Lyr Add: Lehigh Valley / The Tramp

Subject: Lyr Add: DOWN IN LEHIGH VALLEY
From: GUEST,Dewey
Date: 04 Jan 02 - 01:19 AM

Here is a Different Version of Lehigh Valley. Completely free of filth. This is a real nice ballad; melody is similar to Little Rosewood Casket. (Sorry don't have a midi card to play available versions to know whether my melody is different or not.

The lyrics are as follows:


DOWN IN LEHIGH VALLEY

Let me sit down a minute, stranger.
I ain't done a thing to you.
Now you needn't start your swearing.
A stone got in my shoe.

Yes, I'm a tramp. what of it?
Some folks say we're no good,
But a tramp has got to live,
Though some say we never should.

It was down in Lehigh Valley
Me and my people grew.
I was the village blacksmith,
Yes, and a good one too.

Me and my daughter Nellie,
Nellie was just sixteen,
And she was the prettiest creature
The valley had ever seen.

Beaus, she had a dozen.
They came from near and far,
But most of them were farmers,
And none of them suited her.

Then along came a stranger,
Young, handsome, straight and tall.
I wish I had him strangled
Right there against that wall.

He was the man for Nellie.
Nellie knew no ilk.
Her father tried to tell her,
But you know how young girls will.

Well, it's the same old story,
Common enough, you'll say.
Lord, he was a smooth-time devil
And he got her to run away.

It was less than a month a-later
That we heard from the poor young thing.
He had gone away and left her
Without a wedding ring.

Back to our home they brought her,
Back to her mother's side,
Filled with a raging fever.
She fell at our feet and died.

Frantic with grief and troubles,
Her mother began to sink,
Dead in less than a fortnight.
Stranger, that's why I took to drink.

So give me a drink, bartender,
And I'll be on my way,
And I'll hunt the runt that stole my girls
If it takes 'til judgment day.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Lehigh Valley
From: GUEST,Dewey
Date: 04 Jan 02 - 01:24 AM

Sorry. I left out the Commas between Nellie Nellie. The name Nellie is written twice as this is how the lyric goes. There are no typing errors (other than the commas)

Dewey

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Lehigh Valley
From: GUEST,Dewey
Date: 04 Jan 02 - 01:28 AM

Opps! there is a mistake. The lyric should read, "Her MOTHER tried to tell her", NOT "Her father tried to tell her." Sorry!

Dewey

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Lehigh Valley
From: Midchuck
Date: 04 Jan 02 - 11:37 AM

I realize the above is the original, and much nicer than the subsequent corruptions.

But I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for:

It was down in the Lehigh Valley, in the Spring of '92, I was pimping in a whorehouse, and a mighty fine one, too!

It's one of the finest lines in folk song, in my opinion!

Peter.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Lehigh Valley
From: GUEST,Dewey
Date: 04 Jan 02 - 06:21 PM

To each his own. I don't like dirty words to songs or dity jokes either for that matter.

I also never did understand WHY people laugh at filth. Its never been funny to me at all, yet so many people seem to think that it is.

I never understood why they laugh. Just like a never understood everyone laughing at the old lady in the "Help, I've fallen and I can't get up" commercial for Medical Alert.

What was so funny about an old lady falling! And about "pimping in a whore house"

Just curious, as I never understood either of these triggers that certain people find so amusing.

Dewey

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Lehigh Valley
From: SharonA
Date: 04 Jan 02 - 06:50 PM

Oooh! A kindred spirit! I don't understand the amusement factor in filth, either. (Now, whaddaya bet that Dewey's either married, or way too young for me, or way too old for me?)

Dewey, does this song refer to the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania (Allentown area) or somewhere else?

Sharon

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Lehigh Valley
From: GUEST,Dewey
Date: 15 Jan 02 - 08:01 PM

Got this song from a gentleman in Maine so most likely it is about the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania. By the way Sharon, I am 32, single, without children and am one of those conservative christian family values types that never bothered dating. I also chose not to drink alcohol.

I could tell you more, but you probably wouldn't believe me anyway (although it is the truth) And, also saying anything more may come across as self-righteous.

Dewey

Subject: Lyr Add: THE TRAMP (1881)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 21 Dec 10 - 03:32 PM

From Gus Williams' Fireside Recitations (New York: De Witt, 1881), page 33:


THE TRAMP.
Anonymous.

Lemme sit down a minute. A stone's got in my shoe.
Don't you commence your cussin'. I ain't done nothin' to you.

Yes, I'm a tramp. What of it? Folks say we ain't no good,
But tramps has to live, I reckon, though folks don't think we should.

Once I was strong and handsome, had plenty of cash and clothes.
That was afore I tippled and gin got into my nose.

Down in the Lehigh Valley me and my people grew.
I was a blacksmith, Cap'n—yes, and a good one, too;

Me and my wife and Nellie. Nellie was just sixteen.
She was the pootiest creeter the Valley had ever seen.

Beaux? Why, she had a dozen, had 'em from near and fur,
But they were mostly farmers—none of 'em suited her.

There was a city stranger—young, handsome, and tall.
Damn him—I wish I had him strangled agin that wall.

He was the man for Nellie—she didn't know no ill.
Mother, she tried to stop it, but you know a young gal's will.

Well, it's the same old story—common enough you'll say.
He was a soft-tongued devil, and got her to run away.

More than a month or after we heard from the poor young thing.
He'd gone away and left her without a wedding ring.

Back to her home we brought her, back to her mother's side,
Filled with a raging fever—she fell at my feet and died.

Frantic with shame and trouble, her mother began to sink,
Dead—in less than a fortnight—that's when I took to drink.

Gimme one glass, Kurnal, and then I'll be on my way.
I'll tramp till I find the scoundrel, if it takes till the Judgment Day.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Lehigh Valley
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 27 Dec 10 - 04:09 PM

Despite Dewey's protestations, I find myself yearning to know the filthy version.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Lehigh Valley
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 27 Dec 10 - 04:59 PM

"The Tramp" should bw added to the heading of this thread.

Digression- Several songs about tramps, unrelated to the one posted by Dixon, with variation by Dewey.

I Am a Tramp, M. A. Mathiot, 1883 (At American Memory).

Only a Tramp, George M. Vickers, 1878 (Levy Sheet Music Collection).

The "Crickets" Tramp Song, or, Remember that a Poor Tramp Has to Live, J. C. Sorg, 1889.

etc.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Lehigh Valley
From: Jack Campin
Date: 27 Dec 10 - 05:08 PM

I can't find it by a direct Mudcat search but it's in a mirror:

http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiLEHIGH.html

The clean version misses a great punchline.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Lehigh Valley
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 27 Dec 10 - 11:17 PM

THE LEHIGH VALLEY, the bawdy version, can be found right here in our own DT.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Lehigh Valley / The Tramp
From: GUEST,JMA
Date: 12 Dec 13 - 06:02 AM

The version sent in by Dixon is the one I remember my father often reciting full-throated, 60 plus years ago, at the dinner table, waiting for dessert to be brought in.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Lehigh Valley / The Tramp
From: GUEST,GaGa
Date: 19 Nov 15 - 09:59 AM

Found this Poem in my Mothers belongings handwritten by her,she just pasted at 102, it was in letters to her from my Father before they were married......knew it was old and wondered where it came from. My Father was in Conn for work before WW2, they were from Maine. He like old time blues thought is was a song. It is the "clean"version.