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E​.​C. Ball , vocal and guitar - The Little Mohee

from Survey of Traditional Music, Vol. 1: From British Tradition by Field Recorders' Collective

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For an in-depth discussion of this track, see the album notes: tinyurl[dot]com/V1NATnotes.

lyrics

As I was out walking down by the seashore,
The waves they were playing, the wind it did roar.
There I sat amusing my self in the grass,
And who did I spy but a young Indian lass.

She came and set by me, and taking my hand,
She said, “You’re a stranger, and in a strange land,
But if you will follow and come go with me,
I’ll teach you the language of the little Mohee.”

The sun was a sinking far over the sea
As I wandered along with my little Mohee.
Together we wandered, together we roamed,
‘Til we came to the cottage that she called her home.

She asked me to marry and offered her hand
Saying, “Father’s a chieftain, and rules this fair land.
My father’s a chieftain, you ruler can be.
I’m his only daughter, my name is Mohee.”

“Oh, no, my dear maiden, that never can be;
I have a dear sweetheart in my own country.
I’m going to leave you, so farewell, my dear.
My ship sails are spreading, and home I will steer.”

The last time I saw her, she knelt on the sand,
And as my boat passed her, she waved me her hand.
“When you get over, with the girl that you love,
Just remember your Mohee in the coconut grove.”

And when I had landed, with my girl on the shore,
Both friends and relations gathered round me once more.
I gazed all around me, not one did I see
That could ever compare with my little Mohee.

And the girl I had trusted proved untrue to me,
So I said “I’ll turn backward and cross the blue sea.”
I took my course backward, away I did flee,
To spend all my days with my little Mohee.

credits

from Survey of Traditional Music, Vol. 1: From British Tradition, released August 7, 2023
Recorded by Bruce Kaplan or Dick Drevo, Rugby, VA, 1972. Previously unissued.

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Field Recorders' Collective

The Field Recorders’ Collective is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and distribution of noncommercial recordings of traditional American music, material that is unavailable to the general public.

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