Lyr Req: Red Clay/Sam Shepard/McClatchy songs

24 May 02 - 11:45 PM (#717127)
Subject: Red Clay/Sam Shepherd/McClatchy songs
From: Desert Dancer

Before I sit and transcribe them (and in spite of the fact that that would probably expedite my learning them), anyone got the lyrics handy to "Light Years Away" and "Run Sister Run"? They were written by the Red Clay Ramblers for the Sam Shepherd play, "Lie of the Mind," from the mid-'80s. Debby McClatchy recorded both, Run Sister Run has also been recorded recently by Liza Constable and the Sevens.

~ Becky in Tucson

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25 May 02 - 12:54 AM (#717143)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Red Clay/Sam Shepherd/McClatchy songs
From: Joe Offer

I have the Light Years Away CD, Becky. If you transcribe, I'll be glad to tell you what you did wrong. [grin]
-Joe Offer-

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25 May 02 - 02:19 AM (#717167)
Subject: Lyr Add: RUN SISTER RUN and LIGHT YEARS AWAY
From: Desert Dancer

O.k., I couldn't wait, and it didn't take long to get that off that album, Joe! I had gaps in Run Sister Run, but a comparison with the Sevens' version helped fill them, I think.

RUN SISTER RUN

Arlene lays down at the break in the fence
with her back up against the rail,
sick and sore, can't run no more,
and tears fall hot on the trail.
Old Franklin knows not to make no sound,
he lies there cold until
he pricks up his ears, cuz he hears the hounds
trailing the top of the hill.

She hears them, too, she knows they're coming,
and she pulls herself up with a sob,
"They won't catch me, 'til I get plumb
to the top of Baldy Knob,
I shot that man, I'll shoot myself,
don't care if they'll think I will.
Come on, old dog, let's take to the woods
and the trail to the top of the hill."

Better run sister, run sister run, [run sister run,] to the top of the hill.

Last night I lay in the Devil's bed,
rolled in the Devil's arms.
Such a pretty boy, I lost my head,
I gave him all of my charms.
I held my pistol to his brow,
I laid him cold and still,
and I took his dog from the cold dark swamp
to dawn at the top of the hill.

Better run...

Arlene lays back at the top of the track,
'Look down there, old dog,
where the sun shines bright off a tin roof shack,
down in the shimmering bog,
do you see that devil where we left him lyin,
naked, as we flew
See the pretty boy face with one red eye
between two eyes of blue.

Old Franklin whines and he cuts his eyes
at the girl layin on the bank,
'This one last shot,’ she says, ‘it’s mine,
the devil take you Frank,’
Then she stepped to the cliff, the fog whirls round
the bloodhounds following still.
All they found was one more hound,
on the trail at the top of the hill.

Better run...

LIGHT YEARS AWAY

If I could wake to find you near me, suddenly here, out of the blue,
if I could call and you could hear me, what would I say, Evangeline’

If I could wake to find you sleeping, here in my arms, out of the blue,
if you could take my hand and keep me here right here with you,
Evangeline my sunshine, light of my day, you’re a star in the darkness, light years away.

If I could wake to feel the sunlight fall in my room, out of the blue,
and if the day could break to bring me summer in bloom,
Evangeline, my sunshine, light of my day...

Stealing away in the night, pale and cold, lost in the light of the moon,

If I could wake to feel the sunlight fall in my room, out of the blue,
and if the day could break to bring me summer in bloom, Evangeline...

Both written by the Red Clay Ramblers for Sam Shepherd’s play, ‘Lie of the Mind’ (NYC 1985-1986)

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Corrections made by the inimitable...
-Joe Offer- [grin]

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25 May 02 - 02:31 AM (#717168)
Subject: Add: RUN SISTER RUN
From: wysiwyg

DD, I am posting this (with the subject line changed) to make RUN SISTER RUN easier to find later if someone searches for it here.

~S~

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25 May 02 - 02:33 AM (#717169)
Subject: ADD: LIGHT YEARS AWAY
From: wysiwyg

DD, I am posting this (with the subject line changed) to make LIGHT YEARS AWAY easier to find later if someone searches for it here.

Thanks for posting these. I'm still swooning from the workshop and short set Debby presented last weekend at Folk College in Clarion, PA. WOW!

~S~

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25 May 02 - 04:59 PM (#717321)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Red Clay/Sam Shepherd/McClatchy songs
From: Desert Dancer

Thanks, WYSIWYG, I was thinking of doing something similar. I wish I could get with Debby again sometime (she was at CDSS Pinewoods Folk Music Week in '98). Maybe one year I'll get to the San Francisco Xmas-New Years thing one year.

Oops, just noticed that cutting and pasting from WordPerfect meant untranslatable ' and ". Should be apparent what they are, I guess... :-)

~ Becky

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25 May 02 - 08:57 PM (#717431)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Red Clay/Sam Shepherd/McClatchy songs
From: Stewie

These two were composed by 2 members only of the Ramblers - Jack Herrick and Tommy Thompson.

--Stewie.

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26 May 02 - 07:55 PM (#717729)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Red Clay/Sam Shepherd/McClatchy songs
From: Desert Dancer

Thanks for the fixes, Joe (the real thing!), and for the details on the composers, Stewie.

~ Becky in Tucson

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28 May 02 - 09:23 AM (#718726)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Red Clay/Sam Shepherd/McClatchy songs
From: Jim Dixon

The correct spelling of the actor/director/writer's name is SAM SHEPARD.

His web site at Bucknell University is here.

To see his entry at the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) click here. It doesn't list all his plays, though.

For Rykodisk's description of the album "A Lie of the Mind," click here.

Sam Shepard lives with Jessica Lange in Stillwater, MN.

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28 May 02 - 01:19 PM (#718865)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Red Clay/Sam Shepherd/McClatchy songs
From: Desert Dancer

Thanks for the further info, Jim.

I double-checked the spelling with Debby McClatchy's cd notes and copied her error. :-)

~ Becky

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