|
07 Oct 18 - 01:51 AM (#3955204) Subject: Lyr Req: Yesterday's Blues, Steep Canyon Rangers From: NightWing On Steep Canyon Ranger's 2005 album One Dime at a Time, there's a good drinking song that I'm trying to learn: Yesterday's Blues. HOWEVER, I can't quite make out all the lines. I have everything but three lines: one in the chorus and one each in the 2nd and 3rd verse. You can find the song on YouTube (if you don't have the album) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrgAWUcTTSU. Below you'll find the lyrics I've been able to distinguish. The underscores indicate missing syllables; the times indicate the timestamp in that YouTube video. Any help would be appreciated!!!! In particular, if you know of any other recordings, tell me about them!!! BB, Yesterday's Blues Well the sun's coming up and I'm fading fast. Well, the facts we need ain't in the morning news. Chorus: On top of the world between the dark and the light. [Chorus]
|
|
08 Oct 18 - 01:09 PM (#3955456) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Yesterday's Blues, Steep Canyon Rangers From: leeneia and the night belongs till the sun comes up the hill OR and the nights be long till the sun comes up the hill. (Admittedly that's the wrong dialect.) I can't figure out the second one. And we'll sing this song all night till the rooster crows. |
|
09 Oct 18 - 01:32 PM (#3955700) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Yesterday's Blues, Steep Canyon Rangers From: leeneia Well, NightWind, it looks like nobody can figure out the original words. So why don't we fill in the blanks ourselves so the song can live on? ============== Well the sun's coming up and I'm fading fast. Night's hanging around but it won't last. Street lights are dim, giving way to the dawn An' it's that time of night to be going home. Well, the facts we need ain't in the morning news. If what you believe in, believes in you. While the world's asleep, these dreams are real. And the night goes on till the sun comes up the hill. Chorus: Closing down the night in the morning light. Takes a lot of trouble to make a few things right. Bringing in tomorrow however we choose. Just shaking off yesterday's blues. On top of the world between the dark and the light. It's good to have an old friend here by your side. And yesterday's blues will be the last to go. Then we'll sing a song all night until the roosters crow. ======== This is the folk process. Folks are constantly modifying, improving and patching up old songs. It's more important to keep a song alive than it is to preserve every syllable somebody else wrote, unless the song is a masterwork, which this one is not. This is a bluegrass song. In bluegrass, the songs are mostly an excuse to play stringed instruments. Think of the song as a 2 by 4, and the stringed instruments as the gingerbread (aka carpenter's lace) which is attached to it. |
|
09 Oct 18 - 01:35 PM (#3955701) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Yesterday's Blues, Steep Canyon Rangers From: leeneia In case you are not familiar with gingerbread trim, here is a link to some images: https://www.pinterest.com/mistyymoonlight/gingerbread-trim/?lp=true |
|
09 Oct 18 - 11:01 PM (#3955775) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Yesterday's Blues, Steep Canyon Rangers From: Jim Dixon Here’s what I think I hear: Verse 2 line 4: And the nights are lost till the sun comes over the hill. Chorus line 2: Settle up some old dues, make a few things right. Verse 3 line 4: Then we'll sing the song to the tune that the rooster crows. |
|
11 Oct 18 - 12:24 PM (#3956083) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Yesterday's Blues, Steep Canyon Rangers From: leeneia That's a good guess on the second one. Settle! I thought I heard 'Sales', but that was unlikely. I wonder if the Original Poster will ever come back. |
|
21 Oct 18 - 03:23 AM (#3957639) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Yesterday's Blues, Steep Canyon Rangers From: NightWing The OP has been hanging around for many years, Leenia. He'll always come back ... sooner or later :-D
Jim, I think you've hit it for the Chorus line ...
"Settle up some old dues, make a few things right"
...and for the Verse 4 line ...
"Then we'll sing this song to the tune that the rooster crows."
... At least, that's what I'm gonna sing until I can ask them :-)
I'm not so sure about the Verse 2 line though. I'm thinking that ...
"And the nights are long 'til the sun comes over the hill"
... sounds closer to what they are singing. But I'm still not convinced that the italicized part matches what they're singing. Sooner or later I'll get to hear them sing it or hear another recording and we'll see then. [Actually, I was mildly hoping that someone here might actually KNOW them and be able to ask :-) ]
Meanwhile, now I've got reasonably accurate words to sing.
BB, |
|
21 Oct 18 - 10:37 PM (#3957797) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Yesterday's Blues, Steep Canyon Rangers From: leeneia It's hard to believe. If you've ever heard the half-raucous, half-strangled sound of a rooster's crow, you'd find it hard to believe that anybody would want to sing to its tune. |