My honey dear I know you thought to ask
Just where I been since I saw you last
Well I been down to where the hammers clang
Yes I been down on the old chain gang.
They sent me up on a two year bid
I soon forgot what it was I did
They chained me down with a dozen men
I can't believe I'm in your arms again.
Night and day I got no rest
Just hold me tight to your loving breast
See where the chain on my ankle swang
Well that's the mark of the old chain gang.
You'll never dream what a life I led
On the old chain gang you're better off dead
I'll never forget those songs we sang
While breakin' rocks on the old chain gang.
The old chain gang it's a tough old crew
The boss is hard, I'm a tellin' you
He drug me out to the cellhouse door
And laid me out on the old stone floor.
The boss was off on a drunk one day
I drug my chain where the crow bar lay
I throwed her down and the lock she sprang
And said farewell to the old chain gang.
I'm walking from one bar to another
I don't know where I'm going or where I've been
No one I meet realized
I'm trying when I know I can't win
Chorus:
The memory of your smile, it nearly drives me wild
Ain't nothing ever gonna ease my mind
I thought you'd true, I counted so on you
I'm lost from a love I'll never find
I wonder how this pain is going to wind up
It gets worse day by day since you're gone
If only you would come back and see me
You're my only chance from now on
My honey dear, I know you're goin' to ask
Just where I've been since I saw you last
Well I've been down where the hammers clang
Yes I've been down on the old chain gang.
Oh yes, I'm the great pretender
Pretending that I'm doing well
My need is such, I pretend too much
I'm lonely but no one can tell.
Oh yes, I'm the great pretender
Adrift in a world of my own
I play the game; but to my real shame
You've left me to dream all alone.
Bridge:
Too real is this feeling of make believe
Too real when I feel what my heart can't conceal.
Oh yes I'm the great pretender
Just laughing and gay like a clown
I seem to be what I'm not, you see
I'm wearing my heart like a crown
Pretending that you're still around.
You loving and hugging, your sweet little smile
And eyes of heavenly blue
You can't say you love me, it almost drives me wild
Well, that's what I like about you
As we stroll together down lovers lane,
hand in hand so true
It seems just like heaven to hear those love birds sing
That's what I like about you
The way you hold me in your lovin' arms
And tell me all those things you're going to do
My little heart beats faster than raindrops in a storm
'cause that's what I like about you
Dear we'll get married, just you wait and see
And (buy?) a cottage just we two
I'm sure we'll be happy, happy as can be
'cause that's what I like about you
Tag:
My little heart beats faster than raindrops in a storm
'cause that's what I like about you
I was dancing with my darling to the Tennessee Waltz
When an old friend I happened to see
I introduced him to my loved one
And while they were dancing
My friend stole my sweetheart from me
I remember the night and the Tennessee Waltz
Now I know just how much I have lost
Yes, I lost my little darling the night they were playing
The beautiful Tennessee Waltz
Take me back to the place where I first saw the light
To that sweet sunny south take me home
Where the mockingbird sings me to sleep every night
Oh why was I tempted to roam
I think with regret of the dear home I left
Of the warm hearts that sheltered me there
Of wife and of children of whom I'm bereft
Of the old place again do I sigh
Take me back to the place where the orange trees grow
To my plot in the evergreen shade
Where the flowers from the river's green margins did grow
And spread their sweet scent through the glade
Take me back let me see what is left that I know
Could it be that the old house is gone
Dear friends from my childhood indeed must be few
And I must face death all alone
The path to our cottage they say has grown green
And the place is quite lonely around
I know that the smiles and the forms I once knew
Now lie 'neath the cold mossy ground
But yet I return to the place of my birth
Where the children have played 'round the door
Where they gathered wild blossoms that grew 'round the path
Twill echo their footsteps no more
Take me back to the place where my little ones sleep
Where poor massa lies buried close by
O'er the graves of my loved ones I long for to weep
and rest there among them when I die
