Subject: ADD: The Hard Way to Peacham
From:
Levana Taylor
Date: 05 Feb 22 - 04:16 AM
THE HARD WAY TO PEACHAM
Written by Larry Kaplan
Recorded on Worth All the Telling (YouTube)
From Lamoille County rails
To the old north logging road,
It's a hard way to Peacham;
Never go it all alone
Where the snow hides the trail,
Where the trees they grow in stone,
And the wind in these hills
Takes the skin from off your bones.
It was a family, most folks tell,
With no settled abode;
They set out that cloudy morning
On that lonely uphill road.
The town's wary now of paupers,
So the papers all did say,
And the work's too thin in winter,
So they sent them on their way.
Where is the shame
In a poor and hungry man,
In the heart of a village
In the soul of this hard land?
Where shall we place the blame,
On a cold and snowy night
When the curtains are all drawn
And the doors are bolted tight?
They made seventeen miles
Past the next little town.
"We must cross through these Green Mountains
To West Barnet's farming ground;
In the spring we will find work there.
Now there's snow up in the sky.
We will ask for one night's shelter
When the little ones cry."
From a light, there in the distance
They could hear the welcome sound
Of the bells from off his horses
As he bedded them both down.
"Sir, will you give us shelter?
The snow's deep on the ground."
"I'll not have any beggars,"
And he slammed the doors all 'round.
Where is the shame...
In the morning light they found them
Half a mile down from his shed,
The torn cloth of their blanket
Churned up by his own sled.
And he swore he thought the crying
Was the wind from off the hills.
All alone here on this mountain,
It's the wind you know too well.
In the town they spoke too little
And the men they cursed the cold.
"It's been one God-awful winter;
Makes the best of us get old."
And the spring that year came early
And the church that year was full;
And the sun shone down so sweetly
Upon that windy hill.
Where is the shame...
X:1
T:The Hard Way to Peacham
C:Larry Kaplan
M:4/4
L:1/4
Q:1/4=120
K:AMaj
"A" z E/2E/2 | "D" F A2 A/2G/2 | "A" F<E z E/2E/2 | "Bm7" F>A A<B |
w:From a light there in the dis-tance They could hear the wel-come
"A" c2 z2 | z2 z c/2e/2 | "Bm7" f>f f e | "A" c<e z d/2c/2 |
w:sound Of the bells from off his hor-ses As he
"Bm7" B<c B A | "C#m" E2 z2 | z2 z c | "Bm7" f f f<e |
w:bed-ded them both down "Sir, would you give us
"C#m7" c<e z d | "Bm7" B>c B>A | "C#m" c2 z2 | z2 "Bm7" z B |
w:shel-ter The snow's deep on the ground" "I'll
A B A<G | "A" F<E z E/2E/2 | "Bm7" F>A A "E" B | B2 z2 ||
w:not have a-ny beg-gars" And he slammed the doors all 'round
"D" z2 f f/2e/2 | "A" c2 z c/2c/2 | "Bm7" B>A A<B | "C#m" c2 z c/2B/2 |
w:Where is the shame In a poor and hun-gry man In the
"Bm7" A A/2G/2 "C#m" F<E | z2 z E/2E/2 | "Bm" F>A "Bm7" A<B | "E" B2 z "D" e |
w:heart of a vil-lage In the soul of this hard land? Where
f f f>e | "A" c2 z c/2c/2 | "Bm7" B>A A<B | "C#m" c2 z c/2B/2 |
w:shall we place the blame On a cold and snow-y night When the
"Bm7" A<B A D | "C#m" E2 z D/2E/2 | "Bm" F>A A<B | "E" B2 z2 | z2 ||
w:cur-tains are all drawn And the doors are bol-ted tight?
Variant, verse 1:
"A" z E/2E/2 | "Bm" F2 A<B | "A" c2 z B/2A/2 | "Bm" B c B<A | "C#m" E2 |
w:From La-moille Coun-ty rails To the old north log-ging road
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When I wrote the ABC for the melody of both this song and the following one I transposed them from E-flat and E to A simply to make the notation fit on the treble staff. Larry, my apologies if I got something wrong, especially the chords since I'm not a guitarist.
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