High on a mountain, tell me what do you see
Bear tracks bear tracks looking back at me
Better get your rifles before its too late
The bear's got a little pig and he's headed for the gate
Chorus:
He's big around the middle and broad across the rump
Running ninety miles an hour, taking thirty feet a jump
Ain't never been caught, he ain't never been treed
And some folks say he looks a lot like me
Saved up my money and bought me some bees
Started making honey way up in the trees
Cut down the trees but the honey's all gone
Old slew foot has done made himself at home
Winter's coming on and it's forty below
River's froze over, so where can he go
I'll chase him up the gully and run him in the well
Shoot him in the bottom just to listen to him yell
There's an old, old house that once was a mansion
On a hill overlooking the town
But time left a wreckage where once there was beauty
And soon the old house will tumble down
Chorus:
But when the leaves start to fall in autumn
And the raindrops drip from the trees
There's an old old man who walks in the garden
And his head is bowed in memories
They say he built the mansion for the love of a woman
They planned to be married in the fall
But her love for him faded in the last days of summer
And the house stood empty after all
It's been ten long years since I left my home
In the hollow where I was born.
Where the cool fall nights make the wood smoke rise,
And a fox hunter blows his horn.
I fell in love with a girl from the town
I thought that she would be true.
I ran away to Charlottesville
and worked in a sawmill or two.
Chorus:
What have they done to the old home place,
why did they tear it down?
And why did I leave the plow in the field,
and look for a job in the town.
Well, the girl ran off with somebody else
the taverns took all my pay.
And here I stand where the old home stood
before they took it away.
Now the geese fly south and the cold wind moans
as I stand here and hang my head.
I've lost my love, I've lost my home
and now I wish that I was dead.
Well, I had an old dog and his name was Blue,
Had an old dog and his name was Blue.
Had an old dog and his name was Blue…
Betcha five dollars he's a good dog too…
Callin' Blue…
Blue's a good dog, you
Blue treed a possum in a hollow log
Blue treed a possum in a hollow log
Blue treed a possum in a hollow log
And you could tell from that he's a good ol' dog
Boy I roasted that possum, nice and brown,
Roasted that possum, nice and brown,
Roasted that possum, nice and brown,
Sweet potatoes, n' all around
Callin' here Blue …
You can have some too
Now, Old Blue died and he died so hard,
He shook the ground in my back yard.
So I dug his grave with a silver spade,
Lowered him down on a golden chain.
Every link I did call his name…
Singing here‚ old Blue…
You're a good dog you
Now, when I get to heaven, first thing I'll do.
When I get to heaven, first thing I'll do.
When I get to heaven first thing I'll do,
Pull out my horn and call old Blue…
Callin' here Blue…
Well I'm gonna tell you so you'll know
I'm gonna tell you so you'll know
I'm gonna tell you so you'll know
Old Blue's gone where the good dogs go.
Chorus:
Old and in the way
That's what I heard him say
They used to heed the words he said
But that was yesterday
Coal will turn to gray
And youth will fade away
They'll never care about you
Cause you're old and in the way
As I hear tell he was happy
He had his share of friends and were kind
Now those freinds have all passed on
He don't have a place called home
Looking back to a better day
When you're old and in the way
When just a boy he left his home
Thought he'd have the world on a string
Now the years have come and gone
Through the streets he walks alone
LIke the old dog gone astray
He's just old and in the way
They'll never care about you
Cause you're old in the way
—Jeff Michael & Johnny Williams' version, originally Lloyd Chandler 1920's
Well what is this I cannot see
With icey hands taking hold of me
Well I am death none can excel
I open the doors to heaven or hell
Oh I come for to take your soul
To leave your body and leave it cold
To drop the flesh from off of your frame
The earth and worms both have their claim
Oh death oh death please give me time
To fix my heart and change my mind
Your heart is fixed your doom is bound
I have the shackles to drag you down.
Too late, too late to all farewell
My heart is fixed and summoned to hell
As long as God in heaven shall dwell
My soul, my soul shall scream in hell
Verse:
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Ralph Stanley's version:
Oh death, Oh death
Won't you spare me over til another year
Well what is this that I can't see
With ice cold hands taking hold of me
Well I am death none can excel
I'll open the door to heaven or hell
Whoa death someone would pray
Could you wait to call me another day
The children pray the preacher preached
Time and mercy is out of your reach
I'll fix your feet til you can't walk
I'll lock your jaw til you can't talk
I'll close your eyes so you can't see
This very hour come and go with me
In death I come to take the soul
Leave the body and leave it cold
To drop the flesh off of the frame
The earth and worms both have a claim
Oh death, Oh death
Won't you spare me over til another year
My mother came to my bed
Place a cold towel upon my head
My head is warm my feet are cold
Death is a movin upon my soul
Oh death how you're treatin me
You close my eyes so I can't see
Well you're hurtin my body you make me cold
You run my life right out of my soul
Oh death please consider my age
Please don't take me at this stage
My wealth is all at your command
If you'll remove your icy hands
Oh the young the rich or poor
All alike to me you know
No wealth no land no silver or gold
Nothin satisfies me but your soul
Oh death, Oh death
Won't you spare me over til another year
Won't you spare me over til another year
Won't you spare me over til another year
I'll never love no one else but my darlin'
Even though we both had to part
I'll never love no one else but my darlin'
For wherever she goes she'll always have my heart.
Chorus:
As most people say absence makes the heart grow cold
But the kind of love we had each other's heart we'll hold
I'll never love no one else but my darlin'
As we travel down two different lonesome roads
I'll never let no one take your place my darlin'
For you know you meant the world to me
I'll never let no one take your place my darlin'
For your love won't let my heart be free.
For fear the hearts of men are failing,
For these are latter days we know.
The Great Depression now is spreading,
God's word declared it would be so.
Chorus:
I'm going where there's no depression,
To the lovely land that's free from care.
I'll leave this world of toil and trouble,
My home's in Heaven, I'm going there.
In that bright land, there'll be no hunger,
No orphan children cryin' for bread,
No weeping widows, toil or struggle,
No shrouds, no coffins, and no death.
This dark hour of midnight nearing
And tribulation time will come.
The storms will hurl in midnight fear
And sweep lost millions to their doom.
I've been in this prison twenty years or more
I shot my woman with a .44
I'll be right here till my dyin' day
I got 99 years and one dark day
Well the food is bad and the beds are hard
I spend all day breakin' rocks in the yard
Well there ain't no change, gonna stay that way
I got 99 years and one dark day
I never learned to read, I never learned to write
My whole life's been one big fight
I never heard about the righteous way
I got 99 years and one dark day
There ain't no singer that can sing a song
(to) Convince the warden that I ain't wrong
His mind's made up, gonna stay that way
I got 99 years and one dark day