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03 Sep 06 - 04:45 PM (#1826146) Subject: Origins: COMING OF THE ROADS From: GUEST,MICK FELDER "COMING OF THE ROADS" BY BILLY ED WHEELER HAS ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL AND HAUNTING MELODIES HEARD IN FOLK MUSIC. I'VE EVEN PERFORMED IT ON THE PIANO AT WEDDINGS. BUT I'VE ALWAYS FELT THAT THE LYRICS WERE IN NO WAY COMPARABLE TO THE MELODY. IT SOUNDS AS IF IT WAS A TRADITIONAL TUNE. DOES ANYONE KNOW FOR SURE IF MR. WHEELER WROTE THE MELODY AS WELL AS THE LYRICS. |
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03 Sep 06 - 04:50 PM (#1826148) Subject: RE: Origins: COMING OF THE ROADS From: Effsee no need to shout! |
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03 Sep 06 - 05:18 PM (#1826160) Subject: RE: Origins: COMING OF THE ROADS From: Desert Dancer Sounds composed to me (the range strikes me as too large to have survived processing by the folk), and I've heard it no where else. (Mick, you may be new to internet communication -- all caps is interpreted as shouting; using upper & lower case (or even all lower case) makes text much easier to read, too. But, not everyone types easily...) ~ Becky in Tucson |
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03 Sep 06 - 08:15 PM (#1826261) Subject: RE: Origins: COMING OF THE ROADS From: GUEST,Art Thieme There was a version of this on the Country charts in the early 1960s---by Johnny Darrol, or Derol or Derrol or whatever!?\ Art |
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03 Sep 06 - 08:33 PM (#1826270) Subject: RE: Origins: COMING OF THE ROADS From: Desert Dancer From the horse's mouth: MOUNTAIN MAN: BILLY EDD WHEELER talks to Spencer Leigh (This feature appeared in two parts in Country Music People, July and August 2005.) "...The Coming Of The Roads, a song about the devastation caused by strip mining ... was recorded first by Judy Collins and then by Peter, Paul and Mary." The Judy Collins recording was on her "Fifth Album" (Elektra, 1965), so that was the earliest. Not to say that there weren't more recordings; the quote above is part of a comment that it was Chet Atkins's favorite song of Wheeler's. ~ Becky in Tucson |
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04 Sep 06 - 04:33 PM (#1826850) Subject: RE: Origins: COMING OF THE ROADS From: BB Brenda Wootton recorded it, in the late 60s/early 70s. I agree about the tune: I'm certain that the range would not be found in the tradition. But it is a wonderful song - including the words. Barbara |
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04 Sep 06 - 06:47 PM (#1826987) Subject: RE: Origins: COMING OF THE ROADS From: Big Mick Peter, Paul and Mary also recorded it. |
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04 Sep 06 - 06:58 PM (#1826993) Subject: RE: Origins: COMING OF THE ROADS From: Mr Happy I sing this song quite frequently. Its a hard one to do cos of the range of voice required. So have to do in G sharp. I'm especially comfortable doin' it when our Marilyn's around to sing the 'highs' for me - [cos I gotta admit I have to cheat!!] A great song & wish I cud do it all meself in a key cumfterble for other musos to join in with. |
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05 Sep 06 - 12:38 PM (#1827556) Subject: RE: Origins: Coming of the Roads (Billy Edd Wheeler) From: GUEST,Russ If strip-mining and now mountain-topping don't push any of your buttons then count yourself lucky. |
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05 Sep 06 - 12:46 PM (#1827563) Subject: RE: Origins: Coming of the Roads (Billy Edd Wheele From: Midchuck I always get Billy Ed Wheeler, Billy Joe Shaver, and Billy Clyde Puckett confused in my head. Peter |
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05 Sep 06 - 12:57 PM (#1827573) Subject: RE: Origins: Coming of the Roads (Billy Edd Wheeler) From: Amos That's all right, Peter -- I get you and Cleigh O'Possum mixed up in mine, sometimes. It's an age thng. A |
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17 Jun 11 - 08:40 AM (#3171886) Subject: RE: Origins: Coming of the Roads (Billy Edd Wheeler) From: GUEST,Bill Perry Sorry to get into this discussion so late, but I was just getting this song ready for my son when I found this discussion. Billy Edd Wheeler wrote this song for sweet, elven Judy Collins and her voice range. I used to do it as a set with "Dark As a Dungeon" using an powerful arrangement that finished my voice for the night. The tune and words have haunted my mind off and on for over 40 years, being from NW Pennsylvania mining roots. Wheeler was a poet first and a song writer second. He did well in Nashville, but his heart was always in the Highlands. |
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17 Jun 11 - 09:19 AM (#3171899) Subject: RE: Origins: Coming of the Roads (Billy Edd Wheeler) From: Chris in Portland It's on Kathy Mattea's recent "Coal," produced by Marty Stuart. Bill, what other coal songs might you have done? Any other good ones that have gotten lost over time? Thanks, Chris |
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17 Jun 11 - 11:00 AM (#3171942) Subject: RE: Origins: Coming of the Roads (Billy Edd Wheeler) From: Arkie Anita Carter and Maureen McGovern have also recorded this song. Johnny Darrell also recorded "With Pen in Hand" and the original version of "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town". |
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17 Jun 11 - 06:27 PM (#3172080) Subject: RE: Origins: Coming of the Roads (Billy Edd Wheeler) From: GUEST,Bill Perry For Chris in Portland. There was one other I got from Pogo (aka Tom Paxton)in The Village called "Sully's Pail." It is done "a cappella" and is set in the Idaho mines. It is the best mining "song" I know. I asked a mining song singer up in Scranton, PA about it years ago, but he had never heard of it. Pogo recorded it on one of his albums, but he could never find out who wrote it and has been saving the royalty money in escrow in hopes of find the author. |
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17 Jun 11 - 07:12 PM (#3172098) Subject: RE: Origins: Coming of the Roads (Billy Edd Wheeler) From: Little Robyn There's a thread on Sully's pail here. Deckman named the writer as Dick Gibbons and apparently Tom has paid him royalties. Robyn |
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27 Jan 12 - 06:54 PM (#3297530) Subject: RE: Origins: Coming of the Roads (Billy Edd Wheeler) From: 2581 In addition to Judy Collins, Peter Paul & Mary, Maureen McGovern Kathy Mattea, and Johnny Darrell & Anita Carter - which have all been mentioned in this thread - I have versions by Paddy Reilly, Randy Burns, Priscilla Herdman, Michael Black and the Dubliners. I also have a beautiful YouTube version by Mary Hopkin, but the sound quality is very poor. Does anyone know where I can find another? I have not been able to find the version by Brenda Wooton mentioned herein by "BB"... Does anyone know of any other versions of this wonderful song? Check out this excellent version by Johnny Darrell & Anita Carter: The Coming of the Roads - Johnny Darrell & Anita Carter |
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17 Mar 13 - 02:05 AM (#3491309) Subject: RE: Origins: Coming of the Roads (Billy Edd Wheeler) From: GUEST Jimmy Ibbotson delivers a very powerful rendition of this great song, also. |
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08 Apr 13 - 12:44 PM (#3500518) Subject: Lyr Add: COMING OF THE ROADS (Billy Edd Wheeler) From: Jim Dixon All this talk and no one has posted the lyrics. So here they are: THE COMING OF THE ROADS As sung by Billy Edd Wheeler on "Country Essentials" Oh, now that our mountain is growing With people hungry for wealth, How come it's you that's a-goin' And I'm left alone by myself? Once I had you and the wildwood. Now it's just dusty roads, And I can't help from blamin' your goin' On the comin', the comin' of the roads. Oh, look how they've cut all to pieces Our ancient poplar and oak, And the hillsides are stained with the greases That burned up the heavens with smoke. You used to curse the bold crewmen Who stripped our earth of its ore. Now you've changed and you've gone over to them, And you've learned to love what you hated before. Oh, once I thanked God for my treasure. Now, like rust, it corrodes, And I can't help from blamin' your goin' On the comin', the comin' of the roads. |
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08 Apr 13 - 10:08 PM (#3500736) Subject: RE: Origins: Coming of the Roads (Billy Edd Wheeler) From: GUEST,Gerry Jim, it's in the database, http://www.mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=1309 --- and you left out the four lines beginning "We used to hunt the cool caverns". |
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08 Apr 13 - 11:17 PM (#3500748) Subject: RE: Origins: Coming of the Roads (Billy Edd Wheeler) From: Jim Dixon Actually, I transcribed those lyrics myself from the recording of Billy Edd Wheeler himself, and the lines you refer to are not in that recording. |
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09 Apr 13 - 12:51 AM (#3500761) Subject: RE: Origins: Coming of the Roads (Billy Edd Wheeler) From: GUEST,Gerry Fair enough, Jim - they are in the Judy Collins recording. Funny, she also does a verse of Last Thing On My Mind that's not on Tom Paxton's recording. |
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09 Apr 13 - 02:43 AM (#3500776) Subject: RE: Origins: Coming of the Roads (Billy Edd Wheeler) From: Tattie Bogle It's a song I've always loved, especially the melody, since I got the Judy Collins album way back. I sing it in G, which makes highest note C over an octave above. About the same range as many Burns songs, but then they use melodies that were borrowed from the fiddle repertoire. |
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09 Apr 13 - 10:27 AM (#3500929) Subject: RE: Origins: Coming of the Roads (Billy Edd Wheeler) From: 2581 Does anyone have a mp3 of Jimmy Ibbotson's version of "The Coming of the Roads" that you can e-mail to me? The album on which he sang it is no longer available... |
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09 Nov 17 - 07:28 AM (#3887684) Subject: RE: Origins: Coming of the Roads (Billy Edd Wheeler) From: GUEST I first heard this sung by Brenda Wootton, who had a wide range and now sing it myself. I know it refers originally to strip mining, but I always associate it with Bodmin Moor and Dartmoor and the despoliation caused by the China clay works in both these beautiful and atmospheric places. |
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11 Nov 17 - 08:34 PM (#3888091) Subject: RE: Origins: Coming of the Roads (Billy Edd Wheeler) From: GUEST,Lin My favorite covers of this song are the ones by Judy Collins and by Priscilla Herdman (a fine folk singer from upstate NY) for those of you not familiar with her. I have seen Priscilla Herdman many times over the years when she would tour in California and loved it when she sang this song. |
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13 Nov 17 - 05:13 PM (#3888407) Subject: RE: Origins: Coming of the Roads (Billy Edd Wheeler) From: GUEST,Lin I also really like Mary Hopkin's version which can be found on Youtube. Don't know if it ever got radio play back in the day. Of course Mary was famous for singing, "Those Were the Days." |
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12 Apr 18 - 04:37 PM (#3916912) Subject: RE: Origins: Coming of the Roads (Billy Edd Wheeler) From: GUEST,Crozet VA Does anyone know whether the “roads” referred to in this song are car roads or railroads? Or a particular location / state it was written about? Thanks. |
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12 Apr 18 - 04:56 PM (#3916915) Subject: RE: Origins: Coming of the Roads (Billy Edd Wheeler) From: Joe Offer Billy Edd Wheeler was born in Whitesville, West Virginia, in 1932. He attended Berea College (didn't Mudcat's Catspaw attend there?). I haven't seen any definitive explanation of the song, but I'd suppose it is automobile/truck roads because they are described as "dusty." I think the roads are a symbol for the mining and industrialization that ruined much of the Appalachians. -Joe- |
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12 Apr 18 - 07:44 PM (#3916929) Subject: RE: Origins: Coming of the Roads (Billy Edd Wheeler) From: GUEST,henryp Billy Edd Wheeler: Swannanoa songwriting legend pens memoir, joins tribute concert Carol Rifkin, Special to Scene Published 6:33 a.m. ET March 29, 2018 Updated 6:52 a.m. ET March 29, 2018 His new autobiography, “Hotter Than a Pepper Sprout: A Hillbilly Poet's Journey From Appalachia to Yale to Writing Hits for Elvis, Johnny Cash, and More,” is a funny and poignant chronicle by this ridiculously talented 85-year-old Swannanoa resident who penned songs such as “Jackson” and “Coward of the County.” Wheeler first came to this region from the coal mines of West Virginia to attend high school and junior college at what is now Warren Wilson College. The public is invited to attend a gala book celebration with special guest speakers and regional musicians to toast this Appalachian Renaissance man at 4 p.m. April 7 in Kittredge Theatre on the college campus. “Hotter Than a Pepper Sprout” follows Wheeler’s life from Warren Wilson to Berea College in Kentucky and eventually to Yale, where he studied to become a playwright. His years in New York and Nashville are filled with famous names and lovely anecdotes, like visiting with Johnny Cash and June Carter, or Bob Dylan. |
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13 Apr 18 - 12:10 AM (#3916960) Subject: RE: Origins: Coming of the Roads (Billy Edd Wheeler) From: Joe Offer Thanks, Henry- I'm hoping the book tells the stories of some of some of Wheeler's songs. -Joe- |
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13 Apr 18 - 03:45 AM (#3916973) Subject: RE: Origins: Coming of the Roads (Billy Edd Wheeler) From: GUEST,Jerry I’ve always assumed he meant tarmac metalled roads (all weather) rather than dirt tracks, thereby enabling long distance travel, buses and the like. Parts of the UK are like that now after the ravages of winter, and years of under funded road maintenance. |
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14 Apr 18 - 03:26 AM (#3917178) Subject: RE: Origins: Coming of the Roads (Billy Edd Wheeler) From: GUEST,Felipa I learned this song from a 1960s album by an Irish folk group, either the Ludlows or the Johnstons. Probably the Ludlows singer Margaret O'Brien. |
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12 May 18 - 01:45 PM (#3923929) Subject: RE: Origins: Coming of the Roads (Billy Edd Wheeler) From: GUEST,KeithPatterson Mary Hopkin, mentioned earlier, did a version in Welsh which was released on Y Caneuon Cynnar The early Recordings and called Tyrd yn ol. |