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FORTY YEARS AGO Sung by: W.T. Jernigan Recorded in Batesville, AR 7/12/59 Click here to listen to the original recording I've sat beneath the tree, Upon the schoolhouse playground That sheltered you and me. But none were left to greet me, Tom, And few were left to know Who played with me upon the green, Just forty years ago. The old schoolhouse is altered some, The benches are replaced By new ones very like the same Our jackknives had defaced, But the same old bricks are in the wall, And the bell swings to and fro. It's music just the same, dear Tom; 'Twas forty years ago. Near by the spring, upon an elm, You know I cut your name. Your sweetheart's just beneath it, Tom, And you did mine the same. Some heartless wretch has peeled the bark, 'Twas dying sure but slow, Just as that one whose name you cut Died forty years ago. Some are in the churchyard laid, Some sleep beneath the sea, And none are left of our old class, Excepting you and me, And when our time shall come, Tom, And we are called to go, I hope we'll meet with those we loved, Some forty years ago. Also found in Randolph, Vol. IV, #869. |
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All Songs Recorded by John Quincy Wolf, Jr., unless otherwise noted The John Quincy Wolf Folklore Collection Lyon College, Batesville, Arkansas Back to the Song Index Back to the Wolf Collection Homepage ©Copyright 2002 Lyon College |