The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #65565   Message #3795364
Posted By: Mottsnave
13-Jun-16 - 01:23 PM
Thread Name: Anti-alcohol, temperance songs
Subject: Lyr Add: I SAW A MAN AT THE CLOSE OF DAY (D Watson
There's "I Saw a Man at the Close of Day" I only know the Doc Watson version:


I SAW A MAN AT THE CLOSE OF DAY
As recorded by Doc Watson on "Original Folkways Recordings of Doc Watson and Clarence Ashley, 1960-1965" (1994)

I saw a man at the close of day
Standing by a grocery door.
His eyes were sunken; [or "sunk an'"?] his lips were parched
And I viewed him o'er and o'er.

His little son stood by his side
And unto him, he said:
"Dear Father, Mother is sick at home
And sister cries for bread."

In about a year I passed thereby
And the crowd stood 'round the door.
When I asked the reason, one's reply
Was: "The drunkard is no more."

Just then a hearse moved slow-lye by,
No wife, no children near.
They had gone before this foul murder
And left this world of care.

Come, all you jolly dram drinkers;
By this, a warning take,
And quit the overflowing bowl
Before it is too late.

[Another album, "Old Timey Concert" (1991) has the following additional verse after verse 2 above:]

He turned around, walked through the door,
Staggered up to the bar,
And unto the landlord said:
"Just give me one glass more."