Camptown Races

By Stephen Foster
Rise Up Singing chapter: America, p.2

Here's today's song. Have a good dooda-day.

C - G - / C - G C // C - F C / - - G C
Oh, the Camptown ladies sing this song, dooda, dooda
The Camptown racetrack's five miles long, oh dooda day
(alternatively, "Oh dee dooda day")

Chorus:
Going to run all night, going to run all day
I bet my money on the bob-tailed nag, somebody bet on the bay

I went down south with my hat caved in, dooda, dooda
I come back north with a pocket full of tin, oh dooda day

Gospel Changes

(Song begins at 2:00)
By Jack Williams
Rise Up Singing chapter: Gospel, p.93

I'm not sure that this totally counts as gospel in the general sense...

Lyrics:
The prodigal son he'd been away a while
He was working his way back home now over many a ragged mile
When he finally crossed the river and his father saw him near
There was a joyful sound for all the world to hear
C G Am - / F G C - / F - C Am / C G C -

Chorus:
I listened to what the Good Book said and it made good sense to me
Talkin' 'bout reaping what you're sowing, people trying to be free
Now we've got new names and faces this time around
Gospel changes, Lord, still going down
C Em F Am / C Em F G / Am F E F / C G C -

Jesus, he did not doubt his gifts
Though he knew that he had not long to live
He took care of the business of teaching us how to fly
Then he bowed his head and laid down to die

Jerusalem, I see you standing high
But if you lose your salvation, there'll be no tears left to cry
Now some men worship a golden calf while others are bought and sold
And if we live like that, brother we pay the toll

Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

(Song begins at 1:43)
By Pete Seeger (with additional verse by Joe Hickerson)
Rise Up Singing chapter: Peace, p.165

In which I talk about summer camp, songleading, "Pebo" Martin, Johnny Cash, and dirgelike songs that could use a little tempo pickup to keep everyone from falling asleep.

C Am F G / / / F C F G C -

With God On Our Side

(Song begins at 1:43)
By Bob Dylan
Rise Up Singing chapter: Peace, p.165
(In G) C Bm - D G - - D / G - - C G - -D
G - - C G - - - / C Bm - D G - - -

If you skipped ahead and missed the dedication, I did this one with Gemma in mind.

Lyrics from bobdylan.com:
Oh my name it is nothin'
My age it means less
The country I come from
Is called the Midwest
I's taught and brought up there
The laws to abide
And that land that I live in
Has God on its side.

Oh the history books tell it
They tell it so well
The cavalries charged
The Indians fell
The cavalries charged
The Indians died
Oh the country was young
With God on its side.

Oh the Spanish-American
War had its day
And the Civil War too
Was soon laid away
And the names of the heroes
I's made to memorize
With guns in their hands
And God on their side.

Oh the First World War, boys
It closed out its fate
The reason for fighting
I never got straight
But I learned to accept it
Accept it with pride
For you don't count the dead
When God's on your side.

When the Second World War
Came to an end
We forgave the Germans
And we were friends
Though they murdered six million
In the ovens they fried
The Germans now too
Have God on their side.

I've learned to hate Russians
All through my whole life
If another war starts
It's them we must fight
To hate them and fear them
To run and to hide
And accept it all bravely
With God on my side.

But now we got weapons
Of the chemical dust
If fire them we're forced to
Then fire them we must
One push of the button
And a shot the world wide
And you never ask questions
When God's on your side.

In a many dark hour
I've been thinkin' about this
That Jesus Christ
Was betrayed by a kiss
But I can't think for you
You'll have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot
Had God on his side.

So now as I'm leavin'
I'm weary as Hell
The confusion I'm feelin'
Ain't no tongue can tell
The words fill my head
And fall to the floor
If God's on our side
He'll stop the next war.

Buffalo Gals

(Chord review starts right away. Song, shortly after)
Traditional US cowboy song, according to R.U.S.
Rise Up Singing chapter: Farm and Prairie, p.49
D - A D / // G D A D (this is the verse/chorus pattern all the way through. Even if I change it in the video, it's because I'm wrong. Go with the pattern.)

As I was walking -down the street(3x)
A pretty young girl I chanced to meet, under the silvery moon

Chorus:
Buffalo gals won't you -come out tonight(3x)
Buffalo gals won't you come out tonight and dance by the light of the moon

I asked her if she'd -stop and talk(3x)
Her feet covered up the whole sidewalk, she was fair to view

I asked her if she'd -be my wife(3x)
Then I'd be happy all my life, if she would marry me

Oh I danced with the dolly with the hole in her stocking
Her feet kept a-rocking, her knees kept a-knocking
Oh I danced with a dolly with a hole in her stocking
And we danced by the light of the moon

(This last verse wins my vote for its abundance of silly rhymes and nonsense.)

Lavender's Blue

Traditional English (first printed in 1680 as "Diddle Diddle")
Rise Up Singing chapter: Dreams and Fantasies, p.29
C - F C / F C Dm G / C - F C / F C G C


Sorry it's upside down. It fit better on the rock that way, and later I realized that I couldn't change it in iMovie. I had assumed that the technology market had progressed enough for that kind of thing to be free in bundled software. I mean, you can do more complicated things in iMovie for free. Mirror images and stuff. Oh well.

John Brown's Body

(Song starts right away, for once)
Traditional American (US)
Rise Up Singing chapter: Freedom, p.61
G - - - / C - G - / - - B7 Em / C D G -

There's a lot of background noise in this one, but it's also a much better taste of Bangkok than any of my other videos. So if you care about where I live, here you go. You're welcome. I hope you can still make out the lyrics.

John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave. Here's a version more extensive than that in Rise Up Singing, although I stay true to the Rise Up Singing lyrics in the video:

Old John Browns body lies moldering in the grave,
While weep the sons of bondage whom he ventured all to save;
But tho he lost his life while struggling for the slave,
His soul is marching on.

John Brown was a hero, undaunted, true and brave,
And Kansas knows his valor when he fought her rights to save;
Now, tho the grass grows green above his grave,
His soul is marching on.

He captured Harpers Ferry, with his nineteen men so few,
And frightened "Old Virginny" till she trembled thru and thru;
They hung him for a traitor, they themselves the traitor crew,
But his soul is marching on.

John Brown was John the Baptist of the Christ we are to see,
Christ who of the bondmen shall the Liberator be,
And soon thruout the Sunny South the slaves shall all be free,
For his soul is marching on.

The conflict that he heralded he looks from heaven to view,
On the army of the Union with its flag red, white and blue.
And heaven shall ring with anthems oer the deed they mean to do,
For his soul is marching on.

Ye soldiers of Freedom, then strike, while strike ye may,
The death blow of oppression in a better time and way,
For the dawn of old John Brown has brightened into day,
And his soul is marching on