Song Lyric Sunday: Blue Grass Good Old Boys.

Jim Adams

Hi it’s Sunday and time for Jim Adams to bring us this week’s prompt for Song Lyric Sunday, which is Blue Grass Music .

Bluegrass music is a genre of American roots music that developed in the 1940s in the Appalachian region of the United States. The genre derives its name from the band Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys. Like mainstream country music, it largely developed out of old-time string music, though in contrast, bluegrass is traditionally played exclusively on acoustic instruments and also has roots in traditional English, Scottish, and Irish ballads and dance tunes as well as in blues and jazz. Bluegrass was further developed by musicians who played with Monroe, including 5-string banjo player Earl Scruggs and guitarist Lester Flatt. Monroe characterized the genre as: “Scottishbagpipes and ole-time fiddlin’. It’s a part of Methodist, Holiness and Baptist traditions. It’s blues and jazz, and it has a high lonesome sound.”

Now I find Blue Grass a very interesting it spans many years and locations . It’s very easy on the ear …now that may not be quite true, it’s very easy on my ear it may not be everyone’s cup of tea or coffee. I have chosen a very old song by a comparatively modern group.

Man of Constant Sorrow by Home Free.

Home Free is an American country a cappella group of five vocalists: Austin Brown, Rob Lundquist, Adam Rupp, Tim Foust, and Adam Chance. Starting as a show group, they toured with approximately 200 shows a year across the United States. The group won the fourth season of The Sing-Off on NBC in 2013. They sang an arrangement of Hunter Hayes‘ “I Want Crazy” as their final competitive song, earning the group $100,000 and a recording contract with Sony. More information Wiki

“Man of Constant Sorrow” (also known as “I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow“) is a traditional American folk song first published by Dick Burnett, a partially blind fiddler from Kentucky. The song was originally titled “Farewell Song” in a songbook by Burnett dated to around 1913. A version recorded by Emry Arthur in 1928 gave the song its current titles.

There exists some uncertainty as to whether Dick Burnett is the original writer. In an interview he gave toward the end of his life, he was asked about the song:

Charles Wolfe: “What about this “Farewell Song” – ‘I am a man of constant sorrow’ – did you write it?” Richard Burnett: “No, I think I got the ballad from somebody – I dunno. It may be my song …

read more about the origin of the song here.

I am a man of constant sorrow
I’ve seen trouble all my day
I bid farewell to old Kentucky
The place where I was born and raised
(The place where he was born and raised)

For six long years I’ve been in trouble
No pleasures here on earth I found
For in this world I’m bound to ramble
I have no friends to help me now
(He has no friends to help him now)

It’s fare thee well my old lover
I never expect to see you again
For I’m bound to ride that northern railroad
Perhaps I’ll die upon this train
(Perhaps he’ll die upon this train)

You can bury me in some deep valley
For many years where I may lay
Then you may learn to love another
While I am sleeping in my grave
(While he is sleeping in his grave)

Maybe your friends think I’m just a stranger
My face, you’ll never see no more
But there is one promise that is given
I’ll meet you on God’s golden shore
(He’ll meet you on God’s golden shore)

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: John Allen / Scott Mills / Traditional / Victor Carrera

I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow lyrics © Capitol CMG Publishing, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

HAPPY SUNDAY EVERYONE 💜💜

After The Electricity Died

Last  Tuesday  I  entered   Finish That Thought. It’s a flash challenge to write a story of up to 500 words using the first sentence.“I’ll tell you what you need, and that’s a [rocket scientist].”and this is the special challengeSet your story in a war zone. I  did   and   so  tonight  here  is  my  story!

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After  the   Electricity died!

“I’ll tell you what you need, and that’s a [rocket scientist].” with that Simon turned on his heel and slammed the lab door.

Sitting in the ensueing silence Dan shrugged his shoulders and said to to no one inparticular ” Well good luck with that they are all dead and with them their knowledge” Seconds passed and the low buzz of hushed voices and the scratching of pens on paper once again began to fill the room.

Dan was tired and he was desparate for a cup of coffee, sadly he thought to himself there had been none left for at least 5yrs now. Just like everything else he had loved and held dear, electricity, flying , technology , gone all gone. Everything was harder now , keeping warm, keeping knowledge even keeping from being hungry.

The most asked question: where were you when electricity died? Everyone over five remembered exactly, though for the first few days they though it just a fluke. Sadly it was not people died in their millions, planes fell from the skies hospitals just stopped working, freezers thawed. There was no petrol unless you could crank it up by hand. Things just got harder and only those who were willing to pull together and work hard survived.

Nothing was the same and it was amazing how quickly things ran out , how knowledge was forgotten. There was no internet , no google, everyone and everything became insular. Dan had met Simon in a library where he was defending the books… people were actually taking the books and burning them for heat and cooking! They had both seen how short sighted that was and had decided to pool their knowledge. Simon had been in the army after growing up on an arable farm, Dan had been a Scientist working in genectics. They realized that their skills were of no use unless they could find more people with other knowledge to impart.

They set about this and anyone who wanted to join them was welcome. They all worked hard at keeping the old knowledge alive and made sure the children learned as wide a range of skills as possible. It had been so hard at first everyone had become so soft, life was too easy everything at peoples fingertips. It was snatched away over night … well in one afternoon actually.

Everything was so hard , keeping warm , growing food, keeping comunications open, travel even the simple things like getting through the day were hard, god forbid there would be a medical emergancy or even a birth! Even keeping peace with themselves and the neighbouring settlements was hard then there were the itinerant travellers who always caused trouble.

Simon returned to the lab, everyone stopped working and looked at him expectantly ! Dan got up and walked across to to meet him .” Is it as bad as you thought,” he asked? “Worse” replied Simon “they are coming and they mean war! ” That’s why I said we we need rocket scienists ! ” Dan hung his head this means war……….