Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2013 13:54:20 GMT -5
This is a re-working of a tune I wrote a few years ago that I never perform, and I concluded that I never performed it because I didn't like the melody I had and didn't like a few word choices here and there. So this is the "new" version. It is a "roots/Americana" song, whatever the hell that is....
I am soliciting opinions, though. In particular, I'm wondering whether lines three and four of the last verse are necessary. As it is, the three verses have four lines, six lines and six lines respectively. I'm wondering about going four/six/four, particularly if the lines I mentioned don't add anything. Thoughts?
The backstory on the song is that I wrote it a few years ago for a local bluegrass group called Pocahontas County. One of the guys in the band was from Pocahontas County, WV, and while we were doing a two-song recording project, I asked them if they'd written any songs about Pocahontas County since it sounded pretty Appalachian. They said they hadn't. I went home, got on the Tubes of the Internets (mainly because I had no idea in hell where Pocahontas County) and wrote the original version of this in about 20 minutes. For better or worse, it shows. It is a typical murder ballad: Hardworking stiff meets the love of his life, his brother steals her, he kills her and her lover (who happens to be the protagonist's brother), he gets caught and is awaiting execution. Just your average story, as full of cliches as an old barn is full of bats. I wrote the song and they didn't want it, preferring to stick with bluegrass covers.
So here it is....
DROOP MOUNTAIN
Had a girl on Droop Mountain, hair red as the rising sun
My love for her cost me dear; now I know my life is done
Courted Annie in the springtime, by summer’s end she was my bride
Built her a house in Kline Holler; she was my joy and pride
Had a brother name of Johnny, worked the mills of Marlinton
Temper faster than a racehorse, hotter than a smoking gun
One day he said, “My little brother, I must have Annie for my own”
Her face told me the story: She had cheated in her home
Anger rose up deep inside me, just like the Greenbrier when it floods
I stabbed them both in my fury, hid their bodies in the woods
It is said when Cain slew Abel, his blood cried up from the ground
Cain bore the mark of a killer, same mark I carry now
Train whistle echoes through the valley like her lies echoed through my head
Soon they will lead me to the gallows; soon, I will be dead
There was a girl on Droop Mountain, hair red as the setting sun
My love for her cost me dear; I know my days are done
I am soliciting opinions, though. In particular, I'm wondering whether lines three and four of the last verse are necessary. As it is, the three verses have four lines, six lines and six lines respectively. I'm wondering about going four/six/four, particularly if the lines I mentioned don't add anything. Thoughts?
The backstory on the song is that I wrote it a few years ago for a local bluegrass group called Pocahontas County. One of the guys in the band was from Pocahontas County, WV, and while we were doing a two-song recording project, I asked them if they'd written any songs about Pocahontas County since it sounded pretty Appalachian. They said they hadn't. I went home, got on the Tubes of the Internets (mainly because I had no idea in hell where Pocahontas County) and wrote the original version of this in about 20 minutes. For better or worse, it shows. It is a typical murder ballad: Hardworking stiff meets the love of his life, his brother steals her, he kills her and her lover (who happens to be the protagonist's brother), he gets caught and is awaiting execution. Just your average story, as full of cliches as an old barn is full of bats. I wrote the song and they didn't want it, preferring to stick with bluegrass covers.
So here it is....
DROOP MOUNTAIN
Had a girl on Droop Mountain, hair red as the rising sun
My love for her cost me dear; now I know my life is done
Courted Annie in the springtime, by summer’s end she was my bride
Built her a house in Kline Holler; she was my joy and pride
Had a brother name of Johnny, worked the mills of Marlinton
Temper faster than a racehorse, hotter than a smoking gun
One day he said, “My little brother, I must have Annie for my own”
Her face told me the story: She had cheated in her home
Anger rose up deep inside me, just like the Greenbrier when it floods
I stabbed them both in my fury, hid their bodies in the woods
It is said when Cain slew Abel, his blood cried up from the ground
Cain bore the mark of a killer, same mark I carry now
Train whistle echoes through the valley like her lies echoed through my head
Soon they will lead me to the gallows; soon, I will be dead
There was a girl on Droop Mountain, hair red as the setting sun
My love for her cost me dear; I know my days are done
