The Sweet Sunny South
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Lyrics: Traditional
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Music: Traditional
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This was played a few times by Jerry with David Grisman in 1990-92 and long before that with the Sleepy Hollow Hog Stompers in 1962. The lyrics for the two versions are almost identical (thanks to Matt Schofield for checking the 1962 version)
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Take me back to the place where I first saw the light
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To the sweet sunny south take me home
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Where the mockingbirds sing me to rest every night
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Oh, why was I tempted to roam?
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I think with regret of the dear home I left
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Of the warm hearts that sheltered me there
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Of wife and of dear ones of whom I'm bereft
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For the old place again do I sigh
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Take me back to the place where the orange trees grow
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To my plot in the evergreen shade
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Where the flowers from the river's green margins did grow (note 1)
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And spread their sweet scent through the glade
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Oh the path to our cottage they say has grown green (note 2)
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And the place is quite lonely around
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I know that the smiles and the forms I have seen
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Now lie in the dark mossy ground
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Take me back, let me see what is left that I knew
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Can it be that the old house is gone?
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Dear friends of my childhood indeed must be few
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And I must face death all alone
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But yet I'll return to the place of my birth
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Where the children have played round the door
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Where they gathered wild blossoms that grow round the path
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They'll echo our footsteps no more
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Take me back to the place where my little ones sleep
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Poor Massa lies buried close by
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By the graves of my loved ones, I long for to weep
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And among them to rest when I die
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Take me back to the place where I first saw the light
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To the sweet sunny south take me home
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Where the mockingbirds sing me to rest every night
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Oh, why was I tempted to roam?
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The Sweet Sunny South
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| Joan Baez |
