Lyr Req: Sweet Sunny South - Carter Family?

Subject: Lyr Req: Carter Family lyrics please
From: folkwaller
Date: 02 Apr 06 - 11:18 AM

Lyrics required for the C.F. song that begins : Take me back to the place that I first saw the light, take me back to the place I call home, where the mocking birds sing-------------------------------

This is all I know. Can anyone help with the title and lyrics and a banjo tuning please.

Thanks

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Carter Family lyrics please
From: BanjoRay
Date: 02 Apr 06 - 11:34 AM

A DT search for Sweet Sunny South will get you there.
Cheers
Ray

Subject: ADD: Sweet Sunny South/The Mountains Of Tennessee
From: GUEST,Fred McCormick
Date: 02 Apr 06 - 11:40 AM

No sooner said than sorted. At any rate, the song you are after seems to be Sweet Sunny South. The words are below. The only trouble is that the Carters never recorded SSS. They did though sing a very similar song called Mountains of Tennessee, so I've included that one as well.

Cheers,

Fred McCormick


SWEET SUNNY SOUTH

Take me back to the place where I first saw the light
To the sweet sunny south take me home
Where the mockingbirds sang me to rest ev'ry night
Oh, why was I tempted to roam

I think with regret of the dear home I left
Of the warm hearts that sheltered me there
Of the wife and the dear ones of whom I'm bereft
For the old place again do I sigh

Take me back to the place where the orange trees grew
To my cot' in the evergreen shade
Where the flow'rs on the river's green margin may blow
And spread their sweet scent o'er the glade

The path to our cottage they say has grown green
And the place is quite lonely around
And I know that the smiles and the forms I have seen
Now lie 'neath the dark mossy ground

Take me back, let me see what is left that I knew
Can it be that the old house is gone?
Dear friends of my childhood indeed must be few
And now I must face death all alone

But yet I'll return to the place of my birth
Where the children have played 'round the door
Where they gathered wild blossoms that grew on the bank
That will echo our footsteps no more

Take me back to the place where my little ones sleep
Poor old massa lies buried close by
O'er the graves of my loved ones I long there to weep
And among them to rest when I die

Take me back to the place where I first saw the light
To The sweet sunny south take me home
Where the mockingbirds sang me to rest ev'ry night
Oh, why was I tempted to roam

---

MOUNTAINS OF TENNESSEE
(as sung by the Carter Family)

Take me back take me back to my old mountain home
Take me back where my heart longs to be
Where we played by the brook in the cool shady nook
In the mountains of Tennessee

In my old mountain home where the wild roses bloom
Is a spot just like heaven to me
Take me back take me back to my old mountain home
In the mountains of Tennessee

Take me back take me back to my old mountain home
Take me back to my old mothers knee
Where the stars shine bright and the birds are free
In the mountains of Tennessee

Round my old mountain home where I used to roam
Their waiting a welcome for me
Take me back to my old log cabin home
In the mountains of Tennessee

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Carter Family lyrics please
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 02 Apr 06 - 02:00 PM

The song and variants are discussed in thread 53767: Sweet Sunny South

The song was first collected by Sharp in 1918 (see the original verses in post by Richie in above thread).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Carter Family lyrics please
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 02 Apr 06 - 02:27 PM

Sweet Sunny South has been recorded by a number of different people with very diferent versions, Basically the same melody, but I have heard it up tempo in major key and more soulful in a minor or modal key.
Quack!
GtD.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Carter Family lyrics please
From: folkwaller
Date: 03 Apr 06 - 03:37 PM

Thanks very much for the responces. Just what I wanted,.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Carter Family lyrics please
From: GUEST,jim
Date: 03 Apr 06 - 03:53 PM

re: banjo tuning

I first decide what key suits my voice and then if it's C or D or E, I use double C tuning gCGcd. If it's G,A or B, I use G tuning gDGbg.

Double C works equally well for minor or major(no thirds), For a G minor, I'll tune the second string to Bb or C.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Carter Family lyrics please
From: cobber
Date: 04 Apr 06 - 03:34 AM

I loved Joan Baez's version