Your musical education, part four.

Tecumseh Valley
by Townes Van Zandt

A superb version exists out there in the ethernet by Nanci Griffith, ably assisted by another of my favourite singers Arlo Guthrie, it was on YouTube last week but I seem to have lost it, never mind eh, the lyrics are beautiful all on their own...


The name she gave was Caroline
The daughter of a miner
And her ways were free and it seemed to me
The sunshine walked beside her

She come from Spencer across the hill
She said her Pa had sent her
'Cause the coal was low and soon the snow
Would tuwn the skies to winter

Well she said she'd come to look for work
She was not seeking favors
For a dime a day and a place to stay
She'd turn those hands to labor

The times were hard Lord the jobs were few
All through Tecumseh Valley
But she asked around and a job she found
Tending bar for Gypsy Sally

She saved enough to get back home
When spring replaced the winter
But her dreams were denied her Pa had died
The word came down from Spencer

She turned to whorin' out on the streets
With all the lust inside her
It was many a man returned again
To lay himself beside her

Well they found her down beneath the stairs
That led to Gypsy Sally's
In her hand when she died
Was a note that cried
Fare thee well Tecumseh Valley

The name she gave was Caroline
The daughter of a miner
And her ways were free and it seemed to me
The sunshine walked beside her


And just for desserts, this working of Nanci Griffith's "Gulf Coast Highway", lush, just lush.