WAY OVER YONDER IN THE MINOR KEY
(Woody Guthrie)

I lived in a place called Okfuskee
And I had a little girl in a holler tree
I said, little girl, it's plain to see,
Ain't nobody that can sing like me
Ain't nobody that can sing like me

She said it's hard for me to see
How one little boy got so ugly
Yes, my little girly, that might be,
But there ain't nobody that can sing like me

Ain't nobody that can sing like me,
Way over yonder in the minor key,
Way over yonder in the minor key,
There ain't nobody that can sing like me

We walked down by the Buckeye Creek
To see the frog eat the goggle eye bee
To hear that west wind whistle to the east,
There ain't nobody that can sing like me

Oh my little girly will you let me see,
Way over yonder where the wind blows free
Nobody can see in our holler tree
And there ain't nobody that can sing like me

Her mama cut a switch from a cherry tree
And laid it on she and me,
It stung lots worse than a hive of bees
But there ain't nobody that can sing like me

Now I have walked a long long ways
And I still look back to my tanglewood days,
I've led lots of girls since then to stray
Sayin, ain't nobody that can sing like me

Words: Woody Guthrie, 1946
Music: Billy Bragg, 1997

from the CD Mermaid Avenue, by Billy Bragg and Wilco


Gee, this is a great little song.
-Joe Offer-