Lisa Null's version is from Almeda Riddle in the Ozarks (in the biography of her put out by Roger Abrahams--Abrahams, Roger D.(ed.) / A Singer and Her Songs. Almeda Riddle's Book of Ballads, Louisiana State U. Press, Bk (1970), p 41 [1964-67], and recorded by Granny Riddle on More Ballads and Hymns from the Ozarks, Rounder 0083, LP (1978), trk# 8

A similar version, sung by W.P. Detherow, can be found online in the John Quincy Wolf Collection at
http://www.lyon.edu/wolfcollection/songs/detherowon1236.html

On the banks of the lonely river,
Ten thousand miles away,
I have an aged mother
Whose hair is turning gray.
Then blame me not for weeping--
Oh, blame me not, I say--
For I must see my mother,
Ten thousand miles away.

Chorus: Then I wish I was a little bird
Could fly so far away.
I'd fly to that lonely river,
Ten thousand miles away.

Last night as I lie sleeping,
A vision I did see.
I dreamed that I saw my mother
A-praying there for me.
As years rolls on before me,
I sometimes kneel and pray
For the banks of the lonely river,
Ten thousand miles away.

(Chorus)

Today I got a letter;
It came from my sister dear.
It told me of my mother;
I wish that she was here.
They say that she lies sleeping
In the cold and silent grave
On the banks of the lonely river,
Ten thousand miles away.

Also found in Randolph, Vol. IV, #697, "Ten Thousand Miles Away."