MARCHING AROUND THE LEVEE
(ROUND AND ROUND THE LEVEE;
IN AND OUT THE WINDOW)
Sung by: W.P. Detherow
Recorded in Batesville, AR, 6/25/52

Click here to listen to the original recording
(Mr. Detherow: "This is an old one they call 'Marching Around the Levee,' and it's kind of a love scene where the girls choose a boy in, and they kneel and so on, and while they all march around and then when they . . . next time the boy stays in and he chooses a girl in.")

We're marching 'round the levee.
We're marching 'round the levee.
We're marching 'round the levee,
Since we have gained the day.

Go forth and face your lover.
Go forth and face your lover.
Go forth and face your lover,
Since we have gained the day.

I'll kneel because I love you.
I'll kneel because I love you.
I'll kneel because I love you,
Since we have gained the day.

I'll take a sweet kiss and leave you.
I'll take a sweet kiss and leave you.
I'll take a sweet kiss and leave you,
Since we have gained the day.

Boo-hoo, I hate to leave you.
Boo-hoo, I hate to leave you.
Boo-hoo, I hate to leave you,
Since we have gained the day.

(Mr. Detherow: "And they keep a-marching and they give each couple its chance to choose someone in, so everybody will get a kiss if they want it.")

Also found in Randolph, Vol. III, #538, "Round and Round the Levee"; Brown, Vol. III, #76, "In And Out the Window."

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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