Origins: More Pretty Girls Than One

Subject: Lyric Req: More Pretty Girls Than One
From: hartley
Date: 24 Aug 97 - 11:10 PM

Would like the lyrics for More Pretty Girls than One.

Subject: Lyr Add: MORE PRETTY GIRLS THAN ONE
From: Earl
Date: 25 Aug 97 - 04:15 PM

Here's how I learned it, there may be more verses:

chorus:
There's more pretty girls than one
More pretty girls than one
Every town I ramble round
There's more pretty girls than one

Look down the railroad line
And you see the train go by
Train go by with the woman I love
I hang down my head and cry

chorus

Look out across the sea
And you see the breakers swell
How many true loves it has washed away
No human tongue can tell

chorus

Subject: RE: Lyric Req: More Pretty Girls Than One
From:
Date: 16 Feb 00 - 05:19 PM

Remember an old Guthrie record from the fifties I think with this song on it. Just three verses. Anybody know any more verses?

Subject: RE: Lyric Req: More Pretty Girls Than One
From: Greg F.
Date: 16 Feb 00 - 07:40 PM

No direct help, but if you check
HERE
there are a bunch of recordings listed you could track down-

Best, Greg

Subject: Lyr Add: MORE PRETTY GIRLS THAN ONE (Silverman)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 16 Feb 00 - 08:17 PM

There are three completely different verses in Jerry Silverman's Folk Song Encyclopedia.

MORE PRETTY GIRLS THAN ONE

My mama told me last night,
She gave me good advice,
Better stop your rambling 'round, pretty boy,
And marry you a loving wife.

CHORUS
There's more pretty girls than one,
There's more pretty girls than one;
For every town I rambled around,
There's more pretty girls than one.

Look down that lonesome road,
Hang down your little head and cry,
For thinking of those pretty girls, girls,
And hoping I never will die.

Look down that lonesome road
Before you travel on,
I'm leaving you this lonesome song
To sing when I am gone.

JRO

-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyric Req: More Pretty Girls Than One
From: jofield
Date: 16 Feb 00 - 11:00 PM

Wow, extensive as that list was, it omitted Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. With Lester's down-home accent, it came out "Mo' pooty girls 'n one."

James

Subject: Lyr Add: MORE PRETTY GIRLS THAN ONE (Highwoods...)
From: GUEST,Kristi
Date: 21 Jan 01 - 10:09 PM

Here's a version from Highwoods Stringband:

MORE PRETTY GIRLS THAN ONE

My mama told me last night,
She gave me good advice,
Said, Son you better quit your ramblin' round
And marry you a loving wife.

CHORUS: There's more pretty girls than one,
More pretty girls than one;
Every town I rambled 'round,
There's more pretty girls than one.

Look down that lonesome road,
Hang down your head and cry,
I'm studyin' about those pretty little girls
And hoping I never will die.

Pretty girl you done me wrong
You left me all alone
I'm leaving you this lonesome song
To sing when I am gone.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Thers More Pretty Girls Than One
From: masato sakurai
Date: 24 Oct 01 - 01:10 PM

CLICK HERE. "More Pretty Girls Than One" is also in Old-Time String Band Songbook, p. 208 (Wayne Dinwiddle version).

~Masato

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Thers More Pretty Girls Than One
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 24 Oct 01 - 01:27 PM

Ramblin' Jack Elliott sang the same chorus but different verses. I'll see if I can find the CD and post his version.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: Lyr Add: MORE PRETTY GIRLS THAN ONE
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 24 Oct 01 - 04:24 PM

More Pretty Girls Than One

CHO:
There's more pretty girls than one
More pretty girls than one
Every town I ramble around
Has more pretty girls than one.

Look down that railroad line
Hear the train roll by
Train rolled by with the woman I love
Hung down my head and cried.

CHO:
Look out across that sea
See the breakers swell
How many a love is washed away
No human tongue can tell

CHO:

From "Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Best of the Vanguard Years".

DRO Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Thers More Pretty Girls Than One
From: Sourdough
Date: 25 Oct 01 - 06:09 AM

It's funny you should mention Ramblin Jack Elliot. Tonight, Mrs. Dough and I went out to see Guy Clark in concert. It took place in an old movie theater in downtown Petaluma (CA). The theater is in a particularly picturesque block of Petaluma. with its cute little box office under an old fashioned marquee. has itself appeared in a number of the movies shot all or in part in Petaluma, "Peggy Sue Got Married", "American Graffiti". It's a great location for 50s movies.

Originally, the concert was to be two acts, Guy Clark and Jessie Winchester, a singer with whom I am only vaguely familiar. For some reason, he didn't show up. He was, according to management, "stuck in Canada". Clark appeared alone and as a result there were a lot of disappointed people. One of them was Dave, a friend from here in the Greater Petaluma Area. Dave said he had already seen five Guy Clark shows and they were always the same. He claimed that Clark never made any changes in his songs or accompaniments.

Clark was appearing with an accompanist. Dave explained that the accompanist used to be married and that he and his wife, for a number of years, had backed Clark with instruments and vocals. When the couple divorced, Guy got custody of the husband who is an excellent musician while the wife went off on her own. Clark called him one of the great songwriters of our time. Coming from Clark, who has written some wonderful songs of his own, it is a certainly meaningful compliment.

Almost as soon as the performance started, it was clear that this was going to be a special evening. For one thing, Clark and his accompanist seemed to be having a really good time. Dave Tracy said this was very different from the other performances. After a while, when the crowd was really acting very appreciative, he said that he had a surprise guest - and then he announced that Rambling Jack Elliot was in the audience. Jack Elliot has bummed around the world and his voice as well as his face shows it.

I don't know how old Jack is now, probably about seventy or seventy five although he may look older than he is because of all those hard miles he's put on over the past four, five or six decades. Jack lives over in Marshall, on the coast about fifteen or twenty miles from Petaluma and a few minutes earlier I had wondered if he might show up in the audience for the show. It never occurred to me he might get up on stage. Jack doesn't ramble so easily any more. He had a hip operation a couple of weeks ago and tonight had to be helped up on the stage, a skinny old man in blue jeans, big hat and sunglasses, bent over and hobbling, with those kinds of aluminum crutches that have braces to help support the arms. He had an athletic looking and much younger guy, a rodeo cowboy in town for the Grand Nationals, who was there with his girlfriend, to help Jack up the stairs from the audience. Once he made his way rather painfully to a stool about a third of the way across stage, he managed to sit down. He was charming but his voice was so whispery it was hard to hear him even with the microphone.

He told a few self-effacing kinds of jokes about his condition. Then someone handed him a guitar and he took probably two minutes to figure out how to get the strap off the tailpiece, get it around his neck and back on the instrument. However, the audience was on his side. Almost all of us knew of Jack Elliot so we were patient, waiting for the legend to get ready. When he began strumming the instrument tentatively and very quietly, I had to concentrate to hear him say that this was the first time that he'd picked up a guitar since before "the hospital thing".

Then he broke into a blues and his voice strengthened. He began singing with a surprising power and his guitar picking was clear and purposeful. He then played San Francisco Bay Blues, told a charming story about the writer, and left the stage to thundering applause from a standing audience. The funny thing was that he walked so much more smoothly leaving the stage.

A while later, he came back, this time to tell a story. Guy Clark and his partner had started to introduce a song and mentioned that it reminded them of Jack's road manager who was a dog. The audience laughed when the two performers agreed that the dog used to drive the car sometimes when Jack had to travel between cities. That got Jack back up on the stage again to tell the story, the whole story, of traveling with his dog. This time he walked up the stage a lot more smoothly and sure looked as though he was in much less pain.

The story was hilarious and he had the audience laughing for five minutes or so before he even got to the climax when, late for a club date in Denver, he makes a phone call from a lonely public phone booth in Nebraska, and while feeding quarters into the phone, gives a remote performance of four or five songs thanks to a microphone held next to a receiver at the club. He could even hear the audience applauding.

Well, the story went over very well. Guy Clark and his accompanist were laughing as much as we all were and Jack Elliot looked as though he was having a better time than any of us. His grin looked so broad that it appeared at times as though he might give up on the story and just break down laughing . He looked like a very happy man.

This time when he left the stage, he was walking almost straight.

He came on stage one more time. late in the show. He almost scurried up onto the stage. If there was ever an example of pain numbing endorphins at work, this was it.

All in all, it was a delightful evening.

All this from a request for lyrics for "More Pretty Girls Than One".

Sourdough

Subject: Chord Req: More Pretty Girls Than One
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Aug 05 - 08:48 PM

anyone know the chords or tabs to this song

Subject: RE: Chord Req: More Pretty Girls Than One
From: Peace
Date: 09 Aug 05 - 08:54 PM

Here

Subject: RE: Chord Req: More Pretty Girls Than One
From: Joe Offer
Date: 09 Aug 05 - 09:33 PM

I think this one is older than Ricky Skaggs. Here are lyrics and chords from the site "Peace" linked to.
-Joe Offer-

    Ê
  More Pretty Girls Than One
  Ricky Skaggs
  transcribed by Logan Gibbons
  
  
                   C                         C7
          There's more pretty girls than one
            F                     C   C7
          More pretty girls than one
           F                   C
          Any old town that I ramble all around in
                   C           G         C
          There's more pretty girls than one
  
     C              G        C   C7
  1. Mama talked to me last night
  2. Honey look down that old lonesome road
  
          F                      C    C7
  1. She gave to me some good advice
  2. Hang down your pretty head and cry
  
               F                               C
  1. She said "Son you ought to quit this old ramblin' all around
  2. 'Cause I'm thinking all about them pretty little gals
  
          C           G            C
  1. And marry you a sweet loving wife"
  2. And hoping that I'll never die
  
  

Subject: RE: Chord Req: More Pretty Girls Than One
From: greg stephens
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 05:16 AM

The Woody Guthrie version is the first I heard. Chords much like the previous post, but with the G in the first line of the chorus (on "girls"), as well as in the verses.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: More Pretty Girls Than One
From: GUEST,Hootenanny
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 05:54 AM

Certainly pre dates Ricky Skaggs, e.g: fiddlin' Arthur Smith, Riley Puckett etc.

Subject: Origins: More Pretty Girls Than One
From: Joe Offer
Date: 12 May 25 - 05:44 PM

Here's the Traditional Ballad Index entry for this song.

More Pretty Girls Than One

DESCRIPTION: Singer is a rambler who likes women; his mother told him to settle down, but he won't. He cries, thinking of pretty girls, and hopes he'll never die; he leaves us this lonesome song: "Every town I ramble around/There's more pretty girls than one."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (JAFL)
KEYWORDS: loneliness rambling nonballad lyric floatingverses love separation travel farewell courting parting family
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE,So,SW)
REFERENCES (14 citations):
Randolph 734, "Goodbye, Little Bonnie Blue Eyes" (1 text, 1 tune)
Shellans-FolkSongsOfTheBlueRidgeMountains, p. 10, "Hush, LIttle Bonnie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Rosenbaum-FolkVisionsAndVoices, p. 96, "Goodbye, Little Bonnie, Blue Eyes" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 284, "Bonnie Blue Eyes" (2 text plus 1 fragment and 1 excerpt); also 301, "High-Topped Shoes" (2 texts, both mixed; "A" is mostly "Pretty Little Foot" with verses from "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down" while "B" is a hash of "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down," ""More Pretty Girls Than One," "In the Pines," and others)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 301, "High-Topped Shoes" (2 tunes plus text excerpts, of which "B" has verses of this song)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 284, "Bonnie Blue Eyes" (3 tunes plus text excerpts)
Cambiaire-EastTennesseeWestVirginiaMountainBallads, pp. 23, "More Pretty Girls Than One" (1 text)
Henry-SongsSungInTheSouthernAppalachians, p. 170, "More Pretty Girls Than One" (1 text)
Owens-TexasFolkSongs-1ed, pp. 193-195, "Goodbye Little Bonnie Blue Eyes" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lunsford/Stringfield-30And1FolkSongsFromSouthernMountains, "My Little Bonny Blue Eyes" (1 text, 1 tune)
Owens-TexasFolkSongs-2ed, pp. 99-100, "Goodbye Little Bonnie Blue Eyes" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax/Lomax-OurSingingCountry, p. 148, "Little Bonny" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood-NewLostCityRamblersSongbook, p. 192, "More Pretty Girls Than One" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 142, "Goodbye, Little Bonnie, Goodbye" (1 text)
Roud #11505 and 762?
RECORDINGS:
[Richard] Burnett & [Leonard] Rutherford, "There's More Pretty Girls Than One" (Challenge 423 [as Crockett & Cannon], 1929)
Carolina Tar Heels, "Goodbye My Bonnie, Goodbye" (Victor 21193, 1928, rec. 1927)
The Carter Family, "Bonnie Blue Eyes" (Decca 5304, 1936)
Cranford & Thompson, "Goodbye Little Bonnie" (Supertone 2594, c. 1932)
Woody Guthrie, "More Pretty Gals" (Folk Tunes 150, n.d., prob. mid-1940s)
Ken Marvin, "More Pretty Girls" (Mercury 6366, 1951)
Ozarkers, "There's More Pretty Girls Than One" (OKeh 45573, 1932)
Prairie Ramblers, "There's More Pretty Girls Than One" ((Perfect 6-10-58/Melotone 6-10-58/Conqueror 8713, 1936)
Riley Puckett, "There's More Pretty Girls Than One - Parts 1 & 2" (Decca 5439, 1937)
Ridgel's Fountain Citians, "Little Bonnie" (Vocalion 5389, 1930)
Rutherford & Foster, "There's More Pretty Girls Than One" (prob. Brunswick, 1930; on KMM)
Arthur Smith Trio, "There's More Pretty Girls Than One" Montgomery Ward M-4822/Bluebird B-6322, 1936)
Gordon Tanner, Smokey Joe Miller & Uncle John Patterson, "Goodbye, Little Bonnie, Blue Eyes" (on DownYonder)
Fields Ward and the Grayson County Railsplitters, "Good Bye Little Bonnie" (Gennett, unissued, 1929)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Ten Thousand Miles Away from Home (A Wild and Reckless Hobo; The Railroad Bum) [Laws H2]" (words, tune)
cf. "The Lass of Roch Royal" [Child 76] and its various offshoots (tune)
cf. "Lonesome Road" (words)
cf. "The Wagoner's Lad" (theme)
SAME TUNE:
Dixon Brothers, "Bonnie Blue Eyes - Part 2" (Bluebird B-6691, 1936)
Arthur Smith Trio, "There's More Pretty Girls Than One - Part 2" (Bluebird B-6889/Montgomery Ward M-7155, 1937)
Arthur Smith Trio, "Answer to More Pretty Girls Than One" (Bluebird B-7437/Montgomery Ward M7476, 1938)
Howard Dixon & Frank Gerald (The Rambling Duet), "More Pretty Girls Than One - Part 3" (Bluebird B-7484/Montgomery Ward M-7464, 1938)
NOTES [257 words]: This song and "Danville Girl" [one of the various forms of Laws H2 - RBW] are siblings. - PJS
And the whole family is rather a mess. "More Pretty Girls Than One" is reasonably well-known. The Silber text "Goodby, Little Bonnie, Goodbye" has been found with this tune. Since both are largely floating verses, we decided to lump them.
Randolph's text also has a similar tune, and it shares the basic form of the Silber text, as well as some lyrics:
""Goodbye, little bonnie blue eyes (x2), I'll see you again, But God knows when, Goodbye, little...." "I'm going on the railroad train... 'Cause I love you, God knows I do." "I'm goin' on the ocean blue...." "Lay your hand in mine...."
Brown's two substantial texts ("A" and "B") are similar: Most of the same verses, but no chorus. Note the absence of the "more pretty girls" verse, which originally caused us to classify separately.
After some discussion, Paul Stamler and I decided to lump the lot, even though it's against our general policy, simply because none of the variations are really well-attested enough to be regarded as independent songs. But it should be noted that almost anything can be grafted onto this stalk.
The "Goodbye, Little Bonnie Blue Eyes" family, which includes Shellans-FolkSongsOfTheBlueRidgeMountains's "Hush, Little Bonnie" and Rosenbaum-FolkVisionsAndVoices's "Goodbye, Little Bonnie, Blue Eyes," plus probably Lunsford's "My Little Bonny Blue Eyes," although it's short and somewhat different, is Roud #762. These texts often end with the singer coming back. - RBW
Last updated in version 4.4
File: CSW192

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Subject: RE: Chord Req: More Pretty Girls Than One
From: GUEST,PHJim
Date: 12 May 25 - 06:54 PM

More Pretty Girls Than One - P.D.

* There's [G] more pretty [D7] girls than [G] one [G7]
   [C] More pretty girls than [G] one [G7]
   In [C] any old town that I [G] ramble a[Em]round
   There's [G] more pretty [D7] girls than [G] one. [D7]

Mama talked to me last night
She gave me some good advice
She said "Son you ought to quit this old ramblin' around
And marry you a sweet loving wife."
*
Went down to the railroad line
Just to watch the trains roll by
A train rolled out with the woman I love
I hung down my head and cried.
*
Honey look down that old lonesome road
Hang down your pretty head and cry
'Cause I'm thinking all about them pretty little gals
And hoping that I'll never die
*

I usually play it in A with the capo on the 2nd fret. I first heard it from Buck White, but have heard a lot of folks do it. This may be close to Ramblin' Jack's version

Subject: RE: Origins: More Pretty Girls Than One
From: GUEST,cnd (on vacation)
Date: 13 May 25 - 10:52 AM

Joe, if I don't post by the coming weekend, remind me about this thread in a few days -- I have some at least 4 recordings in my collection I can transcribe. No idea how similar or dissimilar they are to the above offhand.

Subject: RE: Origins: More Pretty Girls Than One
From: cnd
Date: 16 May 25 - 03:16 PM

Of the versions in my collections, three of them are not significantly different from the versions posted above. Another version, by Mike Lawing (Harper Van Hoy Presents: Fiddler's Grove Traditional Fiddle Band Music Volume 11, 1981) was instrumental.

The only version with posting was the version by Arthur Smith & His Dixieliners. This version was recorded in 1937; my recording is from County 547 (1978), Fiddlin Arthur Smith and his Dixieliners Vol. 2. Below is my transcription; there is an original part (link), but I already have the lyrics for this one transcribed, so I'll have to get to that one later.


There's More Pretty Girls Than One, Pt. 2

CHORUS
There's more pretty girls than one
There's more pretty girls than one
Now don't be blue, I'll tell you true
There's more pretty girls than one

I am a rambling man
I've roamed this world around
I've always been a rounder, boys
Since my girl turned me down

CHORUS

The reason that I ramble
I'll tell you if I can
The only girl I ever loved
Left me for another man

CHORUS

Now listen all you rounders
I'll tell you what to do
Don't never marry a purty little girl
Unless you know she's true

CHORUS