Lyr Add: Utah Phillips songs

Subject: Lyr Add: Utah Phillips songs
From: Stewie
Date: 24 Mar 03 - 01:14 AM

I have been gathering together lyrics of 20-odd Utah Phillips songs for a presentation at a festival in a couple of months' time. Since I have typed them up, I thought I might as well post those that are not already in the DT or the Forum. I made a fairly quick search of the DT and Forum; my apologies if any of these have been posted already. I will put each in a new message.

--Stewie.

Subject: Lyr Add: DOG CANYON (Utah Phillips)
From: Stewie
Date: 24 Mar 03 - 01:15 AM

DOG CANYON
(Utah Phillips)

Ten thousand shorthorns are moving in fast
They drink lots of water, they eat lots of grass
Your penny stockbrokers have made quite a change
Now our old outfit's drove to the edge of the range

Chorus:
In Canyon del Perro there's grapes on the vine
The water runs sweet as an old Spanish wine
The high Tularosas they make a fine home
For a man who don't mind being up there alone

Young Perry Altman was burned out last night
They shot George McDonald 'cause he wanted to fight
The days of the longhorn are over I guess
When your syndicate gunmen have run out the rest

Chorus

Way up in Dog Canyon old Frenchy holds out
Half-blind and crippled but he never knows drought
He has the good water, tell me what would you do
If you had to protect it from Billy McNew

Chorus

He dreams of a village where the sun always shines
And he dreams of the family when it comes to Christmas time
Now he dreams in his doorway with a gun in his hand
And Oliver Lee says, 'You crazy old man'

Chorus

Well Frenchy he fires but the shot it goes wide
He falls to the floor with a hole in his side
And the water runs down to the ranches below
When the high Tularosas are covered with snow

Chorus

Subject: Lyr Add: JESSE'S CORRIDO (Utah Phillips)
From: Stewie
Date: 24 Mar 03 - 01:16 AM

JESSE'S CORRIDO
(Utah Phillips)

On the corners together you'll find us
'Neath the streetlights at midnight we're there
Our spirits like smoke that blows through the night
Restless but going nowhere

Trouble is all we can give you
But trouble is all we have known
Our lives like water that runs through our hands
Leaving us unloved and alone

Our fathers, you say, were just like us;
Our children will all be the same -
Hair like black leather and skin brown as wood,
Speaking some low Spanish name.

Remember the mothers who gave us our lives,
Like grass in the spring of their years?
And left us behind with hearts light as wine,
Their breasts undissolved in our tears.

The things that I do are all very bad things;
I do them and then don't know why.
You hold up your children with blue or brown eyes
And say they're much better than I.

My friends, they too all despise me
I do all the wrong they had planned
And all that I have for the years of my life
Is a cross that I've carved on my hand

You put me in jail behind iron bars,
You'll find me with blood on my hands
And tomorrow I'll stand up in front of the guns
And I'll give you the life you demand

But tonight, as you sit at your table,
With your wife and your child close by,
Remember this corrido my young blood has made.
And now, mi amigos, goodbye

Subject: Lyr Add: SCOTT'S CREEK BLUFF (Utah Phillips)
From: Stewie
Date: 24 Mar 03 - 01:18 AM

SCOTT'S CREEK BLUFF
(Utah Phillips)

The north coastal highway, it rolls on forever
Any jobs that need doing, any work you can use?
No, thank you kindly, we don't need a hand-out
We'll pay our own way, it's the life that we choose

Chorus:
Climb aboard, Janey, we better get rollin'
The sheriff's outside and this time he ain't foolin'
Hold on to the baby, in a few hours maybe
We'll camp by the ocean with friends of our own

When there's work in your county, we always feel welcome
You treat us like neighbors, there's money to spend
But when the work's over you close down the campground
Your sheriff comes out and we're vagrants again

Chorus

And now in my mirror, the red lights are flashing
Pull over, get down, a voice hard as stone
The questions, and searches, the cold ugly laughter
The fines that will take all the money we own

Chorus

Down on the beaches, the wide surf is pounding
Behind us, the redwoods play catch with the stars
Circled together our friends of the highway
In campers and vans, old buses and cars

Chorus

Around the big fire, there's good food and music
'Til the warm evening fades with a slow fiddle tune
In silence we linger, the bad times forgotten
And baby's asleep 'neath our great silver moon

Chorus

Subject: Lyr Add: EDDY'S SONG (Utah Phillips)
From: Stewie
Date: 24 Mar 03 - 01:20 AM

EDDY'S SONG
(Utah Phillips)

Standing in your shadow, afraid to go outside
I could listen to your music all night long
But the world keeps on changing, there's still no place to hide
I know that we can't change it with a song

Chorus:
One hand on the keyboard, moonlight fills the room
One hand on the Ebro, no regrets
One hand on tomorrow, reaching for the sun
One hand on the sun that never sets

The white cliffs of Gandessa lie sleeping in the rain
I guess some places always have their kings
Now I hear you singing the forgotten songs of Spain
And I wish we could remember all those things

Chorus

I thought that I had trouble when I was on the loose
That must have been a carnival instead
And now I hear our children singing, 'What's the use?'
And they drop a little something for their head

Chorus

Subject: Lyr Add: ROCK ME TO SLEEP (Utah Phillips)
From: Stewie
Date: 24 Mar 03 - 01:21 AM

ROCK ME TO SLEEP
(Utah Phillips)

It's a long way from Salt Lake to Denver
Bumming the D&RG
The moonlight catches the river below
And lights up the rocks and the trees
You follow the wide Colorado
'till it narrows down into a stream
The train whistle blowing a slow lullaby
And you're rolling along in a dream

Rock me to sleep on your bosom
Hold me close to your breast
Don't leave me alone on these cold city streets
But find me a track headed west

I'm tired of your big operators
I'm tired of your music machine
I'm tired of playing for nickels and dimes
And the times are always so lean
It's a long way from no place to somewhere
Bumming all the good years away
Tonight I'm feeling so lonesome and cold
Maybe I'll find it some day

Subject: Lyr Add: WALKING THROUGH YOUR TOWN IN THE SNOW
From: Stewie
Date: 24 Mar 03 - 01:31 AM

WALKING THROUGH YOUR TOWN IN THE SNOW
(Utah Phillips)

I'm walking through your town in the snow
I'm walking through your town in the snow
I've got no place to go –
All the trains are running slow
And I'm walking through your town in the snow

It's getting late and all the bars are closed
It's getting late and all the bars are closed
I'm so cold I can't think –
I could really use a drink
And I'm walking through your town in the snow

Don't all these little winter towns all look the same
Don't all these little winter towns all look the same
How the freezing winds they blow
When the mission doors are closed
Now I'm walking through your town in the snow

I carry my home on my back
I carry my home on my back
But the police only frown
Every time I lay it down
And I'm walking through your town in the snow

There's some fellows jungled up by the yard
There's some fellows jungled up by the yard
They're cooking up down there
And I've nothing left to share
And I'm walking through your town in the snow

Maybe I can rustle up a job
Maybe I can rustle up a job
But there's nothing I can do
My best working days are through
And I'm walking through your town in the snow

Don't ever think I'll find my way back home
Don't ever think I'll find my way back home
I can see my golden years
Shining through these golden tears
And I'm walking through your town in the snow

I'm walking through your town in the snow
I'm walking through your town in the snow
I've got no place to go –
All the trains are running slow
And I'm walking through your town in the snow

Subject: Lyr Add: PIG HOLLOW (Utah Phillips)
From: Stewie
Date: 24 Mar 03 - 01:33 AM

PIG HOLLOW
(Utah Phillips)

Slow rolling freight from the South Ogden yard
Easing along down the line
The Pig Hollow jungle camp pulls into view
You roll off and here's what you find
The ruins and ashes lie scattered around
The jungle is empty and bare
The shanties and tents are all burned to the ground
Not a fire or a friend anywhere

A rich man he lives in a house made of stone
High on a hill looking down
A poor man he lives in a tarpaper shack
Way out on the backside of town
But a rich man don't worry about his fine house
It's protected like you never saw
While a poor man gets railroaded out by the cops
And his house gets burned down by the law

A poor man is fighting for all that he has
He stands with his back to the wall
A rich man he spends nearly half of his life
Just chasing a little white ball
But the rich man he says that Pig Hollow must go
It's a place where the crooks rendezvous
But don't you suppose if you burned down the bank
You might flush a scoundrel or two?

And don't you suppose if a bum with a torch
Set fire to some big fancy hall
The cops'd come down like a blood thirsty hound
And flat nail his hide to the wall
It seems like the laws are all made for the rich
They've got you, boys, win, lose or draw
Try as you may to keep out of their way
You just get burned out by the law

Subject: Lyr Add: YUBA CITY (IF I HAD A LIST) (U Phillips)
From: Stewie
Date: 24 Mar 03 - 01:35 AM

YUBA CITY (IF I HAD A LIST)
(Utah Phillips)

I came into to Yuba as soon as I read
Of all of those twenty-five hoboes found dead
I came in to find out if one of the slain
Could have answered to my brother's name

It might be your brother I just couldn't say
We hire lots of floaters who work by the day
Now I see his photo they might be the same
But I never did ask him his name

Chorus
If I had a list and if I only knew
I'd write down the names and I'd sing them to you
And when I got done, I'd sing them again
You'd all know each one had a name

He had a room and ran out on the rent,
Hired on a crew, I don't know where he went;
If I knew his boss, I might make a claim,
But I never did write down his name

He stopped for a drink every now and again,
Didn't look no different than hundreds of men
You know these old bums, they all look the same,
No reason to ask him his name

Chorus

He might have been Shorty, the feller I knew
We bunked in the empties when the season was through.
You know, I've been thinking, it sure is a shame
I never did ask him his name

We always abandon the old for the new,
And second-hand people get thrown away too
I know it won't help, but still, it explains
Why no one remembers their names

Chorus

Subject: Lyr Add: I HAVE LED A GOOD LIFE (STUPID'S SONG)
From: Stewie
Date: 24 Mar 03 - 01:37 AM

I HAVE LED A GOOD LIFE (STUPID'S SONG)
(Utah Phillips)

I have led a good life full of peace and quiet
Now I shall have an old age full of rum and riot
Yes, I have been a good lad, careful and artistic
Now I shall have an old age coarse and anarchistic

Once I paid my taxes and followed every rule
Banker, boss, and bureaucrat thought me a willing tool
I voted Democratic and paid the church its due
Now all those swine will have to find some other chump to screw

Of interest, banks and credit, insurance, tax and rent
Of lawyers, agents, generals, and clerics I repent
With this [mono digital expletive] for corporations and scorn for those elected
I shall be an old bum, loved but unrespected

Subject: Lyr Add: GREEN ROLLING HILLS (Utah Phillips)
From: Stewie
Date: 24 Mar 03 - 01:41 AM

GREEN ROLLING HILLS OF WEST VIRGINIA

The green rolling hills of West Virginia
Are the nearest place to heaven that I know
Though the times are sad and drear
And I cannot linger here
They will keep me and never let me go

My daddy said don't ever be a miner,
A miner's grave is all you'll ever own.
Never have a dime to spare,
Hard times everywhere,
Now these times they are the worst I've ever known.

Repeat stanza 1

I'll move away into some crowded city,
In a northern factory town you'll find me there;
Though I leave my heart behind,
I will never change my mind,
For this troubled life is more than I can bear

Repeat stanza 1

---

Posted By: kendall
24-Mar-03 - 07:17 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Add: Utah Phillips songs
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Utah Phillips songs

Thanks from a devoted U.U.P. fan.
There is another verse to Green Rolling Hills.

Some day I'll go back to West Virginia,
To the green rolling hills I love so well,
Some day I'll go home, I know I'll right this wrong,
These troubled times will follow me no more.

Subject: Lyr Add: CLEARING IN THE FOREST (Utah Phillips)
From: Stewie
Date: 24 Mar 03 - 01:43 AM

CLEARING IN THE FOREST
(Utah Phillips)

Chorus:
We need a clearing in the forest
An island in the sea
Space for loving
A place for you and me

Here come the critics now
The news won't be good
Come along and hurry now
And do the things you should
I can see you dancing by me
Held up by secret strings
Pulled by friends and lovers
Waiting in the wings

Chorus

Aboard the Titanic now
It all looks black or white
If we don't panic now
It'll be all right
But the wireless is broken
The sea is dark and rough
We only have each other
Don't you know that's not enough

Chorus

Down in the magic city now
The ghost of Mammon sings
You can play for plastic feelings
We can play for plastic things
The only difference is the playing
Losing is the same
There's truth in the saying
That the doing is the game

Chorus

Chorus

Subject: Lyr Add: SHE'LL NEVER BE MINE (Utah Phillips)
From: Stewie
Date: 24 Mar 03 - 01:45 AM

SHE'LL NEVER BE MINE
(Utah Phillips)

My love is a river where the white waters pour
I've hunted and trapped her through the Gates of Ladore
She sings through a curtain of cold mountain rain
Where I dug her bright silver in the high Coeur d'Alene

Chorus:
She'll never be mine
She'll never be mine
I've won all her treasures so simple and fine
I guess she'll never be mine

My love's a cantina where I drink with my friends;
I've called her Dolores or sometimes Cheyenne;
I followed her begging all over the West;
My love is a headlight on the midnight express

Chorus

My love is Montana and the high Douglas fir,
Many long summers I've labored for her.
My love is the windrows of dry autumn corn
That grew on the land where my children were born

Chorus

My love is the life that a boomer will lead,
You bought her with lies and you chained her with greed
My love is a dreamer, I'll follow the dream
You say she's a beggar, I say she's a queen.

Final chorus:
Someday she'll be mine,
Someday she'll be mine,
I've won all her treasures so simple and fine,
I know someday she'll be mine

Subject: Lyr Add: I REMEMBER LOVING YOU (Herdman+Phillips
From: Stewie
Date: 24 Mar 03 - 01:53 AM

I will also add the version of 'I Remember Loving You' with extra verses by Priscilla Herdman - from her 'Darkness Into Light' album Flying Fish FF 70420 in which she duetted with Phillips on the song.

I REMEMBER LOVING YOU
(del Puppo/Chumlevich/Phillips/Herdman
As recorded by Priscilla Herdman and Utah Phillips

I look at these old letters and postcards
From the places where you've been
From the towns you'd find on the railway lines
And the dirty backroom jails that you've been in
And the whispers of the people in the town
You'd been here and they knew
Yes, I remember all these things
But mostly I remember loving you

I look at my brown suitcase
Think of all the places that I've been
The railroad yards and the prison guards
All the dumpy little towns along the stem
And the whispering of the people
As they watch every move that I go through
I remember all these things
Mostly I remember loving you

Chorus:
I remember loving you
Back when the world was new
And I think you loved me too
I remember loving you

Ah, the buckskin smell that I knew so well
When you'd hold me in your arms all in the rain
The night you came from a westbound freight
You were passing through, and you said you couldn't stay
Just an hour we shared, and you said you cared
And you'd come again the next time you are through
Yes, I remember all these things
But mostly I remember loving you

The buckskin smell so the people tell
As we huddled in the boxcar from the rain
The flashing lights that cut the night
The railroad bulls that pulled us off the train
When the norther' blows and the winter's cold
And I'm huddled in the corner 'til I'm blue
I remember all those things
Mostly I remember loving you

Chorus

When the northern blows and I'm lying cold in my bed
And I can't sleep for thoughts of you
And you're out somewhere in a jungle camp or a boxcar
Where you're freezing 'til you're blue
Close by your side, everywhere you ride
And you're with me in everything I do
Yes, I remember all these things
But mostly I remember loving you

The winter streets where the frozen sleet
Come soaking through the cardboard in my shoes
Where the promised land might be a place
Where a man could find free cigarettes and booze
The alleyways full of ragged strays
The doorway wine I tell my troubles to
Yeah, I remember all those things
Mostly I remember loving you

Chorus

---

Stewie, here's how I'd transcribe the second-last verse:

When the norther blows and I'm lying cold in my bed
And I can't sleep for thoughts of you
And you're out somewhere in a jungle camp or a boxcar
Where you're freezing 'til you're blue
I'm close by your side, everywhere you ride
And you're with me in everything I do
Yes, I remember all these things
But mostly I remember loving you

-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Utah Phillips songs
From: Hrothgar
Date: 24 Mar 03 - 02:50 AM

National or Top Half, Stewie?

I've had this one in the back of my mind for a couple of years.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Utah Phillips songs
From: kendall
Date: 24 Mar 03 - 07:17 AM

Thanks from a devoted U.U.P. fan.
There is another verse to Green Rolling Hills.

Some day I'll go back to West Virginia,
To the green rolling hills I love so well,
Some day I'll go home, I know I'll right this wrong,
These troubled times will follow me no more.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Utah Phillips songs
From: Charley Noble
Date: 24 Mar 03 - 09:09 AM

Nice work!

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Utah Phillips songs
From: Deckman
Date: 24 Mar 03 - 09:15 AM

Thanks for all your work Stewie. You gave me the words to one I've been searching for. Looking forward to seeing you at FolkLife. CHEERS, Bob

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Utah Phillips songs
From: Mark Ross
Date: 24 Mar 03 - 12:30 PM

Utah's Songbook is online at utahphillips.org, if you need the lyrics to any more of his songs.

Mark Ross

Subject: ADD: Trooper's Lament (Utah Phillips)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 28 Jan 04 - 04:19 PM

This message from Mark Ross inspired me to transcribe the song. the tune sounds familiar, but I can't name it. It's from one of those songs with oaks and ashes in it, I think. On the other hand, maybe it's closer to Flyring Cloud, the tune used for Steve Goodman's Penny Evans. I'll gladly send a RealPlayer file to anybody who wants to listen and see if they can identify it.
-Joe Offer-
[e-mail]

Thread #66450   Message #1102989
Posted By: Mark Ross
27-Jan-04 - 08:03 PM
Thread Name: Looking for Louis Killen
Subject: Looking for Louis Killen

Some time ago I learned a song from Utah Phillips that he wrote called THE TROOPERS LAMENT. He told me that the tune was an old focsle chanty that he learned from Louis Killen, but Utah couldn't remember the title of the shanty....

Trooper's Lament
(Bruce "Utah" Phillips)

I sailed from Seattle, far away from friends and home
Across the blue Pacific to the Land of Morning Calm
Here's a helmet and a rifle and your prophylactics, too
And as sure as I'm your captain, we will make a man of you.

The 105's were pounding, and their thunder shook the night;
I asked my bold commander, "Who am I here to fight?"
"It's the Slopes and the Slants, it's the Gooks and Chinks," said he,
And I wondered if their captain ever said the same of me.

I'd seen the mountain winter, where the air is cold and still;
But, oh, that frozen Chosun, it was a living hell
With the fever and the jaundice and a hundred kinds of mold,
We were slaughtered in our mummy bags by bayonets and cold.

And everywhere I traveled from the Gap at Kumari(?)
The Yong-San Reservation to the camps at Moonsanee (?)
From the golden plains of Inchon, my boots rotting on my feet,
All I heard were crying babies while their mothers walked the street.

We bought watches, we bought cameras, we bought whores, and we bought booze;
With the little barefoot beggars bending down to shine our shoes
We gave them back our candy, and to answer our desire,
Oh, we gave them round-eyed babies who died outside the wire.

I got off in Seattle, and I climbed on board a train,
I rode it through the mountains with a fever in my brain.
I could find no reason to remain here any more,
Oh, there was no sign around me of the life I'd lived before.

Then what's the pride in country if it robs a man of will?
What's the pride in manhood if a man will rape and kill?
And what's the pride in killing if the dead will rise gain?
Ah, but there's a pride in knowing that the enemy's within.

So, listen all you troopers, here's a lesson you should know,
From an older brownshoe soldier, who marched off long ago;
They will use your pride and passion for to settle all their fights.
Keep your pride in your trousers, and your captain in your sights.

Transcribed from the 1991 U.Utah Phillips I've Got to Know CD.

---

I still need help with the name of the tune, and with some of those Korean place names.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Utah Phillips songs
From: Snuffy
Date: 28 Jan 04 - 06:34 PM

Could it be this one Joe? Penguin: Young Edwin In The Lowlands Low. It fits the meter.

I've heard Louis Killen sing this live and also have it by him on CD

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Utah Phillips songs
From: Joe Offer
Date: 28 Jan 04 - 07:14 PM

That's not it, Snuffy. Close, but no cigar. I have a RealMedia file ready to e-mail to anyone who might be able to identify the tune.
-Joe Offer-
[e-mail]

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Utah Phillips songs
From: Coyote Breath
Date: 29 Jan 04 - 01:07 AM

Stewie, Kendall, Joe Offer, Deckman, and all, please see my post on "Running the Bums Out of Town" (Larimer Street)

Thanks

CB

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Utah Phillips songs
From: MAG
Date: 29 Jan 04 - 11:54 AM

I've heard Utah sing that lasy line as

"Keep your manhood in your pants..." -- scans better.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Utah Phillips songs
From: SINSULL
Date: 06 Sep 04 - 04:05 PM

There is A Utah Phillips song about a couple being evicted from their farm. The sheriff is there and the chorus is something about "Come outside Mary and get the babies in the car. The sheriff is here and this time he isn't kidding..." Anyone know it? I heard it on a CD at Annamill's house a few years back.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Utah Phillips songs
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 06 Sep 04 - 09:24 PM

Not "getting evicted from their farm", but migrant workers being hustled on after the local crops are in.   I'll get out the CD and get the words.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: John Thurman
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 06 Sep 04 - 09:24 PM

Subject: Lyr Add: JOHN THURMAN (Utah Phillips)
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 06 Sep 04 - 09:37 PM

This is a song about a real rodeo cowboy whom Phillips met at a gas station. There was a sign offering an electric guitar for sale, and Phillips got to talking with the attendant. The song tells the tale.
Thurman's bride made him get "a real job" in a service station, and promise to quit the rodeo. Thurman sneaked back for one last ride, but was hurt, so she caught him. Now she was divorcing him, and he's bitter. This is what Utah Phillips made of it.

JOHN THURMAN

Where did you come from, and where will you go?
Where did you come from, my young Johnny-O?
I come for to ride and I come for to sing;
I come for to bring you a big diamond ring.

Oh, I am a cowboy; wild brahmas I ride
I promised to quit them, for the sake of my bride.
Now I work in a station, and all I can do
Is think about ridin' and team-ropin' too.

I drove to Salina about two weeks ago
And signed up to ride in the big rodeo
Well, I drew a brahma, he come out so fast
He pulled out my shoulder, and I could not last.

He bucked and he sunfished; I kicked and I cussed.
Then I picked myself up and I shook out the dust.
That "Old 27", he's ornery and strong,
But no-one had ever stayed on him that long.

Well, I come in to work, it was early today
My young wife, she called me, these few words to say:
"You've broken your promise; it's easy to see
"You love these wild brahmas more than you love me."

Well, I'll pack up my camper, take a flat-top guitar
And play country music in every damn bar!
I'll pick up my paycheck, get ready to go
And head out to follow the big rodeo!

Oh, where did you come from, and where did you go?
Where did you come from, my young Johnny-O?
I come for to ride and I come for to sing,
But I didn't come to bring you, no god-damn ring!

DRO

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Utah Phillips songs
From: GUEST,Mark Ross
Date: 07 Sep 04 - 12:47 AM

Sinsull,The song you're looking for is SCOTT'S CREEK BLUFF I believe, and I think that it's on Utah's ALL USED UP now reissued as THE TELLING TAKES ME HOME.

Mark Ross

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Utah Phillips songs
From:
Date: 22 Jan 06 - 12:44 PM

I was looking for Rich Phillips, and Google brought me to Utah. The song I'm looking for, by Rich, is "I'm Walking through Your Town in the Snow." Anybody know where I might find it? Thanks.

---

click for lyrics

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Utah Phillips songs
From: Mark Ross
Date: 22 Jan 06 - 12:58 PM

It's on Utah's most recent release STARLIGHT ON THE RAILS, an audio songbook

Mark Ross

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Utah Phillips songs
From: open mike
Date: 22 Jan 06 - 02:11 PM

after hearing of another two deaths in coal mines in west virginia
and over a dozen miners killed earlier this year, i keep the song
"Green Rolling Hills of WV" going thru my mind...

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Utah Phillips songs
From: jacqui.c
Date: 22 Jan 06 - 08:14 PM

OM - It's going to be tough singing Miner's Lullabye after recent events.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Utah Phillips songs
From: Joe Offer
Date: 22 May 09 - 08:14 PM

Stewie posted "I Remember Loving You" above, and attributed it to "del Puppo/Chumlevich/Phillips/Herdman." The Herdman attribution is because she added a verse or two when she recorded it with Utah Phillips. The Utah Phillips recording of the song attributes it to "Tino Chumlevich and Luigi Del Puppo; and Utah Phillips." But who are del Puppo and Chumlevich?

Here's what the Digital Tradition says:

Written by Luigi del Puppo and Tino Chumlovich and collected from del Puppo at Nelson, BC 13 Aug. 1970 by Phil Thomas, PJT Coll 067. Learned by Phillips at Expo '74 in Spokane, WA from singing of collector and Hilda Thomas. v.3 and lines 3/4 of the chorus by Phillips: original 3/4 is:
Out of all the girls I knew,
Yes, and I've had quite a few

------------------------------------------------------------------
Original 1.4 ... towns that I've been in. JB
Copright Strike Music

The Digital Tradition tells enough to whet my appetite, but what's the whole story?
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Utah Phillips songs
From: Mark Ross
Date: 22 May 09 - 08:53 PM

I think they wrote the original while sitting in jail

Mark Ross

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Utah Phillips songs
From: Dan Schatz
Date: 22 May 09 - 09:25 PM

For years, none of Utah's friends believed that these people existed. Rosalie Sorrels told me that they used to say, "Right Bruce. 'Luigi del Puppo.' Sure." And she told me that whatever anybody else says, Utah wrote the song.

Which he did, more or less. But he built it on the original song that del Puppo and Chumlevich wrote while in a Nelson, BC jail. Joanna wanted to make sure we credited it correctly on the two CD set, because Utah only wrote the third verse and reworked the chorus. She told me it was collected at the Vancouver jail. Utah got hold of it, and sang it for a long time as originally written:

"I remember loving you
Yes and I've had quite a few...."

It wasn't quite right, so he changed the chorus and wrote the third verse, and it became known as his song. But he always gave credit to the original authors.

Tom Paxton does a WONDERFUL version of this song on the two CD set.

Dan

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Utah Phillips songs
From: GUEST,Elmore
Date: 23 May 09 - 12:40 PM

God, I miss Utah. I saw him perform countless times in a variety of venues, and he was as wonderful the last time he played Club Passim as the first time he took the stage at Fox Hollow.Utah portayed an old geezer for 35 years. Too bad he died before he actually became an old geezer.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Utah Phillips songs
From: Dan Schatz
Date: 23 May 09 - 12:59 PM

Utah died one year ago. We all miss him.

Dan

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Utah Phillips songs
From: Deckman
Date: 23 May 09 - 10:37 PM

"Bride Judy" and I had a very nice start to this Memorial day weekend. We watched a recording of a live concert that Bruce gave at the MOHAI in Seattle about 7 years ago. bob

Subject: Lyr Req: Singing Through The Hard Times
From: Genie
Date: 29 Mar 13 - 05:13 PM

Does anyone have the lyrics to "Singing Through The Hard Times" handy.
They're not in the DT and I can't find a thread for them either.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Utah Phillips songs
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Mar 13 - 08:51 PM

The lyrics can be found on the CD of that name released Righteous Babe Records, Ani DiFranco's company.

Mark Ross

Subject: ADD: Singing Through the Hard Times (Phillips)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 30 Mar 13 - 02:33 AM

Hi, Genie - I've tried to put the ADD and the song title name in the titles of message that contain definitive transcriptions of lyrics. Using the old forum search in QuickLinks for "subject," you'll find this transcription.

Thread #14233   Message #2980772
Posted By: Joe Offer
06-Sep-10 - 03:13 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Songs by Bruce 'Utah' Phillips
Subject: Lyr Add: SINGING THROUGH THE HARD TIMES (Phillips)


I couldn't find the CD booklet since I put all my recordings on my hard drive, so I had to do a by-ear transcription. Any corrections?
-Joe-

SINGING THROUGH THE HARD TIMES
(U. Utah Phillips)

Sometimes our living gets so dark and lonesome,
It seems like there's nothing we can do.
So we reach out to each other, and raise a song together,
And let our voices carry us through.

CHORUS:
We are singing through the hard times,
Singing through the hard times;
Working for the good times to come.
We are singing through the hard times,
Singing through the hard times;
Working for the good times to come.

And when the war clouds gather, it's so easy to get angry,
And just as hard not to be afraid;
But you know in your own heart, no matter what happens,
You just can't turn your back and walk away.
CHORUS

So hand in hand together, we help each other carry
The light of peace within us every day;
If we can learn to live it, to walk and talk and give it,
That world of peace won't be so far away.
CHORUS (twice)

From the Utah Phillips tribute CD, Singing Through the Hard Times, produced by Mudcatters Dan Schatz and Kendall and Jacqui Morse.

---

And here's a YouTube Video of the song, with a lot of familiar faces...

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Utah Phillips songs
From: SINSULL
Date: 05 Mar 19 - 10:01 PM

Thanks, Mark. It only took me 15 years to see your post and discover the lyrics among the first four posted by Stewie. I never stopped looking but was stuck on Come outside Mary. DOH!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Utah Phillips songs
From: Joe Offer
Date: 25 Jul 20 - 11:34 PM

ALL ABOUT PREACHERS


Here comes the preacher with his long, black coat,

Sniffing around like a billy goat;

He's got a book of everything the good Lord wrote;

He knows each verse; he can tell you every quote.



Sexton, sexton, ring the bell,

Preacher's gonna preach another soul to hell;

Sexton, sexton, ring it out loud,

Preacher's in the pulpit and the heads all bowed.



Preacher paid a visit to a poor, old man,

Said, "I'm gonna save you from your mortal sin."

Old man asked the preacher his sins to relate.

"You didn't put nothin' in the Sunday plate."



Sexton, sexton, ring the bell,

Preacher's gonna preach another soul to hell;

Sexton, sexton, ring it out loud,

Preacher's in the pulpit and the heads all bowed.



Preacher paid a visit to Widow Brown,

Lived with her kids on the edge of town;

Preacher got there when dinner was on;

Sneaked out just about an hour 'til dawn.



Sexton, sexton, ring the bell,

Preacher's gonna preach another soul to hell;

Sexton, sexton, ring it out loud,

Preacher's in the pulpit and the heads all bowed.



Preacher preached a sermon by an open graveside,

Where a hundred coal miners were buried alive.

He said, "It's all in God's great plan."

Preacher and the boss were a-shakin' hands.



Sexton, sexton, ring the bell,

Preacher's gonna preach another soul to hell;

Sexton, sexton, ring it out loud,

Preacher's in the pulpit and the heads all bowed.



Preacher man, preacher, you better watch out:

We're gonna get together and run you out.

All you ever preach is shame and greed;

One Big Union is all we need.



Sexton, sexton, ring the bell,

Old preacher man's on his way to hell;

Sexton, sexton, ring it out loud,

We'll all stand together with our heads unbowed.


https://politicalfolkmusic.org/posts/blog/all-about-preachers

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Utah Phillips songs
From: Joe Offer
Date: 25 Jul 20 - 11:36 PM

Anybody got lyrics for "If I Could Be the Rain"?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Utah Phillips songs
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 26 Jul 20 - 02:50 AM

If I Could Be the Rain
Utah Phillips

Sometimes I wonder how the simple rain can weep
Or why the winds a lonely child that cries itself to sleep
Ive envied all the sunlight, the amber of its smile
And wished it could be borrowed for a while

If I could be the rain, I'd wash down to the sea;
If I could be the wind, there'd be no more of me;
If I could be the sunlight, and all the days were mine
I would find some special place to shine

But all the rain I'll ever be is locked up in my eyes
When I hear the wind it only whispers sad goodbyes
If I could hide the way I feel I'd never sing again;
Sometimes I wish that I could be the rain

If I could be the rain, I'd wash down to the sea;
If I could be the wind, there'd be no more of me;
If I could hide the way I feel I'd never sing again;
Sometimes I wish that I could be the rain