Lyr Req: My Old Stomping Ground (Jimmy Work)

Subject: Lyrics please/My old stomping grounds
From: GUEST,Mike
Date: 18 Dec 03 - 11:08 AM

Hello,

I'm looking for more verses to an old song my father used to sing. We've always called it, My old stomping ground. I'm not sure that's the right title, or who sung it.
Here are the words we do know. Thanks for any help.

Mike

Part of a verse:

Where I used to go to school
by the book of golden rule,
The old hickory tree is still around.

Chorus:
Sure it's a little place in the road,
but it's a big place in my heart,
where memories never let me down.
Every time that I get homesick
I just go back for a while,
here at my old stomping ground.

Subject: RE: Lyrics please/My old stomping grounds
From: Sorcha
Date: 18 Dec 03 - 12:14 PM

No luck at all....somebody else?

Subject: RE: Not much help
From: masato sakurai
Date: 19 Dec 03 - 12:47 PM

I consulted several indexes, including The Song Index of the Enoch Pratt Free Library (which contains about 160,000 entries); Song Finder: A Title Index to 32,000 Popular Songs in Collections, 1854-1992 (Greenwood); Folk Song Index (Garland; 49,399 songs are listed); and The Great Song Thesaurus (Oxford; 40,000 songs are selected), but to no avail.

~Masato

Subject: RE: Lyr req: My old stomping grounds
From: Joe Offer
Date: 19 Dec 03 - 02:06 PM

I had no luck at these sites:

• Library of Congress - American Memory Collection
• Levy Sheet Music collection
• Plymouth Song Index
• UTK Songwizard

There are some "Stomping Ground" listings at Harry Fox Agency's http://www.songfile.com, but they don't appear to be what you're looking for. I also had no luck with a Mudcat search, or a Google Search.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr req: My old stomping grounds
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 19 Dec 03 - 10:18 PM

I'm not sure this is what you want, but--

Stride-pianist Willie 'The Lion' Smith (1897-1973) and His Cubs recorded a song called THE OLD STAMPING GROUND in 1937. Authorship is credited to "Bishop/Lafreniere/Smith." You can hear a 1-minute sound sample at Barnes & Noble, but it's all instrumental.

Artie Shaw and His Orchestra also recorded it. You can hear a 1-minute sound sample that is mostly instrumental at cut #16 on this page. The vocal begins 6 seconds before the end of the sample:

"For I'm goin', an' I'm tellin' ev'ryone...."

Subject: RE: Lyr req: My old stomping grounds
From: open mike
Date: 19 Dec 03 - 11:15 PM

Mike, you got Sorcha, masato and Joe on your team!
you could not ask for a more resourceful group of
researchers....the mud cats usually are able to
give answers....so hang in there and hope for the
best! Did you see the message from Marcus looking
for an obscure song that he was named after? The
answer came from around the world...you have tapped
into an amazing group of music lovers, and please
be patient! Random acts of musical kindness at work...

Subject: RE: Lyr req: My old stomping grounds
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 19 Dec 03 - 11:31 PM

This is undoubtedly the song you want:

Jimmy Work wrote and recorded MY OLD STOMPING GROUND. It's on the 1994 Bear Family 2-CD set 15651, "Making Believe." It's apparently out of print, but you can hear a sound sample at Barnes & Noble:

...It's a little place in the road,
But it's a big place in my heart
Where memories never let me down.
Ev'ry time I get homesick, I go back....

AMG - All Music Guide has a lot of biographical information about Jimmy Work.

Subject: RE: Lyr req: My old stomping grounds
From: Joe Offer
Date: 20 Dec 03 - 03:15 AM

Bingo!!! That was great find, Jim.

The album may not be in stock at Barnes & Noble, but the Website of Bear Family Records says it's still available from them. If you're in the US, you can probably get it from Dick Greenhaus at Camsco Music, 800-548-3655.

-Joe Offer-

Subject: ADD: When Buck Bradshaw Turned Back
From: GUEST,JTT
Date: 20 Dec 03 - 02:58 PM

Don't be talking; I've been hunting for ages for a rather camp version of Queen of Connemara, with a man with a d-e-e-e-p bass voice and a sweet-voiced soprano singing verse and verse.

Maddening thing is that I had it on a CD at one stage - maybe one of John Beag's? Who knows. I'll probably go to my death raving, never having found it.

I looked for lyric "stamping ground", rather than "stomping grounds", in Google (singular because it would find both singular and plural; lower case because it would find lower and upper case, stamping ground in quotes because it would find the phrase, lyric not in quotes so it would find the word *and* the phrase, stamping rather than stomping because I figured others would have googled stomping.

Limited success. There's a CD by someone called Rod Clements; you might want to follow this up in case it's the song you're after. Found a Runrig song with a Gaedhlig chorus that obviously wasn't it. Found an Elvis Costello track that wasn't it.

The references to hickory trees and other exotica make this sound like a bluegrass song; have you tried searching known perpetrators?

Tried again with "stompin' ground", and there appears to be a band called that. Rory Gallagher has a track on one of his CDs, Blueprint, called Stompin' Ground; you could try and see if this is your song.

A band called Blackwater has a song called that on the CD Anything Goes, but it's a song about honky-tonks and bad behaviour, not kindly recollection and hickory trees.

The Warumpi band also has a track, but it's called after the Stompem Ground festival, I think in Australia.

Michelle Malone has a whole album called Stompin' Ground.

Steve Wood has a track called "You're" "Old Stompin' Ground".

Here's a nice one - I know it's not your one, but I like it:

WHEN BUCK BRADSHAW TURNED BACK

They all sold out, the Bradshaw clan
And started for to go
Out to that far and distant land
The state of Idaho.

Their loaded trucks soon passed from
 view,
Along the Beaver Trail,
But as he watched the jolly crew,
Buck's speed was seen to fail.

For dogwood blooms were flowing
There by the water's blue.
"The suckers are a-shoalin',
I don't know what to do."

"I know Aunt Sue writes nice and fine
Of work an' jobs an' sich.
I know that Pop is all puffed up,
An' says we'll all get rich.

"But Aunt Sue was always that-a-way
No matter what she'd see.
She'd tell it bigger and finer
Than it could ever be.

"I want to grab some suckers,
An' hunt a good bee tree,
For this talk of jobs in Idyho,
Ain't just a-suitin' me.

"Hear that old fox squirrel barkin'?
Say, Wanda, let's go back.
Seems like I've felt all morning,
We was taking the wrong track.

"We'll raise our corn and sorghum,
And lots of other stuff,
For Brown will sell me back my mules,
Or he'll get treated rough."

Buck shifted gears and balked and swore,
Till he got turned around.
And then he hit the back-track trail
For his old "stompin-ground."

The keeper of the village store
Said he thought that he would drop
When Buck's old truck came thundering in
And skidded to a stop.

In haste Buck bought some grab-hooks,
And said with sheepish grin,
"Let'em go on to Idyho
I can live without my kin."

And this same merchant told me
Not so very long ago
Buck had shipped a bail of goods
To his folks in Idaho.
MARY ELIZABETH MAHNKEY
http://thelibrary.springfield.missouri.org/lochist/periodicals/bittersweet/su83a.htm

I don't know if any of this is any good to you. But if you hear Queen of Connemara passing by - the bass-with-soprano version - don't forget to post.

Subject: RE: Not much help
From: GUEST,sluefoot sue
Date: 20 Dec 03 - 03:03 PM

guess who?

Subject: RE: Lyr req: My old stomping grounds
From: Amos
Date: 20 Dec 03 - 03:52 PM

Great song, JTT!


A

Subject: Lyr Add: CARLENE (Phil Vassar)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 20 Dec 03 - 06:04 PM

Could it be-

CARLENE
Phil Vassar

I was lousy at math, failed historian
Carlene was the valedictorian
I was the quarterback in the back of classes
She was the whiz kid in horned rim glasses.

It's been a long time since I've been around
Since I stepped foot on my old stomping ground
I ended up by the old school yard
When this red head pulled up in a blue sports car
She said "I bet you don't remember, I guess it's been forever."
It took a second to put it all together and I said:

Ooh la la la la la
Looking good Carlene
Woh my my my my my
Times been good to you
If you know what I mean
Girl you glitter like Hollywood
Good god Carlene
You sure looking good.

She said hop in let's go for a spin
Tell me whatcha been doing boy and where you been
I said I write songs, you probably didn't know,
But I finally got a couple out on country radio
She said," What a switch, ain't life funny, I've got a Ph.D,
Now I'm modeling for money."
Imagine little Miss 4.0 just smiling for the camera on the cover of Vogue
I said you've come a long way since graduation
Let me say without hesitation
You've surpassed everyone's expectations

Ooh la la la la la -etc.

I said I hope to see you again someday
She said another ten years is too long to wait
Pick me up at my Momma's at eight!

And I said,

Ooh la la la la la
Looking good Carlene
Woh my my my my my
Times been good to you
If you know what I mean
(repeat this chorus three times)

from Cowboy Lyrics.com:
Carlene

Subject: RE: Lyr req: My old stomping grounds
From: Sorcha
Date: 20 Dec 03 - 06:08 PM

After his whining thread, now I really wonder what happened to good ole Mike.....

Subject: Thanks all
From: GUEST,Mike
Date: 20 Dec 03 - 10:18 PM

Thanks everyone for your efforts. Also, sorry for the whining!

Jim Dixon, you have found the right song. I never even heard of Jimmy Work. I'll get my hands on that Bear Family Cd.

Our family has been singing this beautiful song (minimum words mind you) for 30 years, and every time we've preformed it, folks say they have never heard it. Dad used to like that old country music of the 30s and 40s, and though we got him into bluegrass, our music always retained that old sound.

Again, Thanks.
Mike

Subject: RE: Thanks all
From: Sorcha
Date: 20 Dec 03 - 11:47 PM

Yer plumb bob welcome, Mike! We do always try to get our 'man'!

Subject: Lyr Req: My Old Stomping Grounds
From: GUEST,Mike
Date: 01 Jul 10 - 09:51 AM

Hello,

   We are preforming at a family music festival we put on each 4th of July, and would like to play an old song we used to sing with our father. I can only remember a few lines and the chorus, but hopefully, it might be enough. Thanks for your time...

Old Stomping Grounds



Chorus

Yes it's a little place in the road, but a big place in my heart,
where memories never let me down,
Every time that I get homesick, I go back for awhile,
Here at my old stomping grounds.


[e-mail]

.

Subject: Lyr Add: MY OLD STOMPING GROUND (Jimmy Work)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 09 Jul 10 - 08:24 PM

This song is now available at YouTube. Here is my transcription. Note there is still a gap where I found it unintelligible:


MY OLD STOMPING GROUND
Jimmy Work, 1956

1. The old cedar tree, Dad cut it down.
Things look differ'nt somehow.
The old barn is leanin' strong but still it's hangin' on.
Still it's my old stompin' ground.

CHORUS: It's a little place in the road, but it's a big place in my heart,
Where memories never let me down.
Ev'ry time I get homesick, I go back for a while.
Still it's my old stompin' ground.

2. Where I used to go to school stands a field of open view.
The old hick'ry tree, it's still around.
My mother's smile is still the same. ... in the spring.
Still it's my old stompin' ground. CHORUS

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Old Stomping Ground (Jimmy Work)
From: RangerSteve
Date: 09 Jul 10 - 11:42 PM

Jim, I think it's "daffodils bloom in the spring".
Actually, I'm not sure about the "daffodils". It's some kind of flower, and it's definately blooming in the spring. If I didn't have a broken leg right now, I'd go looking for the record, but the more I think of it, the more I'm sure it's "daffodils'.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Old Stomping Ground (Jimmy Work)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 10 Jul 10 - 05:27 PM

RangerSteve: I've listened again, and I agree that it's "daffodils" (pronounced "daffydils").

Also, instead of "Still it's my old stompin' ground" I think he's singing "Still that's my old stompin' ground" (pronounced "'at's").

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Old Stomping Ground (Jimmy Work)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 10 Jul 10 - 05:37 PM

Threads combined and requester Mike Delnero contacted by e-mail. Mike, are you the Mike that posted the original request in 2003?

-Joe Offer, Forum Moderator-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Old Stomping Ground (Jimmy Work)
From: GUEST,Mike
Date: 11 Jul 10 - 07:28 PM

Yes, I'm the same Mike. Been out of town this last few days, and no access to e-mail. I tried to find that old thread, but without luck.

I am appreciative of all your efforts. The CD from Bear Records is still available, and we plan to buy a copy. I love that old country stuff!

Thanks for your interest in helping others.

Mike

Subject: ADD: My Old Stomping Ground (Jimmy Work)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 15 Jul 10 - 04:12 AM

Gene and I have been working on this by phone and e-mail, and we came up with a transcription that's just a bit different. Gene found a better-quality Jimmy work recording, so that's what we've been working from. Here's what we came up with (although he may not agree completely).
-Joe-

MY OLD STOMPING GROUND
Jimmy Work, 1956

1. The old cedar tree, Dad cut it down.
Things look differ'nt somehow.
The old barn is leanin' strong but still it's hangin' on.
Still that's my old stompin' ground.

CHORUS:
It's a little place in the road, but it's a big place in my heart,
Where memories never let me down.
Ev'ry time I get homesick, I go back for a while.
Still that's my old stompin' ground.

2. Where I used to go to school stands a field of open view.
The old hick'ry tree is still around.
My mother's smile is still the same, daffodils bloom in the spring.
Still that's my old stompin' ground.
CHORUS

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Old Stomping Ground (Jimmy Work)
From: GUEST,CarmanShirk
Date: 18 Jan 19 - 01:52 AM

YouTube Jimmy Work

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Old Stomping Ground (Jimmy Work)
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Jan 19 - 03:37 PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVYfNyTw2do&index=2&list=PLZKUXy17fYnm_wNGz3OQqA7xw7KaphOvZ