This is one of my favourite Billy Bragg songs. He was commissioned to set unpublished Woodie Guthrie lyrics to music, and this is one of his most soulful attempts. The melody and lyrics of the chorus just create such an incredible sense of yearning and timelessness. A song that would make even the most rooted seek to ramble.
^Notice how I'm playing with an invisible pick? Neat, huh?
I've posted the lyrics below. You'll notice that in my version I've merged the first two verses and switched "see" for "be" in the third verse, and theres a few other minor changes. Oh, and I mispronounced his home town. Oh well, that's folk music, people!
Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key
Music by Billy Bragg, words by Woodie Guthrie
I lived in a place called Okfuskee
And I had a little girl in a holler tree
I said, little girl, it's plain to see
Ain't nobody that can sing like me
Ain't nobody that can sing like me
She said it's hard for me to see
How one little boy got so ugly
Yes my little girly that might be
But there ain't nobody that can sing like me
Ain't nobody that can sing like me
Way over yonder in the minor key
Way over yonder in the minor key
There ain't nobody that can sing like me
We walked down by the Buckeye Creek
To see the frog eat the goggle-eye bee
To hear the west wind whistle to the east
There ain't nobody that can sing like me
Ain't nobody that can sing like me
Oh my little girly will you let me see
Way over yonder where the wind blows free
Nobody can see in our holler tree
And there ain't nobody that can sing like me
Ain't nobody that can sing like me
Way over yonder in the minor key
Way over yonder in the minor key
There ain't nobody that can sing like me
Her mama cut a switch from a cherry tree
And laid it on the she and me,
It stung lots worse than a hive of bees
But there ain't nobody that can sing like me
Ain't nobody that can sing like me
Now I have walked a long long ways
And I still look back to my Tanglewood days
I've led lots of girls since then to stray
Saying ain't nobody that can sing like me
Ain't nobody that can sing like me
Way over yonder in the minor key
Way over yonder in the minor key
There ain't nobody that can sing like me
Ain't nobody that can sing like me
My previous covers
Tonight Will Be Fine by Leonard Cohen:
https://steemit.com/openmic/@thebigdelay/open-mic-week-40-my-cover-of-tonight-will-be-fine-by-leonard-cohen
Been Smoking Too Long by Nick Drake:
https://steemit.com/openmic/@thebigdelay/open-mic-week-39-my-cover-of-been-smoking-too-long-by-nick-drake