Fall On My Knees- Version 1 Jarrell

Fall on my Knees

Fall on my Knees

Traditional Old-Time, Breakdown and Song- A local Galax, Va./Mt. Airy, N.C. tune.

ARTIST: Tommy Jarrell: Fred Cockerham’s Tune;

CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes; DATE: Late 1800’s

RECORDING INFO: Heritage XXXIII, Ace Weems and His Fat Meat Boys - "Visits" (1981). Yodel-Ay-Hee 005, The Wildcats - "On Our Knees" (1992). Bluestein, Evo. Deep Shady Grove, Swallow 2002, LP (197?), cut# 6; Camp Creek Boys. Camp Creek Boys, County 709, LP (1967), cut# 4; Hooven, Greg. Tribute to Fred Cockerham, Heritage (Galax) 079C, Cas (1993), cut#A.04; Iron Mountain String Band (Galax). Music from the Mountain, Heritage (Galax) 101C, Cas (1992), cut# 2; Molsky, Bruce. Warring Cats, Yodel-Ay-Hee 011, Cas (1993), cut# 11; Round Peak Band. Round Peak Band, Marimac 9044, Cas (1992), cut#A.08; Rutherford, Enoch. Old Five String, Vol 2, Heritage (Galax) 052, Cas (1991), cut# 15; Rutherford, Ernest; and the Gold Hill Band. Old Cap'n Rabbit, Heritage (Galax) 080, Cas (1989), cut# 18; Stecher, Jody; and Kate Brislin. Stay Awhile, Rounder 0334, Cas (1995), cut#A.03

OTHER NAMES: Lonesome Road;

SOURCES: Kuntz (Ragged but Right), 1987; pg. 239-240. Flying Fish 334, The Red Clay Ramblers- "It Ain't Right" (1986). Cockerham, Fred. Old Time Herald, Old Time Herald OTH, Ser (1987-), 1/2, p21; Jarrell, Tommy. Old Time Herald, Old Time Herald OTH, Ser (1987-), 4/3, p40; Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc;

NOTES: "D Major. ADAE. AA. Ray Alden (1981) states that around the Round Peak, N.C., area this is known as Fred Cockerham's tune; Tommy Jarrell said "He knew a hundred verses." Cockerham's wife, Eva, told Alden that he would "sometimes sit in his big green armchair and play this song for hours." Mt. Airy, North Carolina, fiddler Tommy Jarrell remembered the tune "going around" the Round Peak area (where he was raised) around 1915, though, as Richard Nevins points out, it had been known in neighboring Grayson County, Va., for a generation before that, testifying perhaps to the isolation of the mountainous region at the time. Source for notated version: Tommy Jarrell (Mt. Airy, N.C.)." (Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc).

 

LYRICS: 

Well I fall on my knees and I pray to the Lord,
That you will stay by me little girl,
That you will stay by me.

Look up, look down, that long lonesome road,
Hang down your pretty head and cry little girl,
Hang down your head and cry.

Well my suitcase is packed and I'm never comin' back,
Goodbye little woman I'm gone, I'm gone,
Goodbye little woman I'm gone.

I wish to the Lord that I'd never been born,
Or died when I was young little girl,
Or died when I was young.

Then I'd never have kissed your red ruby lips,
Or heard your lying tongue little girl,
Or died when I was young.

You told me one, you told me two,
You told me ten thousand lies little girl,
You told me ten thousand lies.

You've told me more lies than there's stars in the skies,
You'll never get to heaven when you die little girl,
You'll never get to heaven when you die.