First, I did NOT hit the submit. It did it by itself. Another ghostly thing just like the self-starting CD player, I think. Someday the machines will take over.

Here is Doc's version. I'll get right to the source version next to determine what differences there may be.

From the notes: Alfred Karnes, a powerful singer from Corbin, eastern Kentucky, made a commercial record of this in the '30s. Doc Watson learnt it off the record. It's a reflection of the vain nostalgia that seems to haunt so many hillbilly singers whose minds turn to a Never-never land of golden childhood, school-house on hilltop, meadow in bloom, bird-song in the willows; a land untroubled by guilt and remorse. Some smile, others weep at such sentimental pieces; but they're all part of the scene.

Childhood Play
as sung by Doc Watson 1967

Could I only find the way back to the yesterdays
To the golden days of my childhood play
My life would be different, my enemies would be friends
My leisures not wasted nor my life so full of sins.

If I could only find the way back to the days of my childhood play

Could I only find those days as they were then
The golden days to live all over again
My paths would not be empty, I'd make a mark in light
My mother so happy and her hair not near so white

If I could only find the way back to the days of my childhood play

Could I only find the days as they were seen
And childish joys not speed away like dreams
The schoolhouse on the hilltop and the meadows all in bloom
The birdsong in the willow and the world not so full of gloom

If I could only find the way back to the days of my childhood play