goin' back to harlan

there where no cuckoos

no sycamores

we played about the forest floor

underneath the silver maples

the balsams and the sky

we popped the heads off dandelions

assuming roles from nursery rhymes

rested on the riverbank

and grew up by and by

and grew up by and by

frail my heart apart

and play me a little shady grove

ring the bells of rhymney

till they ring inside my head forever

bounce the bow

rock the gallows

for the hangman's reel

and wake the devil from his dream

i'm going back to harlan

i'm going back to harlan

i'm going back to harlan

and if you were willie moore

and i was barbara allen

or fair ellen all sad at the cabin door

a-weepin' and a-pinin'

for love

a-weepin' and a-pinin'

for love