Lyr Req: Kimble Family--Pennsylvania Rambler

Subject: Lyr Req: Kimble Family--Pennsylvania Rambler
From: Jacana
Date: 30 Nov 10 - 10:42 PM

I put this on slow-down, but couldn't get all of it, can't find it. Anybody got a cut & paste?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Kimble Family--Pennsylvania Rambler
From: Jacana
Date: 01 Dec 10 - 12:28 AM

I see I am sinking to the bottom. An unworthy request?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Kimble Family--Pennsylvania Rambler
From: GUEST,DWR
Date: 01 Dec 10 - 12:37 AM

No, it has only been up for a couple of hours. It's not one of the easiest things to find, I think. It may take a while for the right person to see it. If no one has answered when the time approaches 24 hours, give it another nudge!

Some responses come quickly, some take a while.

I have no idea, but you ARE closer to the top again!

Dale

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Kimble Family--Pennsylvania Rambler
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 03 Dec 10 - 09:31 AM

PENNSYLVANIA RAMBLER is on a CD called "The Kimble and Wagoner Families" (Field Recorders' Collective, 2006).

Extensive notes about the musicians (but no lyrics) can be found at The Field Recorders' Collective web site.

The Folk Music Index also lists it on an older album, also by the Kimble Family, a cassette called "Carroll County Pioneers" (Marimac, 1992).

Allmusic.com doesn't list either album, and I can't find any evidence that anyone else ever recorded the song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Kimble Family--Pennsylvania Rambler
From: Jacana
Date: 05 Dec 10 - 11:58 AM

Well I'll just have to play it even SLOWER so I can figure the words, which is what I'm trying to figure.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Kimble Family--Pennsylvania Rambler
From: Mike Yates
Date: 06 Dec 10 - 05:49 AM

This is related to the Carter Family piece "Don't Forget this Song" (with a bit of "The Silver Dagger" thrown in for good measure). Many of the words, and the tune, are more or less identical. I made this transcription many years ago from one of my recordings of the Family, though some words remain unclear.

1. Now all my young companions
   Where-ever you may be
   And listen to my story
   To shun bad company

2. My home's in Pennsylvania
   Among the pleasant hills
   The memory of my (first light/birthplace?)
   Lies in my memory still

3. I had not loved my fireside
   I did not love my home
   My mind was bent on rambling
   And I was bound to roam

4. I bid adieu to loved ones
   To all I bid farewell
   I landed in Chicago
   In the very depths of hell

5. The there I took to gambling
   I sinned both night and day
   And always in my bosom
   An (angel?) voice would say

6. I courted a fair young lady
   Her name I will not tell
   How could I so disgrace her?
   When I am doomed for hell

7. Was on one moonlight evening
   The stars were shining bright
   The with a silver dagger
   I pierced her tender heart

8.      ??
       ??
   You may forget the singer
   But don't forget the song

I cannot make out the first two lines to verse 8. Line one sounds a bit like "And now the rope's around me", but I am not too certain. The two Carter Family lines ("Now I'm upon my scaffold/My time's not very long"), from "Don't Forget this Song", are clearly not what the Kimble's sang.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Kimble Family--Pennsylvania Rambler
From: Mike Yates
Date: 06 Dec 10 - 05:51 AM

Sorry, verse 5 line 1 should read "Then there etc"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Kimble Family--Pennsylvania Rambler
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 06 Dec 10 - 09:27 AM

Mike: Please clarify: Does your transcription come from the Carter Family, or the Kimble Family?