Annotation:Fall on My Knees
X:1 T:Fall on my Knees M:2/4 L:1/8 B:Kuntz - Ragged but Right K:D [D/A/](A/B/)(B/||d>)B d/B/d/A/|B(B B/)B/d|[A>f>]e f/[A/e/]d/A/|B(B B/)B/d| {d/}[d>f>]e [df]d|B>A B/A/B|d d2 d|B>A B>d| [d>f>]e [d/f/]e/f|A/BA/ B/A/B/(B/|d) d2 d|d2||
FALL ON MY KNEES. American, Reel and Song. USA, a local Galax, Va./Mt. Airy, N.C. tune. D Major. ADae tuning (fiddle). AA. The late collector and banjoist Ray Alden (1981) found that around the Round Peak, N.C., area this was known as Fred Cockerham's tune; Tommy Jarrell (Mt. Airy, N.C.) said of him, "He knew a hundred verses." Cockerham's wife, Eva, told Alden that he would "sometimes sit in his big green armchair and play this song for hours." Jarrell remembered the tune "going around" the Round Peak area (where he was raised) around 1915, although, as Richard Nevins points out, it had been known in neighboring Grayson County, Va., for a generation before that, testifying perhaps to the isolation of the mountainous region at the time. Mike Yates (2002) also finds it "is quite a common tune in the Hillsville, Galax, Mt. Airy area." His source, Calvin Cole (recorded in 1979) of Hillsville, Carroll County, Virginia, called it "Lonesome Road" from the first line of the second verse below. "In the Pines" is a related melody.
Well I fall on my knees and I pray to the Lord,
That you will stay by me little girl,
That you will stay by me.
Look up, look down, that long lonesome road,
Hang down your pretty head and cry little girl,
Hang down your head and cry.
Well my suitcase is packed and I'm never comin' back,
Goodbye little woman I'm gone, I'm gone,
Goodbye little woman I'm gone.
I wish to the Lord that I'd never been born,
Or died when I was young little girl,
Or died when I was young.
Then I'd never have kissed your red ruby lips,
Or heard your lying tongue little girl,
Or died when I was young.
You told me one, you told me two,
You told me ten thousand lies little girl,
You told me ten thousand lies.
You've told me more lies than there's stars in the skies,
You'll never get to heaven when you die little girl,
You'll never get to heaven when you die.
Another collected verse goes:
Fall on my knees, and beg you, 'Please
Little girl, can I stay with you?' (x2)
Fred Cockerham sang the following words [County Records 709]:
Fall on my knees, I'll pray to you,
Come and stay with me, with me,
Come and stay with me.
Look up, look down that lonesome road,
Before you travel on, on,
Before you travel on.
The blackest crow that ever flew,
Surely would turn to white, white,
Surely would turn to white.
I wish to the Lord the train you're on,
Were ninety-nine coaches long, long,
Were ninety-nine coaches long.
The engine passed at 8 o'clock,
The last coach went on at nine, nine,
The last coach went on at nine.
Fall on my knees, I'll pray to you,
Come and leave with me, with me,
Come and live with me.
I wish to the Lord I'd never been born,
Or died when I was young, young,
Or died when I were young.
I never will forget your red rosy cheeks,
Or forget your lyin' tongue, tongue,
Or forget your lyin' tongue.
