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23 May 98 - 09:22 AM (#29053) Subject: Lyrics to From: BFP Looking for lyrics to "I lost all my money but a two dollar bill, two dollar bill, two dollar bill....I'm on my long journey home" or something like this. Many thanks! |
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24 May 98 - 08:24 AM (#29127) Subject: RE: Lyrics to From: Roger Himler BFP, Not many responses, eh? I checked the DT to no avail. I have heard this song. It is imbedded in my breain sufficiently that I would swear that Doc Watson sings this song. It is his voice I hear singing the lines you have provided. Come on Mudcatters, somebody knows this song!!! Roger in Baltimore |
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24 May 98 - 11:53 AM (#29138) Subject: Lyr Add: LONG JOURNEY HOME / TWO-DOLLAR BILL From: Gene Here is a version. There are many different versions! LONG JOURNEY HOME or TWO-DOLLAR BILL Trad: Cloudy in the west and it looks like rain Looks like rain, Lord, it looks like rain Cloudy in the west and it looks like rain I'm on my long journey home. CHORUS: Lost all my money, but a two-dollar bill Two-dollar bill, Lord, a two-dollar bill Lost all my money but a two-dollar bill I'm on my long journey home. Black smoke a-risin' and it surely is a train Surely is a train, Lord, it surely is a train Black smoke a-risin' and it surely is a train I'm on my long journey home. I hear the train a-comin' and I’ll soon be gone Soon be gone, Lord, I’ll soon be gone I hear the train a-comin' and I’ll soon be gone I'm on my long journey home. It's dark and a-rainin' and I wanta go to bed Wanta go to bed, Lord, I wanta go to bed It's dark and a-rainin' and I wanta go to bed I'm on my long journey home. |
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24 May 98 - 02:49 PM (#29146) Subject: RE: Lyrics to From: Nathan Sarvis (nsarvis@iglobal.net) When I start singing this one I almost always end up on "Done Laid Around". The tune and words are very similar and "Done Laid Around" is in the data base. |
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24 May 98 - 08:51 PM (#29179) Subject: RE: Lyrics to From: rich r Roger, you are right. The good Doctor has done it. I will have to hunt for the tape though and see how/if it differs from the post above |
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24 May 98 - 10:43 PM (#29191) Subject: RE: Lyrics to From: BFP Many Thanks to all!!!!!!!! |
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24 May 98 - 11:12 PM (#29194) Subject: Lyr Add: LONG JOURNEY HOME (Doc Watson) From: rich r Here's the version sung by Doc Watson at a concert in Chapel Hill, NC in 1979 Chorus: Lost all my money......(as above)
It's dark and a-raining and I'm gonna go home CHORUS
Black smoke a-rising and it surely is a train CHORUS
I'm homesick and lonesome, feeling awful blue CHORUS
What I find interesting about this song is that the tune bears a strking resemblance to a camp song I learned many years ago, "Do Lord, Oh do Lord, Oh do remember me......." and the same tune is used for another old song called "Dead Heads and Suckers" |
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09 Aug 08 - 02:21 PM (#2409408) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Long Journey Home / Two-Dollar Bill From: GUEST Here's one more verse that I know: Cloudy in the east and it looks like rain, Looks like rain, Lord, looks like rain. Cloudy in the east and it looks like rain, And I'm on my lond journey. It's such a short tune that I sing it as a medly with "The Roving Gambler",which has a somewhat similar melody. Add "Poppa writes to Johnny" to the list of similar melodies.
Thanks. -Joe Offer- |
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09 Aug 08 - 03:18 PM (#2409449) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Long Journey Home / Two-Dollar Bill From: Q (Frank Staplin) Earliest recording listed in the Traditional Ballad Index is by Monroe Brothers, 1936, title "My Long Journey Home." Some lyrics at My Long Journey Home Widespread as 'folk.' |
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09 Aug 08 - 07:19 PM (#2409570) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Long Journey Home / Two-Dollar Bill From: Nigel Parsons Americans, please excuse my ignorance. I understood that the $2 bill was a new note (bill) introduced for the bicentenary (1976), and not generally accepted/welcomed. I wasn't aware of an earlier version to give rise to this song. I would be happy to be corrected, and given an accurate overview. Cheers Nigel |
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09 Aug 08 - 07:37 PM (#2409585) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Long Journey Home / Two-Dollar Bill From: Q (Frank Staplin) The two dollar bill goes back to 1862, when it was first circulated. Printing numbers decreased in the 1950s. It continued to 1966, when its class of notes was discontinued. It was renewed in 1976 as a bicentennial federal reserve note, with different illustrations. Because printing numbers are low, many stories became associated with it. It was considered a 'bad luck' bill by many. The last series printed was in 2006, when demand started to increase. It continues to be a circulating currency denomination. For some reason, never popular with businessmen. |
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09 Aug 08 - 08:19 PM (#2409605) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Long Journey Home / Two-Dollar Bill From: Nigel Parsons Thanks 'Q' "What part of 'Omniscient' don't you understand?" Cheers Nigel |
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09 Aug 08 - 08:33 PM (#2409610) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Long Journey Home / Two-Dollar Bill From: Q (Frank Staplin) The part that is not in Wikipedia, where I got the information. Forgot to credit. |
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10 Aug 08 - 02:44 PM (#2409974) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Long Journey Home / Two-Dollar Bill From: GUEST,iancarterb I am saved hunting for the lineage of the Monroe recording by Q. On the small circulation of the two dollar bill: I (only) get $2 bills regularly on the Canadian side of the Black Ball line ticket window in Victoria BC. The last ship of the Black Ball Line is the ferry Coho, Port Angeles WA to Victoria BC. Two dollar bill is exact change (plus 4 bits) for a return ticket to the US side when visitors present $15 in US funds for the fare. I guess the Black Ball people like to halve the weight and volume of the money from the bank for the cashiers.:) Carter |
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10 Aug 08 - 02:51 PM (#2409979) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Long Journey Home / Two-Dollar Bill From: Q (Frank Staplin) Many people keep a two-dollar bill received in change and talk about it, so it is also good advertising that costs them nothing. |
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11 Aug 08 - 06:31 AM (#2410385) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Long Journey Home / Two-Dollar Bill From: Lin in Kansas I think a possible reason for the unpopularity of the two dollar bill is that it is way too easy to spend it as a one dollar bill. At least I've done that! Lin |
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11 Aug 08 - 08:34 PM (#2411104) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Long Journey Home / Two-Dollar Bill From: Richie As I remember the song is from the Yonder Comes the High Sherriff songs that can be traced to the 1800s. Anyone have more info? Richie |
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11 Aug 08 - 09:02 PM (#2411117) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Long Journey Home / Two-Dollar Bill From: Joe_F I have heard tell that in port towns, when respectable people complained overmuch about the rowdy ways of sailors, the Navy would respond by paying the sailors, one time, entirely in $2 bills. The local economy would be flooded with them, reminding the locals which side their bread was buttered on. |
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11 Aug 08 - 09:38 PM (#2411138) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Long Journey Home / Two-Dollar Bill From: Q (Frank Staplin) Verse form of Yonder Comes... is similar. The verses do have the flavor of 1890-1920 about them, but haven't found anything of that date. A company sold a lot of shirts for $2, and used a two-dollar bill imitation as an adv. in 1875, but there is no connection. |
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11 Aug 08 - 09:55 PM (#2411150) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Long Journey Home / Two-Dollar Bill From: Richie Q, I think Meade has it back to the 1800s. Don't have the book in front of me. The other version I used to play is "Deadheads and Suckers" which as I remember dates back to the 1920s by the Ward family. I had a different version titled High Sheriff but I can't find it. Richie |
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20 Aug 11 - 11:37 AM (#3209943) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Long Journey Home / Two-Dollar Bill From: GUEST,JB A two dollar bill was how much both a bottle of whiskey and a session with a prostitute cost, therefore, it was the currency of dirty rounders who found themselves caught in a vicious cycle of vices, leaving the lonely, cut off from a happy family life and seeking relief from their homesickness in booze and fast women. Fits the theme of the song. |
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21 Aug 11 - 06:49 PM (#3210576) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Long Journey Home / Two-Dollar Bill From: Jim Dixon In my youth, I was told that $2 was the minimum bet at a racetrack, so gamblers tended to carry a lot of $2 bills. Gamblers were regarded as lowlifes, so if someone saw that you had a $2 bill, they'd tease you by saying, "Aha! I see you've been to the racetrack again." Even if it's true that a minimum bet was $2, I seriously doubt that gamblers preferred to place bets with a $2 bill rather than two ones, or that there were more $2 bills in circulation at a racetrack than anywhere else. But that was the folklore, and if you didn't want to be stigmatized as a gambler, or were just tired of the jokes, you'd tend to avoid $2 bills. I don't see why you'd be any more likely to mistake a $2 bill for a one, than to mistake a five or a ten for a one. In fact, it seems you'd be less likely to, because a $2 bill had some red ink, and no other bills did. Unless, of course, you were so poor that you never had any fives or tens. |