At our winter getaway to Vermont this year we found ourselves
in a house with a great book at hand - "101 Famous Poems w/
Prose Supplement" (Roy J. Cook, The Cable Co. Press, 1929).

Inside this marvelous anthology was the following poem by
FRANK L. STANTON (1st Georgia Poet Laureate 1925-27).

Keep a-Goin
Frank L. Stanton

If you strike a thorn or rose,
    Keep a-goin'!
If it hails or if it snows,
    Keep a-goin'!
'Taint no use to sit an' whine
When the fish ain't on your line;
Bait your hook an' keep a-tryin'--
    Keep a-goin'!

When the weather kills your crop,
    Keep a-goin'!
Though 'tis work to reach the top,
    Keep a-goin!
S'pose you're out of every dime,
Gittin broke ain;t no crime;
Tell the world you're feeling prime--
    Keep a-goin'!

When it looks like all is up,
    Keep a-goin'!
Drain the sweetness from the cup,
    Keep a-goin'!
See the wild birds on the wing,
Hear the bells that sweetly ring,
When you feel like sighin', sing--
    Keep a-goin'!


The reason this verse is submitted under LYRICS ADD is that my
wife and I remembered how HENRY GIBSON (aka Haven Hamilton) sung
this tune in the Robert Altman NASHVILLE movie. And we thought
hmm....the actors in that film were supposed to have submitted
original tunes (like Keith Carradine's Oscar-Winning ditty -
"I'M SLEAZY" (oops, "I'M EASY"). So much so originality. Hurray
for the PUBLIC DOMAIN.

Tim Weil
FSGW Ghetto
Silver Spring, MD.