Button Your Collar (A. Vinocur / P. Wolf)

All my days end this way

But when you work at all, you can’t complain

Now I think I see what this is about

So gather the troops ‘cause we’re heading out

This town’s too cold and much too proud

So take me south for cryin’ out loud

Get dressed, button your collar

And call everyone that you know

Round up every dollar ‘cause if

You stay, then nobody’s going to go, oh no

What do you say that we get wise

Take a bottle of bourbon to the fireflies

I’m keeping track of what my investment’s in

So I’ve got my money in a tobacco tin

Oh, this town’s too cold and much too proud

So take me south for cryin’ out loud

Get dressed, button your collar

And call everyone that you know

Round up every dollar ‘cause if

You stay, then nobody’s going to go, oh no

Get dressed, button your collar

And call everyone that you know

Round up every dollar ‘cause if

You stay, then nobody’s going to go, oh no

A Bank Robber’s Nursery Rhyme (P. Wolf / A. Vinocur)

Haven’t got a penny, haven’t got a dime

But I know how to have a good old time

I ain’t got a dollar, baby when I do

I’m gonna go and spend it all on you

When I get the money we can run away

Sing a little song ‘bout yesterday

They’re never gonna catch me long as I’m alive

You and me together, we’ll survive

Honey in the pantry, put it in the tea

Stir it with a spoon for you and me

Sitting in the parlor, waiting for your ma

You’re the best gal I ever saw

When we get the money we can run away

I don’t give a holler what they say

They’re never gonna find us till the day we die

You and me together, we’ll get by

Putting on your dress and looking mighty fine

Lacquering my shoes until they shine

You can have my heart if I can have your hand

I can make your daddy understand

I haven’t got a penny, haven’t got a dime

But I know how to have a good old time

I ain’t got a dollar, baby when I do

I’m gonna go and spend it all on you

Break the lock box, get the gold

Just as much as I can hold

Out the door, to the car

Oh, together, we’ll go far

This is a holdup, momma

I was born to be a bank robber

Hand over your last gold dollar

This is a holdup, momma

(This is a holdup)

This is a holdup, momma

(This is a holdup)

They’re never gonna catch me long as I’m alive

You and me together, we’ll survive

I Just Can’t Stop Leaving Town (P. Wolf)

It’s not that I grow weary of these streets

The highways and country roads

It’s not that I can’t get into some hanging around

Yeah I just can’t stop leaving town

It’s not that I’ve been looking at my watch

The shadows that grow on the grass

It’s not that I got fearful of settling down

Yeah I just can’t stop leaving town

But oh babe, it’s lonely when I go away

But I get such an itch in my bones when I stay

It’s not that I’m not thirsty for your skin

The lines on the palm of your hand

It’s not that I just get lost so I can be found

Yeah I just can’t stop leaving town

Yeah I just can’t stop leaving town

But oh babe, there’s no need to drive me away

I get such an itch in my bones when I stay

It’s not that I’ve been wanted for a crime

At least not one that anyone knows

It’s not that I got fearful of settling down

Yeah I just can’t stop leaving town

The Horse Accident (In Which A Girl Was All But Killed) (A. Vinocur)

Appalachian dust from the horse that she was riding

Made it hard to see her through the tepid summer air

I wore my finest derby hat to gather her attention

And I wanted nothing more than to follow her somewhere

It took her near a year to break the shackles of a past love

I said she’d never hurt as long as she’s with me

From a cold winter wall to a springtime window

There’s warm hearts living where you’d never think they’d be

Oh lord let me die first, I can’t be without her

I hope I never live to see her casket lined with lace

She deserves to thrive on this earth a little longer

If you need another worker, you can take me in her place

I heard the people talk about a girl thrown from her horse

Down from the saddle in a terrible display

And the blood it stained the dirt and the dirt it skinned the girl

And the girl they didn’t think that she would live another day

Oh lord let me die first, I can’t be without her

I hope I never live to see her casket lined with lace

She deserves to thrive on this earth a little longer

If you need another worker, you can take me in her place

She deserves to thrive on this earth a little longer

If you need another worker, you can take me in her place

Lord, let me die first, I can’t be without her

I hope I never live to see her casket lined with lace

She deserves to thrive on this earth a little longer

If you need another worker, you can take me in her place

Lord, let me die first

Lord, let me die first

Cold Riders (P. Wolf)

Ever since I was a child

The good lord has smiled on me

And held my hand

And held my hand

But I know there’s got to be

Cold riders at my back

They spur me on

They spur me on

Riders, I pray

Take your time

Take your time with me

Walking up and down the earth

With a roof above my head

Nice glass of wine

Nice glass of wine

I felt a whisper in my sleep

Cold riders at my back

They call to me

They call to me

Riders, I beg

Take your time

Take your time with me

I got nothing you want

So take your time

Take your time with me

I got nothing you want

So take your time

Take your time with me

Moonshiners (A. Vinocur)

Where were you when the sawmill burned

I was out fighting with my grandpa’s gun

They can follow me as best they can

But I can run quicker when there is no sun

Shine on, shine on

Shine on, shine on

Yeah, the government of this state

Ain’t the only way that the sheriff gets paid

You can try to hide who you are

But they’ll see straight through your charade

Shine on, shine on

Shine on, shine on

Where do the hound dogs eat when the people are frail

Where does the smoke from your lungs go once you exhale

What do the cockroaches do with no one around

They live like the moonshiners, half underground

Yes it was me that burned it down

To confound everyone and make it well known

That after thirty-three years of this

I’ve got a government of my own

Shine on, shine on

Shine on, shine on

Where do the hound dogs eat when the people are frail

Where does the smoke from your lungs go once you exhale

What do the cockroaches do with no one around

They live like the moonshiners, half underground

Many Miles From Blacksburg (A. Vinocur)

I was many miles from Blacksburg when the cannon fire burst

It chilled me to the marrowed bone but did not move the earth

I was many miles from Blacksburg but I knew that you had gone

Take what you can before god calls you on

I thought that you would be home by now

I thought that you would be home by now

But you’re many miles from Blacksburg with my father and our son

Take what you can before god takes someone

Dearest Sarah (A. Vinocur)

Dearest Sarah, I am compelled to write with aching fearful hands

Just in case I never make it back

I left our family weeks ago for battle-stricken lands

And I fear I won’t survive the next attack

I fled Rhode Island willingly to join the Union force

Understanding I may never know my boys

But this country’s strength of government is in a great divorce

And for this I risk my life and all its joys

Oh Sarah, I do understand within my sacrifice

Goes nearly every joy for you as well

But I hope you sense within my words, I thought about it twice

Our nation casts a thick momentous spell

Oh Sarah, start a life without me

Raise our boys to gentlemen

Thrive until the day you pass away and we can meet again

Understand my inner fight, I didn’t choose the war

I sided with democracy, yes that is what I’m dying for

Oh Sarah, my love for you is deathless

Oh Sarah, my love for you is deathless

Growing up without my father weighed heavy on my brain

And I dread this makes my children dance that waltz

And I’m sure at times your trust was breached and your love for me did wane

But I ask you to forgive me for these faults

And I can’t express the irony of the peaceful summer breeze

Dusting my battalion as they rest

Because within this evening’s warmness lies an darkened icy freeze

That whispered me to send you this request

Oh Sarah, start a life without me

Raise our boys to gentlemen

Thrive until the day you pass away and we can meet again

Understand my inner fight, I didn’t choose the war

I sided with democracy, yes that is what I’m dying for

Oh Sarah, but my love for you is deathless

Oh Sarah, it’s deathless

I am one of hundred thousand paying all that we can pay

Standing for an object we can’t see

Now raise our children proudly to be gracious for each day

And remind them of the reasons they are free

If it’s true the dead can drift unseen around the loves they had

Then I will be the wind upon your cheek

And the darkest moments in your life will never be so bad

Because I will be your strength when you are weak

Oh Sarah, start a life without me

Raise our boys to gentlemen

Thrive until the day you pass away and we can meet again

Understand my inner fight, I didn’t choose the war

I sided with democracy, yes that is what I’m dying for

Oh Sarah, but my love for you is deathless

Oh Sarah, my love for you is deathless

Oh Sarah, my love for you is deathless

Oh Sarah, my love for you is deathless

Ballad of a Fair Young Lady (P. Wolf)

Oh a fair young lady I

Used to see when walking by

Caught my love from happenstance

And now I rarely catch a glance

I wish that I had known her all the while

Well I got my courage up

On an empty coffee cup

Went a-callin’ at her door

She let me in at my implore

I listened as she told me of the year

When far away she lost her love so dear

She said my sweetheart in Tennessee

Built a banjo just for me

Made of wood as red as clay

But it hurts my heart to play

He’s gone to find his fortune in the hills

And I said this continent’s too wide

For you to spend your life inside

You’re much too beautiful, you know

To have no other place to go

She turned her back to me and walked away

I never cared for banjo anyway

Uncle John Farquhar (A. Vinocur)

Started work when I was ten

Like my father did back then

Driving Pittsburgh steel with hammers under flames

Fifty years up in that mill

I nearly killed myself and still

I ain’t got no dollar bill to my name

Old Bill Hicks from nowhere’s middle

Taught me how to play the fiddle

In east Ohio there ain’t too much going on

But we like it that way here

Not much changes every year

Except the whiskey jug gets lower till it’s gone

At the same old screen door that the dogs scratch through

And the same old wood floor underneath my shoe

And the same old woman making chicken every night

Yeah I guess I did alright

I was only seventeen

Met a girl from Bowling Green

It was the fieriest kind of winter fling

She got pregnant with my son

I didn’t have nowhere to run

So I manned up and we married in the spring

At the same old screen door that the dogs scratch through

And the same old wood floor underneath my shoe

And the same old woman causing trouble every night

Yeah I guess I did alright

Started work when I was ten

Like my father did back then

Driving Pittsburgh steel with hammers under flames

Now I’m nearly sixty-eight

Got a gal that sets me straight

And I’ve got supper on my plate

And I’ve got grandkids on the way

And I owe money to the state

Because my taxes all were late

But if you think I care then you’re just making noise

At the same old screen door that the dogs scratch through

And the same old wood floor underneath my shoe

And the same old woman leaving on that old porch light

Yeah I guess I did alright

Hello, Nebraska (A. Vinocur/A. Nash)

Franklin James, Franklin James

He was a child of the plains

His father died while giving birth

His mother lived for chasing trains

He built two tombstones with a saw

Just to fit his ma and pa

I haven’t seen him in many years

Since I been gone from Omaha

Hello, Nebraska (Hello!)

Hello, Nebraska (Hello!)

Hello, Nebraska (Hello!)

My old pal

Hello, Nebraska (Hello!)

Hello, Nebraska (Hello!)

Hello, Nebraska (Hello!)

My old pal

Jimmy Goose, Jimmy Goose

He hit his head, knocked something loose

Ran for office with pocket kings

And got caught with a seven-deuce

(He won the election)

Now I won’t tell you what I saw

Let’s just say he broke the law

I haven’t seen him in many years

Since I been gone from Omaha

Hello, Nebraska (Hello!)

Hello, Nebraska (Hello!)

Hello, Nebraska (Hello!)

My old pal

Hello, Nebraska (Hello!)

Hello, Nebraska (Hello!)

Hello, Nebraska (Hello!)

My old pal

Sally Ann, Sally Ann

She kissed like a girl but cursed like a man

I heard she married very young

To someone in the Ku Klux Klan

I bet she never told him though

Her first love was with a Negro

I wonder what they’d think of that

The thought of loving someone black

And someone black loving you back

Hello, Nebraska (Hello!)

Hello, Nebraska (Hello!)

Hello, Nebraska (Hello!)

My old pal

Hello, Nebraska (Hello!)

Hello, Nebraska (Hello!)

Hello, Nebraska (Hello!)

My old pal

Hello, Nebraska (Hello!)

Hello, Nebraska (Hello!)

Hello, Nebraska (Hello!)

My old pal

Knock ‘em Stiff (A. Vinocur)

This land is my land

And only my land

My father built this fence by hand with nails and wood

This land is my land

It’ll never be their land

No railway track or road will run where this house stood

This old silo

Stood tall in Shiloh

Since long before there were but any of these trees

This old canteen

Has reeked of kerosene

Since long before they had this property to seize

Well they can come round here with a courthouse letter

And kill for land, but they ain’t gonna get her

Knock ‘em stiff, boys

Cause we’re eight feet tall with a ten pound hammer

And enough packed rifles to take Alabama

Knock ‘em stiff, boys

And we sic our dogs on footsteps in the sticks

And we hide our gold in between the bricks

And we stand up taller than my grandpa’s sorrow

And drink coal bourbon like there ain’t no tomorrow

Knock ‘em stiff, boys

Knock ‘em stiff, boys

Knock ‘em stiff, boys

Knock ‘em stiff, boys

Knock ‘em stiff