THE GIRL I LOVED IN SUNNY TENNESSEE
Sung by: Mrs. W.B. Apple
Recorded on 7/20/62

 Click here to listen to the original recording
(Mrs. Apple: "This is called 'The Girl I Loved in Sunny Tennessee." I think I must have learned this when I was about thirteen or fourteen years old, because I can't remember singing it when I was a smaller child, so I guess I learned this one at school.")

On a morning bright and clear,
To my old home I drew near,
Just a village down in sunny Tennessee.
I was speeding on a train
That would bring me back again
To my sweetheart, who was waiting there for me.

It was but a few short years
Since I kissed away her tears,
And I left her at my dear old mother's side,
And each day we've been apart,
She grew dearer to my heart
Than the night she promised she would be my bride.

Chorus: We could hear the darkies singing
As she said farewell to me.
Far across the fields of cotton,
My old homestead I could see.
When the moon rose in its glory,
Then I told life's sweetest story
To the girl I loved in sunny Tennessee.

As the train drew up at last,
Old familiar scenes I passed,
And I kissed my mother at the station door.
Then, as old friends gathered 'round,
Tears on every face I found,
And I missed the one that I'd been longing for.

And I whispered, "Mother, dear,
Where is Mary? She's not here."
All the world seemed lost, and sadness came to me.
For she pointed to a spot
In the churchyard little lot
Where my sweetheart sleeps in sunny Tennessee.

(Chorus)

Also found in Randolph, Vol. IV, #810.

All Songs Recorded by John Quincy Wolf, Jr., unless otherwise noted

The John Quincy Wolf Folklore Collection
Lyon College, Batesville, Arkansas
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