Guest Author - Elizabeth Bissette

My version of John Hardy:

I'm on my hangin' ground,
on my hangin' ground.
I've travelled this wide world 'round.
Now I guess I'm gonna hang around.

Was my last dollar I played.
Pulled my gun when he pulled a straight.
I laid him in his cold, cold grave.
I laid him in his lonley grave.

Guns they don't tell no lies.
No, guns they don't tell no lies.
And I can't help but cry.
I got nothin' left to do but die.

I almost got away.
I hopped on a West-bound train
to where no one knew my name.
The Sherrif got me anyway.

There's a girl glad to see me go.
There's a girl glad to see me go.
Another says she loves me so
she'll follow.
But I don't know where I'll go.

I'm on my hangin' ground.
I'm on my hangin' ground.
I've travelled this wide world 'round.
Now I guess I'm gonna hang around.

My version of Stagger Lee:

Lot of people told you 'bout Stagger Lee.
I think it's time you heard from me.
He was mean and he was hard
You know he met the devil in a Voodo graveyard.

Devil sold him a banjo, sold him a hat
said "Even I can't get you if you wearin' that."
They're gonna call you Stagger Lee from now on too.
'Cause you're gonna run the Stags, baddest pimps in St. Lou.

Yea, he was bad. He'd do you wrong.
He shot his own wife for cookin' eggs too long.
What could you do ‘bout him, do ‘bout that?
Nothin, long as he wore that devil hat.

He had a woman so fine just lookin' made you holler.
Best gambler in town, they called me Stack o' Dollars.
They never lost a game in the underground mine
club run by that fool boy Billy de Lyons.

Stag started losin’ on a cold stormy night.
De Lyons and him, lawd, they had fight.
Billy shot a seven. Stack O'Dollars said she'd pass.
Stag said to him, "You done shot your last."

They each had 'em a 44.
There was Stack O' Dollars lookin' at the door.
Said, "What would we do if that Devil walked in here?”
there's de Lyons' tryin to act like he ain't scared.

Boom! Boom! Boom! With a 44.
De Lyons' dyin' on the floor.

Sherrif was there gamblin', Deputy was too.
Billy said to them, in the last breath he blew,
"Deputy? Sherriff? Why that be?
You arrest everybody but Stagger Lee."

They took their badges,laid them on the shelf.
Said, "If you want to get him, get him yourself.
Wait for him in hell, he ain't gonn a stay in jail.
Devil posted Stagger Lees' ever-lasting bail."

Billy had pretty widow. Once he was in the ground,
It won't too long before old Stag came around.

Took off his big black boots, took off his long black tie,
wouldn't take off his Stetson hat, he won't about to die.
That de Lyons woman, took his hat right off his head;
snuggled up with a gattlin'-gun and shot him dead.

He went down to the Devil, Devil he smiled.
Said "Boy you lost your hat, you gonna fry awhile.
Stuck to you like a shadow, mornin' noon and night,
gonna be de Lyons, moanin' "Took my life, can't take my wife."

My version of House Carpenter

No one was more beautiful
than Jane Reynolds in her youth.
But that's not what she's remembered for
and I tell you, that's the truth.

She once had a secret love
who she promised never to leave.
But she broke her promise
when he went away to sea.

His name was James Harris,
He didn't want to go.
But he didn't get to choose
at least I've been told so.

He stayed away for years and years,
Jane was sure he'd gone for good
or met an untimely death at sea
as she'd always feared he would.

So she married a carpenter
and lived happily, in fact.
Until one night when he went away
and James Harris came back.

He came like a ghost,
whispering, calling low.
Shrounded in night, phantom-like
he stood at her window.

"James Harris is my name," he said,
whom you once swore you loved so true.
And I have traveled for your sake
at least 7 years for you.

Forsake, forsake your carpenter,
him and your children 3.
I will forgive you everything
if you come away with me.

Off together away they went
far from the English shore.
Since that time, Jane Reynolds,
was never seen no more.

"What hills, what hills are up ahead
that shine above the sea?"
"Those are the hills of Heaven ahead
hills you'll never see."

"What hills, what hills, are those,
that are so dark and low?"
"Those are the hills of Hell, my love
where we're about to go go."

She had not sailed on sea three weeks.
I'm sure not sailed on four.
Till she threw herself into the murky sea
and her weeping was heard no more.

My version of The Dreadful Wind and Rain

Two sisters walked by a millers' stream.
O the wind and the rain.
The one behind pushed the other one in.
O the dreadful wind and rain.

She pushed the other then walked alone.
O the wind and the rain.
They both loved the millers' son.
O the dreadful wind and rain.

The miller's son was a fiddler fair,
O the wind and the rain.
He loved the one with the golden hair.
O the dreadful wind and rain.

Sometimes she sank, sometimes she swam.
O the wind and the rain.
He found her in his fathers' dam.
O the dreadful wind and rain.

She floated on down to the millers’ pond.
O the wind and the rain.
Stop the dam there swims a swan!
O the dreadful wind and rain.

The millers’ son ran down the hill.
O the wind and the rain.
Pulled her out of his mill wheel.
O the dreadful wind and rain

The millers' son was a fiddler fair.
O the wind and the rain.
He strung his bow with her golden hair.
O the dreadful wind and rain.

He made a little fiddle of her breastbone,
O the wind and the rain.
Whose sound would melt a heart of stone.
O the dreadful wind and rain.

The only tune that the fiddle would play
was, "O the wind and the rain."
The only tune that the fiddle would play,
was, "O the dreadful wind and rain."

The only tune it would play again,
was, "O the wind and the rain,
for your love she threw me in.
O the dreadful wind and rain."