Submitted by capt cotton on

I have been looking for the lyrics to a tune but don't quite know the title of the song. I thought it was "The Road to Tupelo". Can anyone help me out?

Will

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Tupelo Honey

Tupelo Honey

You can take all the tea in China
Put it in a big brown bag for me
Sail right around the seven oceans
Drop it straight into the deep blue sea
She's as sweet as tupelo honey
She's an angel of the first degree
She's as sweet as tupelo honey
Just like honey from the bee

You can't stop us on the road to freedom
You can't keep us 'cause our eyes can see
Men with insight, men in granite
Knights in armor bent on chivalry
She's as sweet as tupelo honey
She's an angel of the first degree
She's as sweet as tupelo honey
Just like honey from the bee

You can't stop us on the road to freedom
You can't stop us 'cause our eyes can see
Men with insight, men in granite
Knights in armor intent on chivalry
She's as sweet as tupelo honey
She's an angel of the first degree
She's as sweet as tupelo honey
Just like honey from the bee

You know she's alright
You know she's alright with me
She's alright, she's alright (she's an angel)

You can take all the tea in China
Put it in a big brown bag for me
Sail it right around the seven oceans
Drop it smack dab in the middle of the deep blue sea
Because she's as sweet as tupelo honey
She's an angel of the first degree
She's as sweet as tupelo honey
Just like honey from the bee

She's as sweet as tupelo honey
She's an angel of the first degree
She's as sweet as tupelo honey
Just like the honey, baby, from the bee
She's my baby, you know she's alright.....

A posting to the Van mailing list May/96 notes the existence of a "lost verse" to this song, here transcribed from a performance on the Van Morrison in Ireland concert video:

There's a rose pressed inside a bible
That she reads on the balcony
She's sweet in slumber and I've got her number
For the beginning of the century.

Van list member Art Siegel comments in Nov/97 that "I don't think the rose in the bible is a true 'lost verse', but rather one that Van added to his live performances years after the original. There is, though, a true 'lost verse' which is in the original sheet music:"

I'll tell a tale of old Manhattan
Adirondack bus to go
Standing waiting on my number
And my number's gonna show.

The Dusty Springfield cover version on The Van Morrison Songbook CD has a variant of this:

I heard a tale of old Manhattan
I've never been there but I want to go
Standing waiting on my number
And my number's gonna show.

Pvt/Lt Craig Young
3rd Maine, company A
"I ain't as good as I once was. But I'm as good once as I ever was. I used to be Hell on wheels Back when I was younger man. Now my body says 'You can't do this boy'
But my pride says 'Oh, yes you can."

Pvt Craig Young ./. Dum tempus habemus, operemur bonum While we have the time, let us do good 3rd Maine, Dirigo Base Ball Club, & 3rd Maine Tobogganeers

I don't think this is it!

The tune I am looking for is a Civil War tune. I remember the old 3rd Maine Boys (Deering, Farrington, Worthing, ect) use to sing it now and again.

It is almost a mistral type of song in the same group as the Arkansas Traveller. The only parts I seem to remember is parts to the chrous. I play it on the fife quite often though.

blank blank said Hee Hee,
and the blank blank said Ho Ho.
Blank Blank Blank Blank Blank Blank
Blank Blank Blank Blank.
on the road to Tupelo.

Blank words probably won't cut it!lol

Will

"Jordan Is a Hard Road to Trabel"

"Jordan Is a Hard Road to Trabel" (1853)
Composed by OLD DAN EMMET.
[Daniel Decatur Emmett]

[Source: pages 90-91 of
"Minstrel Songs, Old and New" (1883)]

1.
I just arrived in town, for to pass de time away,
And I settled all my bisness accordin',
But I found it so cold when up de street,
Dat I wish'd I was on de oder side ob Jordan.

[CHORUS]
So take off your coat, boys,
And roll up your sleaves,
For Jordan is a hard road to trabel;
So take off your coat, boys,
And roll up your sleaves,
For Jordan is a hard road to trabel I believe.

2.
I look to the East, I look to the West,
And I see, ole Massa a comin',
With four bay horses hitch'd up in front,
To tote his money to de oder side ob Jordan.

(CHORUS)

3.
David and Giliath both had a fight,
A cullud man come up behind 'em,
His hit Goliath on de head wid a bar of soft soap,
And it sounded to de oder side ob Jordan.

(CHORUS)

4.
If I was de legislator ob dese United States,
I'd settle de fish question accordin',
I'd give de British all de bone and de Yankees all de meat,
And stretch de boundary line to de oder side ob Jordan.

(CHORUS)

Pvt/Lt Craig Young
3rd Maine, company A
"I ain't as good as I once was. But I'm as good once as I ever was. I used to be Hell on wheels Back when I was younger man. Now my body says 'You can't do this boy'
But my pride says 'Oh, yes you can."

Pvt Craig Young ./. Dum tempus habemus, operemur bonum While we have the time, let us do good 3rd Maine, Dirigo Base Ball Club, & 3rd Maine Tobogganeers

"Kingdom Coming"

"Kingdom Coming" (26 Sept. 1862)
(The Year of Jubilo)
by Henry Clay Work, 1832-1884
No. 10

1.
Say, darkeys, hab you seen de massa,
Wid de muffstash on his face,
Go long de road some time dis mornin',
Like he gwine to leag de place?
He seen a smoke, way up de ribber,
Whar de Linkum gumboats lay;
He took his hat, an' lef berry sudden,
An' I spec he's run away!

CHORUS
De massa run? ha, ha!
De darkey stay? ho, ho!
It mus' be now de kingdom comin',
An' de year of Jubilo!

2.
He six foot one way, two foot tudder,
An' he weigh tree hundred pound,
His coat so big, he couldn't pay de tailor,
An' it won't go half way round.
He drill so much they call him Cap'an,
An' he get so drefful tann'd,
I spec he try an' fool dem Yankees
For to tink he's contraband.

(CHORUS)

3.
De darkey's feel so lonesome libing
in de loghouse on de lawn,
Dey move dar things to massa's parlor
For to keep it while he's gone.
Dar's wine an' cider in de kitchen,
An' de darkey's dey'll hab some;
I spose dey'll all be cornfiscated
When de Linkum sojers come.

(CHORUS)

4.
De oberseer he make us trouble,
An' he dribe us round a spell;
We lock him up in de smokehouse cellar,
Wid de key trown in de well.
De whip is lost, de han'cuff broken,
But de massa'll hab his pay;
He's ole enough, big enough, ought to known better
Dan to went an' run away.

(CHORUS)

Pvt/Lt Craig Young
3rd Maine, company A
"I ain't as good as I once was. But I'm as good once as I ever was. I used to be Hell on wheels Back when I was younger man. Now my body says 'You can't do this boy'
But my pride says 'Oh, yes you can."

Pvt Craig Young ./. Dum tempus habemus, operemur bonum While we have the time, let us do good 3rd Maine, Dirigo Base Ball Club, & 3rd Maine Tobogganeers

While very interesting,

While very interesting, there is still no mention of Tupelo.Ever think of starting a minstral show up some time?
I guess that might not go over very well with some people...
Seamus

"it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifing......nothing"
MacBeth

PRIMA NOCTA

Kingdom Come

I agree with "hammy" you're thinking of Kingdom Come. Its not Tupelo, it's Year of Jubelo

"Never Apologize, It's a sign of weakness!
Cpt. Nathan Brittles

Pvt. Steve Henry
Co. A, 3rd Maine Volunteer Infantry
"Bath City Greys

illegitimi non carborundum Pvt. Steve Henry Co. A, 3rd Maine Volunteer Infantry "Bath City Greys"

Reb Verson

Thought that was RICHMOND WAS A HARD ROAD TO TRAVEL

"Never Apologize, It's a sign of weakness!
Cpt. Nathan Brittles

Pvt. Steve Henry
Co. A, 3rd Maine Volunteer Infantry
"Bath City Greys

illegitimi non carborundum Pvt. Steve Henry Co. A, 3rd Maine Volunteer Infantry "Bath City Greys"

Richmond is a Hard Road to Travel

"Richmond is a Hard Road to Travel" was a parody of "Jordan is a hard Road to travel".

I believe it was first published in a Southern newspaper as a way to poke fun at the Federal attempts to capture Richmond in 1861 and 62. It was soon a favorite of Federal troops though, as everything in the lyrics was true. I think the lyrics were also changed a little by the Federal troops who sang it.

LYRICS TO RICHMOND IS A HARD ROAD

Would you like to hear my song? I'm afraid it's rather long,
Of the famous "On to Richmond" double trouble;
Of the half a dozen trips and half a dozen slips
And the very latest bursting of the bubble.
'Tis pretty hard to sing and, like a round, round ring,
'Tis a dreadful knotty puzzle to unravel;
Though all the papers swore, when we touched Virginia's shore,
That Richmond was a hard road to travel.

Then pull off your overcoat and roll up your sleeve,
For Richmond is a hard road to travel.
Then pull off your overcoat and roll up your sleeve,
For Richmond is a hard road to travel, I believe.

First McDowell, bold and gay, set forth the shortest way
By Manassas in the pleasant summer weather
But unfortunately ran on a Stonewall (foolish man!)
And had a rocky journey altogether.
And he found it rather hard to ride over Beauregard
And Johnston proved a deuce of a bother.
'Twas clear beyond a doubt that he didn't like the route
And a second time would have to try another.

Then pull off your overcoat and roll up your sleeve,
For Manassas is a hard road to travel.
Manassas gave us fits, and Bull Run made us grieve,
For Richmond is a hard road to travel, I believe.

Next came the Wooly Horse with an overwhelming force
To march down to Richmond by the Valley,
But he couldn't find the road, and his onward movement showed
His campaigning was a mere shilly-shally.
Then Commissary Banks, with his motley foreign ranks
Kicking up a great noise, fuss, and flurry,
Lost the whole of his supplies and with tears in his eyes
From the Stonewall ran away in a hurry.

Then pull off your overcoat and roll up your sleeve,
For the Valley is a hard road to travel.
The Valley wouldn't do, and we all had to leave,
For Richmond is a hard road to travel, I believe.

Then the great Galena came, with her portholes all aflame,
And the Monitor, that famous naval wonder,
But the guns at Drury's Bluff gave them speedily enough
The loudest sort of reg'lar Rebel thunder.
The Galena was astonished and the Monitor admonished,
Our patent shot and shell were mocked at,
While the dreadful Naugatuck, by the hardest kind of luck,
Was knocked into an ugly cocked hat.

Then pull off your overcoat and roll up your sleeve,
For James River is a hard road to travel.
The gunboats gave up in terror and despair,
For Richmond is a hard road to travel, I declare.

Then McClellan followed soon, both with spade and balloon,
To try the Peninsular approaches,
But one and all agreed that his best rate of speed
Was no faster than the slowest of slow coaches.
Instead of easy ground, at Williamsburg he found
A Longstreet indeed and nothing shorter.
And it put him in the dumps that spades wasn't trumps
And the Hills he couldn't level "as he orter!"

Then pull off your overcoat and roll up your sleeve,
For Longstreet is a hard road to travel.
Lay down the shovel and throw away the spade,
For Richmond is a hard road to travel, I'm afraid.

Then said Lincoln unto Pope, "You can make the trip, I hope."
"I will save the universal Yankee nation!
"To make sure of no defeat, I'll leave no lines of retreat,
"And issue a famous proclamation!"
But that same dreaded Jackson, this fella laid his whacks on
And made him, by compulsion, a seceder.
Pope took rapid flight from Manassas' second fight,
'Twas his very last appearance as a leader.

Then pull off your overcoat and roll up your sleeve,
Stonewall is a hard road to travel.
Pope did his very best but was evidently sold,
For Richmond is a hard road to travel, I am told.

Last of all Burnside, with his pontoon bridges, tried
A road no one had thought of before him,
With two hundred thousand men for the Rebel slaughter pen
And the blessed Union flag waving o'er him.
He met a fire like hell of canister and shell
That mowed down his men with great slaughter.
'Twas a shocking sight to view, that second Waterloo,
And the river ran more with blood than water.

Then pull off your overcoat and roll up your sleeve,
Rappahannock is a hard road to travel.
Burnside got in a trap, which caused him for to grieve,
For Richmond is a hard road to travel, I believe.

We are very much perplexed to know who is the next
To command the new Richmond expedition,
For the capital must blaze, and that in ninety days,
And Jeff and his men be sent to perdition.
We'll take the cursed town, and then we'll burn it down
And plunder and hang each cursed Rebel.
Yet the contraband was right when he told us they would fight:
"Oh, yes, massa, dey will fight like the debil!"

Then pull off your overcoat and roll up your sleeve,
For Richmond is a hard road to travel.
Then pull off your overcoat and roll up your sleeves,
For Richmond is a hard road to travel, I believe.

Bob Firth
Late of the 25th Mass

Bob Firth Late of the 25th Mass