I had a photo selected from Flickr for Photography Bay's online magazine/blog for May 23. It is the 12th one down from the top. There is another in the May 16 issue; it is also the 12th down from the top. Photography Bay is my first choice for factual photo gear reviews. The publisher gives pertinent information and I have found no reason not to trust him. Here is a link to the main page.
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Folks, I'm telling you something you can take to the bank; I can sing every word of this tune in my sleep. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the best Bluegrass song ever written and performed:
ROCKY TOP!
ROCKY TOP!
This is one of the State of Tennessee's official songs, but it isn't about Tennessee; it is about East Tennessee and in particular, the people who call these hills their Home.
In my vast music library of 20-odd LP's, six eight-track tapes, around 40 cassette tapes, and three or four cd's, I have this song in its original version, a disco version, a techno version, and yes, in a hip-hop version. I even have a Rocky Top ringtone for my cell phone but I can't use it; no one wants to talk to a man while he is sobbing, and Rocky Top brings tears to these sad old eyes every time I hear it. I have a version played by the University of Tennessee's Pride of the Southland Band. Have you ever heard 100,000 people sing Rocky Top at the top of their voices and all at once? I have and I was singing as loud as any of them.
The Pride of the Southland Marching Band
in its Power T formation as it prepares to welcome
the University of Tennessee Volunteer football squad
onto the field for a Saturday afternoon of mayhem,
Southern style!
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In case you didn't catch all of them in the song, here are the lyrics to Rocky Top which was written by
Boudleaux Bryant and Felice Bryant:
Wish that I was on old Rocky Top
Down in the Tennessee hills
Ain't no smoggy smoke on Rocky Top
Ain't no telephone bills.
Once I had a girl on Rocky Top
Half bear the other half cat
Wild as a mink but sweet as soda pop
I still dream about that.
Rocky Top you'll always be
Home sweet home to me
Good ole Rocky Top, Rocky Top, Tennessee
Rocky Top, Tennessee.
Once two strangers climbed old Rocky Top
Looking for a moonshine still
Strangers ain't come down from Rocky Top
Reckon they never will.
Corn won't grow at all on Rocky Top
Ground's too rocky by far
That's why all the folks on Rocky Top
Get their corn from a jar.
Rocky Top you'll always be
Home sweet home to me
Good ole Rocky Top, Rocky Top, Tennessee
Rocky Top, Tennessee.
I've had years of cramped up city life
Trapped like a duck in a pen
All I know is it's a pity life
Can't be simple again.
Rocky Top you'll always be
Home sweet home to me
Good ole Rocky Top, Rocky Top, Tennessee
Rocky Top, Tennessee.
Rocky Top, Tennessee...
In case you didn't catch all of them in the song, here are the lyrics to Rocky Top which was written by
Boudleaux Bryant and Felice Bryant:
Wish that I was on old Rocky Top
Down in the Tennessee hills
Ain't no smoggy smoke on Rocky Top
Ain't no telephone bills.
Once I had a girl on Rocky Top
Half bear the other half cat
Wild as a mink but sweet as soda pop
I still dream about that.
Rocky Top you'll always be
Home sweet home to me
Good ole Rocky Top, Rocky Top, Tennessee
Rocky Top, Tennessee.
Once two strangers climbed old Rocky Top
Looking for a moonshine still
Strangers ain't come down from Rocky Top
Reckon they never will.
Corn won't grow at all on Rocky Top
Ground's too rocky by far
That's why all the folks on Rocky Top
Get their corn from a jar.
Rocky Top you'll always be
Home sweet home to me
Good ole Rocky Top, Rocky Top, Tennessee
Rocky Top, Tennessee.
I've had years of cramped up city life
Trapped like a duck in a pen
All I know is it's a pity life
Can't be simple again.
Rocky Top you'll always be
Home sweet home to me
Good ole Rocky Top, Rocky Top, Tennessee
Rocky Top, Tennessee.
Rocky Top, Tennessee...
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5 comments:
My God, Ken... you love so much southern style! Rocky Top is wonderful. These men - these singers - are wonderful too. Thanks for the text; this way I could follow it. What a pace! I would like to dance.
Yesterday I watched American movie "O Brother, Where Art Thou?", later I read different on-line descriptions of it and I met such word 'bluegrass', and I wondered what it meant.
O, now I know well what 'bluegrass' means!
I played your video many times, my friend. Thank you ... And the photo of Jolena ... My congrats on it.
And I'm singing it ... :-))
Rocky Top you'll always be
Home sweet home to me
Good ole Rocky Top, Rocky Top, Tennessee
Rocky Top, Tennessee
Ooooooooole!
Bluegrass and country are the music I grew up with and "O Brother Where Art Thou" is a pretty good reflection of how things were during the first 10 years of my life. Those first 10 years have done more to shape my thinking than all the rest of my years put together.
Dance and sing your heart out, young lady; music like that should make people happy. A banjo, a fiddle, and a mandolin are the mainstay instruments of bluegrass, and I also like a hammer dulcimer when the right person plays it.
Thanks, Jola. :-)
There a many good versions of Rocky Top. Hearing 100,000 singing it would be chilling, in a good way.
Congrats on Photography Bay!!!!!!!
If I am able and you are willing, maybe we can catch a game in Knoxville this fall.
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