cut# 9; Park, Ray. Fiddletown, Sierra SR4214, LP (1982), cut# 8; Seeger, Mike. American Fogies. Vol. 2, Rounder 0389, CD (1996), cut#25; Marion, Carlie. Going Across the River to Hear my Banjo Ring, Marimac 9018, Cas (1988), cut# 10
RELATED TO: “Ida Red,” “Over the Road I’m Bound To Go,” "Letter from Down the Road," "On the Road Again," "Kassie Jones," (Furry Lewis's version); Over the Woods and Through the Snow;
OTHER NAMES: “Down the Road Just a Mile or Two,” “Ida Red,”
SOURCES: Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 208-209, "Over the Road I'm Bound"
NOTES: Part of the “Ida Red/Over the Road I’m Bound To Go/Feather Bed” group of songs. For detailed notes see “Ida Red.”
LYRICS:
I remember back before the war,
I had trouble knocking at my door,
But along come Father Abraham,
With a pistol in his hand.
Ooh baby, down the road I'm bound to go.
It all began with Captain Brown,
The man who turned this world around.
Now you got yours and I got mine -
The bottom rail's on top this time.
Ooh baby, down the road I'm bound to go.
I had to work from can to can't
When Mister Charlie ran the ranch.
Now I don't hold with any such -
Shake hands and thank you very much.
Ooh baby, down the road I'm bound to go.
Now I can see my jubilee -
It's hanging from an apple tree.
I'm headed for the promised land
And traveling natural like a man.
Ooh, down the road I'm bound to go.
I can make the mountain ring,
The valley vibrate like a string.
Goodbye honey, call it gone -
My kingdom come behind a song.
Ooh baby, down the road I'm bound to go.
I remember back before the war,
I had trouble knocking at my door,
But along come Father Abraham,
With a pistol in his hand.
Ooh baby, down the road I'm bound to go
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