The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #102938   Message #2090893
Posted By: The Doctor
30-Jun-07 - 11:31 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Down by the Susquehanna (Wyndham-Read)
Subject: Lyr Add: DOWN BY THE SUSQUEHANNA (M Wyndham-Read)
I have two recordings, by Martyn Wyndham-Read, who wrote it, and by Whaley and Fletcher, who got it from him. Their versions are almost identical, but this is Whaley and Fletcher's:

DOWN BY THE SUSQUEHANNA
(Martyn Wyndham-Read)
[as sung by Whaley & Fletcher]

Of late as I did travel, my heart filled with despair,
I came upon a wondrous sight that drove away my care.
Where glittering waters glide, and magic filled the air,
Down by the Susquehanna and along the Delaware.

Of where and how I do not know, and why I do not care.
From now until forevermore my soul shall wander there.
By flood and field and sunlit hill, by wood and meadow fair,
Down by the Susquehanna and along the Delaware.

I think and hope and dream no more the dreams of other where.
The things that were and might have been this man has ceased to care.
For I have breathed too long, too deep, the lotus in the air,
Down by the Susquehanna and along the Delaware.

Martyn's only major difference is to sing 'Beside' instead of 'Down by'. The end of the first line of the third verse is odd, but that's what they sing, and it's repeated on W&F's sleeve notes.