The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #535   Message #3085696
Posted By: Joe Offer
31-Jan-11 - 01:54 AM
Thread Name: Lyr ADD: Last Thing on My Mind (Tom Paxton)
Subject: DT Corr: Last Thing on My Mind (Tom Paxton)
The version in the Digital Tradition is what I would call discombobulated. The verses are in a strange order and dying songs are lying, and the "as we walk on" verse doesn't really make sense. The post above from Ralph Butts appears to have been taken from the DT somehow. It has many of the same mistakes, but it's not an exact copy.

Here's my corrected transcription:

THE LAST THING ON MY MIND
(Tom Paxton)

It's a lesson too late for the learning,
Made of sand, made of sand.
In the wink of an eye my soul is turning,
In your hand, in your hand.

CHORUS
Are you going away with no word of farewell?
Will there be not a trace left behind?
Well, I could have loved you better,
Didn't mean to be unkind,
You know that was the last thing on my mind.

As we walk, all my thoughts are a-tumblin',
'Round and 'round, 'round and 'round.
Underneath our feet the subway's rumblin',
Underground, underground.

CHORUS

You've got reasons aplenty for goin',
This I know, this I know.
For the weeds have been steadily growin',
Please don't go, please don't go.

CHORUS

As I lie in my bed in the morning,
Without you, without you.
Each song in my breast dies a-borning,
Without you, without you.

CHORUS


Source: Ramblin Boy and other songs by Tom Paxton, Oak Publications, 1965.

The "as we walk" verse does not appear on any of the Paxton recordings I listened to.