The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #83635   Message #1539369
Posted By: RangerSteve
10-Aug-05 - 09:09 AM
Thread Name: No regional songs of the northern US ??
Subject: RE: No regional songs of the northern US ??
Sometime ago, someone requested the lyrics for "the Blue Juniata", it still exists as a thread, and may have been added to the DT. The Juniata River is in Pennsylvania.

Then there's this one, which I've had in my repertoire for years, courtesy of Grant Rogers:

Where the Catskills Lift Their Summits to the Sun

'Neath the rugged mountain tops that tower above us,
And beside a mountain streamlet chrystal pure,
Nestled safe, the village of my birth and boyhood,
With its quaint old-fashioned buildings all secure,

There I met the modest little blue-eyed maiden
Who grew to be my sweetheart, faithful one,
We shared together honest country pleasures,
Where the Catskills lift their summits to the sun.

Refrain: The happy days of youth we shared together,
         In the mountain village where our lives begun,
         We feel the joys of love abiding ever,
         Where the Catskills lift their summits to the sun.

We were wed in the evening, joyous springtime,
and we left our native home and wandered far,
To the busy centers where earth's eager toilers,
Strive with main and might for wealth, their guiding star.

But contentment was no for us in the city,
Ever to our native home our thoughts would run,
So back we went unto our own loved country,
Where the Catskills lift their summits to the sun.

Refrain.

(The Catskill Mts. are in the lower part of New York State. Rogers recorded this on a long out of print record for the Kanahwa label.)

Steve