Ain't No Grave
Traditional. Performed by Johnny Cash. Performed by Lonesome Liz.
There ain't no grave gonna hold my body down.
There ain't no grave gonna hold my body down.
When I hear that trumpet sound,
gonna get up out of the ground.
There ain't no grave gonna hold my body down.
Go down yonder Gabriel.
Put your foot on the land and sea.
Gabriel don't you blow your trumpet 'til you hear from me.
There ain't no grave gonna hold my body down.
There ain't no grave gonna hold my body down
WhenI hear that trumpet sound,
gonna get up out of the ground
There ain't no grave gonna hold my body down.
Looked over Jordan, what did I see?
A band of angels coming after me.
There ain't no grave gonna hold my body down.
There ain't no grave gonna hold my body down.
Meet me Jesus, meet me.
Meet me in the middle of the air.
If these wings don't fail me, I will meet you anywhere.
There ain't no grave gonna hold my body down.
There ain't no grave gonna hold my body down.
When I hear that trumpet sound,
gonna get up out of the ground.
There ain't no grave gonna hold my body down.
There ain't no grave gonna hold my body down.
The Wayfairing Stranger
Traditional hymn. Read the original lyrics and the song's history here.
Bill Monroe version.
L.L.:
I am a poor wayfairing stranger,
wandering through this world of woe;
a world of trouble, a world of danger,
nowhere to run, nowhere to go.
Chorus: I am a poor wayfairing stranger,
gone far away from all I know.
I'm only going over Jordan.
I'm only going over home.
My heart's a desert, the sun a shadow,
for all the blaze of brighter fire.
I have seen angels, they're always weeping,
while men on wings try to climb higher.
Chorus
And now dark clouds, they gather 'round me.
And now my waking is a sleep.
The moon is black. The sky is dying,
while silent stars still vigil keep.
Chorus
John Hardy
John Hardy was hung for killing a man afer he'd bet his last dollar and lost in an illegal gambling game held in a mine near Hinton, WVA. Witnesses said he sang a beautiful, haunting song just before he died.
See more songs about John Hardy, including versions by Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead here.
Earl Scruggs and Doc Watson play John Hardy.
I'm on my hanging ground.
I'm on my hanging ground.
I've travelled this wide world 'round.
Now I guess I'm going to hang around.
There's a girl glad to see me go.
There's a girl glad to see me go.
There's another says she loves me so she'll follow.
But I don't know where I'll go
from my hanging ground.
Was my last dollar I'd played.
I pulled my gun when he pulled a straight.
I laid him in his lonley grave.
I laid him in his cold, cold grave.
Guns they don't tell no lies.
No, guns they don't tell no lies.
And I can't help but cry
'cause I'm bound to die.
I'm on my hanging ground.
I almost got away.
I hopeed on a west bound train
to where noone knew my name.
Sheriff got me anyway.
Now I'm on my hanging ground.
I'm on my hanging ground.
I've travelled this wide world 'round.
Now I guess I'll just hang around.
Video by Ron Smith
God's Gonna Cut You Down
Traditional. Performed by Johnny Cash..
You can run on for a long time,
run on for a long time,
run on for a long time,
sooner or later God'll cut you down.
Sooner or later God'll cut you down.
Go and tell that long tounge liar.
Go and tell that midnight rider.
Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter.
Tell 'em that God's gonna cut 'em down.
Tell 'em that God's gonna cut 'em down.
Well, my goodness gracious let me tell you the news.
My head's been wet with the midnight dew.
I've been down on bended knee, talkin' to the man from Galilee.
He spoke to me in the voice so sweet
I thought I heard the shuffle of the angel's feet.
He called my name and my heart stood still
when he said, "Go and do my will."
Go and tell that long tounge liar.
Go and tell that midnight rider.
Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter.
Tell 'em that God's gonna cut them down.
Tell 'em that God's gonna cut them down.
You can run on for a long time,
run on for a long time.
You can run on for a long time.
Sooner or later God'll cut you down.
Sooner or later God'll cut you down.
You can throw your rock, hide your hand,
workin' in the dark against your fellow man.
Sure as God made black and white,
what's done in the dark will be brought to the light.
You can run on for a long time,
run on for a long time.
You can run on for a long time.
Sooner or later God'll cut you down.
Sooner or later God'll cut you down.
Video by Cathy Pippen
Wandering William
By Lonesome Liz. Listen to Wandering William
Uncle William wandered all over the place
till he fell in love. Then he stayed.
A baby on the way, he tried to settle down.
Maybe he didn't know what he wanted,
didn't know by what but knew he was haunted.
Maybe it had t od owith reasons he'd first gone.
Or maybe a wanderin' man just keeps movin' on.
It might have been another life.
It might have been the farm, the baby, the wife.
It might have killed him.
But he needed to be free, oh wandering William.
He stayed on until the baby was born,
I guess he didn't want to leave his wife alone.
He only left on Saturday's to go to the general store.
One day Uncle William walked right out the door.
He never again walked back in anymore.
It might have been another life.
It might have been the farm, the baby, the wife.
It might have killed him.
But he needed to be free, oh wandering William.
Great-Granddaddy came by later on,
he saw the buggy and the mule, saw Uncle William was gone.
He saw the mule needed feeding, so he walked to the tobacco barn.
He found Uncle William left his baby and wife.
What was left of him slumped over a furnace pipe.
A gun in his hand, William wandered on.
I guess a wandrin' man just keeps movin' on.
Rye Whiskey
Traditional. Performed by Lonesome Liz. Related to: Rye Whiskey performed by Dave Matthews.
Jack of diamonds, Jack of diamonds, I know you of old.
You're robbed my poor pockets of silver and gold.
Wiskey eye, whiskey like rye.
And if whiskey don't kill me, I'll live 'till I die.
If the ocean was whiskey and I was a duck,
I'd dive to the bottom and never come up.
But the ocean ain't whiskey and I ain't no duck.
I play Jack of diamonds and I trust too much.
Chorus
I'll drink what I want to, my money's my own.
Them that don't like me can leave me alone.
Whiskey eye, whiskey like rye.
If a tree don't fall on me, I'll live till I die.
Chorus
Stagger Lee
Over 200 versions of this song exist. Read more about the characters in history here.
Lonesome Liz, Stagger Lee. Grateful Dead, Stagger Lee.
A lot of people told you about Stagger Lee,
I think it's time you heard it from me.
He was mean and he was hard.
He met the Devil in a Voodoo graveyard.
Devil sold him a banjo. Devil sold him a hat.
He said even I can't get you if you're wearin' that.
Oh he was bad, he'd do you wrong.
You know he shot his own wife for cookin' eggs too long.
He had him a woman so fine just lookin' made you holler,
best gambler in town, they called her Stack O' Dollars.
They never lost a game in that underground mine
run by that fool boy Billy de Lyons.
'Till they started losin one cold stormy night,
Stag and Billy, Lord they had a fight!
Billy shot a seven. Stack O' Dollars said she'd pass.
Stag said to him, "You done shot your last."
They each had 'em a .44.
Stack O' Dollars was lookin' at the door.
She said, "What would you do if that Devil walked in here?"
De Lyons tried to act like he won't scared.
Then boom! Boom! Boom! Went a .44
then De Lyon's lyin' dyin' on the floor.
The Sheriff was there gamblin'. The Deputy was too.
Billy said to them in the last breath he blew,
"Deputy, Sheriff, why it be
you arrest everybody but old Stagger Lee?"
They took their badges and laid them on a shelf.
They said, "If you want to get him, go get him yourself.
Or go wait for him in hell. He ain't gonna stay in jail.
The Devil's posted Stagger Lee's everlasting bail.
Billy had a pretty widow. Once he was in the ground
it won't too long before old Stag came around.
He took off his black boots, he took off his black tie.
He wouldn't take off that black hat 'cause he won't about to die.
But that De Lyon's woman knocked that hat right off his head.
She snuggled up with a Gatlin gun and shot him dead.
He went down to the Devil and the Devil he smiled.
He said, "Boy, you lost your hat. You're gonna fry a while.
And stuck to you like a shadow, mornin', noon and night
is gonna be De Lyon's cryin', 'Took my life. Won't take my wife.
