The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #53767 Message #829501
Posted By: Richie
18-Nov-02 - 10:43 PM
Thread Name: Origin: Sweet Sunny South/We Shall See Her No More
Subject: Lyr Add: THE SUNNY SOUTH
THE SUNNY SOUTH
Cecil Sharp No. 186 from EFSSA
Sung by Mrs. Lucy Cannady
At Endicott, VA. Aug 23 1918
Take me home to the place where I first saw the light
To the sweet sunny south take me home
Where the mockingbirds sang me to rest ev'ry night
Oh, why was I tempted to roam?
Take me home to the place where my little one sleeps,
For Massie lies buried close by
O'er the graves of my loved ones I long there to weep
And among them to rest when I die.
Take me back to the place where the orange trees grow
To my cot in the evergreen shade
Where the myrtle and the evergreen margin may blow,
On the sweet on the banks where we play.
*Take me back to the place, let me see what I knew
And the path to the cottage they say has gone green,
And the place is quite lonely around.
And I know that the smiles and the forms I have seen
Now lie in the dark mossy ground.
*By editing the top line, the last verse fits.
Notes: This is Sharp's best version of the three he collected in 1918.
The last verse usually begins without the top line. I'm not sure why there are five lines because the music has not been changed.
Sharp collected 27 songs and ballads that day (Aug.23) from the Cannady family. A photograph taken by Sharp shows Mr. and Mrs. Charles Cannady sitting on the steps of their log-cabin. There were still Cannadys living in the area sixty years later.
This is almost exactly the version sung by Charlie Poole in Oct. 1927. Since it is from the same region that is no surprise.