The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #133967   Message #3047286
Posted By: Mike Yates
06-Dec-10 - 05:49 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Kimble Family--Pennsylvania Rambler
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Kimble Family--Pennsylvania Rambler
This is related to the Carter Family piece "Don't Forget this Song" (with a bit of "The Silver Dagger" thrown in for good measure). Many of the words, and the tune, are more or less identical. I made this transcription many years ago from one of my recordings of the Family, though some words remain unclear.

1. Now all my young companions
   Where-ever you may be
   And listen to my story
   To shun bad company

2. My home's in Pennsylvania
   Among the pleasant hills
   The memory of my (first light/birthplace?)
   Lies in my memory still

3. I had not loved my fireside
   I did not love my home
   My mind was bent on rambling
   And I was bound to roam

4. I bid adieu to loved ones
   To all I bid farewell
   I landed in Chicago
   In the very depths of hell

5. The there I took to gambling
   I sinned both night and day
   And always in my bosom
   An (angel?) voice would say

6. I courted a fair young lady
   Her name I will not tell
   How could I so disgrace her?
   When I am doomed for hell

7. Was on one moonlight evening
   The stars were shining bright
   The with a silver dagger
   I pierced her tender heart

8.      ??
       ??
   You may forget the singer
   But don't forget the song

I cannot make out the first two lines to verse 8. Line one sounds a bit like "And now the rope's around me", but I am not too certain. The two Carter Family lines ("Now I'm upon my scaffold/My time's not very long"), from "Don't Forget this Song", are clearly not what the Kimble's sang.