Lyr Req: Nancy Brown / Rollin' Down the Mountain

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The West Virginia Snows
From: alanabit
Date: 13 Jun 07 - 02:13 PM

Aw shucks Amos! Can't yer just be happy with a nice rude song?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The West Virginia Snows
From: Amos
Date: 13 Jun 07 - 10:58 AM

The title of this thread lured me in with the promise of some really beautiful song rich in nostalgia for the West Virgiia snows. Hell, I don't realy know if West Virginia HAS snows, but I am sure my buddy Bobert will straighten me out on that part. But since the actual song is not nostalgic or beautiful, being instead ribald and bawdy, I submit that someone really ought to write a song about the West Virginia snows, if such exist.

A

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The West Virginia Snows
From: alanabit
Date: 13 Jun 07 - 09:57 AM

Thanks very much Bob. That's a hoot. It probably is exactly the song I was seeking. We can probably put down my incorrect song title to a suspect memory!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The West Virginia Snows
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 13 Jun 07 - 07:27 AM

Hi alanabit, coming right up ...

It's "She Came Rolling Down the Mountain," by DeSilva, Brown and Henderson, 1932, supposedly ... But according to the Frank Gullo Music Sheet Collection at Millersville U. it was written by Arthur Lippmann, Manning Sherwin and Harry Richman, 1932. It was popularized by the Aaron Sisters, the Blue Ridge Mountain Girls, and the Callahan Brothers. It was a big college outing club favorite in the 1950s. The note following the song is by Dick Greenhaus.

It's in the DT as:

NANCY BROWN

In the Hills of West Virginia lived a girl named Nancy Brown,
And you never saw such beauty, in country or in town;
Well, one day the village deacon was a-lookin' for a thrill
So he took our little Nancy away up in them hills

cho 1: She came rollin' down the mountain
Rollin' down the mountain,
Rollin' down the mountain mighty soon
And that poor old village deacon
Didn't get what he was seekin'
And she's still as pure as West Virginia moon.

Well, along there came a trapper with his musket and his furs
He took her in the mountains, but she still kept what was hers,

cho 2: She came rollin' down the mountain
Rollin' down the mountain,
Rollin' down the mountain on the sly,
And despite that trapper's urgin'
She remained the local virgin
And she's still as pure as West Virginia sky
(spoken) And that's no lie!

Well the next one was a cowboy, with his guitar and his song
He took her in the mountains, but she still knew right from wrong,

cho 3: She came rollin' down the mountain
Rollin' down the mountain,
Rollin' down the mountain mighty like a lamb,
And like the trapper and the deacon
He didn't get what he was seekin'
And she's still as pure as West Virginia ham.
(spoken) God damn!

Well along there came a slicker with his hundred-dollar bills
And she jumped into his Cadillac, they rode up in the hills,

cho 4: Well she stayed up in the mountains,
Stayed up in the mountains,
Stayed up in the mountains all that night;
She came down next morning, early
More a woman than a girlie
And her daddy kicked that hussy out of sight.
(spoken) Damn right!

Now she's livin' in the city, livin' in the city
Stayin' in the town and doin' well:
She's a-winin', she's a dinin'. On her fanny she's reclinin'
And those West Virginia hills can go to Hell.

Note: learned ca. 1946 on streets of Brooklyn. RG


The original adds one more verse between "Damn right" and "Now she's livin'" --

Well, there came a big depression, and the slicker lost his pants,
First he lost his Cadillac, and then he lost his Nance,

And she came back to the mountain ... mighty sore,
And the cowboy and the deacon got that thing that they were seekin',
And she's known as West Virginia's biggest........used car dealer.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The West Virginia Snows
From: alanabit
Date: 13 Jun 07 - 06:01 AM

Thanks Bob. I think you are obviously right. The version I heard is almost certainly a hybrid of the one you know. Could you post the words if I don't find it in the DT?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The West Virginia Snows
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 06:27 PM

Could it possibly be "Nancy Brown," also known as "Rollin' Down the Mountain? It's in the DT as NANCY BROWN.

It starts

In the hills of West Virginia there's a girl named Nancy Brown ...

Chorus (varies with each verse):
She came rollin' down the mountain, rollin' down the mountain,
Rollin' down the mountain doin' swell ...

and ends

... And those West Virginia Hills can go to hell.

Problem is, of course, it doesn't mention the West Virginia snows. But maybe some other version does. Bob

Subject: Lyr Req: The West Virginia Snows
From: alanabit
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 01:58 PM

I recall hearing this song thirty years ago. It was an amusing, slightly risque´ ballad about a maiden, who repelled a troop of suitors, before a city slicker came and carried her away. It had a repeated line in it, which I think was,"Up in the mountains, the West Virginia Snows." Can anyone give me the words.