Oh, the people would come from far and away,
They’d dance all night ’till the break of day,
When the caller would holler “Do-si-do,”
You knew Uncle Pen was ready to go.

Late in the evening about sun down,
High on the hill and above the town,
Uncle Pen played the fiddle, lord a how it’d ring,
You could hear it talk, you could hear it sing.

Oh, he played an old piece he called Soldier’s Joy,
And he had one he called Boston Boy,
The greatest of all was Ginny Lyn,
To me that’s where the fiddlin begin.

(chorus)

Oh, I’ll never forget that mournful day,
When Uncle Pen was called away,
They hung up his fiddle, they hung up his bow,
You knew it was time for him to go.

(chorus)

It’s hidden far away but someday I may tell

The tale of metal tangle when into your world I fell

Without you now I wander soaking secretly afraid

‘Cause in your grasp the fears don’t last and some of them have stayed


I wheeled around because I didn’t hear what you had said

And saw you dancing with Elihu up on Leemor’s bed

And I was foggy rather groggy, you helped me to my car

The binding belt enclosing me, a sample in a jar


And on the market stands unfolding with all their willies and their wares

I shuffle by alert but numb to all the glances and the glares

And I think of you unheeding all the times I raise my cup

It’s now I know that you knew that I’d soon end up end up


chorus


You tricked me like the others and now I don’t belong

The simple smiles and good times seem all wrong

Appendages flailing, you’re running at me
Ferocious, tenaciously clawing at me
The devious gelatin holding me fast
Miraculous now you let me move past
Over the wall rushing rivers of sleaze
The tips of stalactites incising my knees
A slipper, a sand dollar day at the shore
Nice evening at home that I dread even more
Would you please
Make clear to me
I’m peering out through your opacity
Though you rehearse
Tomorrow’s verse
Forgive me if I don’t sing in your key
Look back on those days when my life was a haze
The gelatin lay on a truncated sleigh
Copernicus drank from a vessel that stank
The free masons crank to the overflow tank

Bane of the weasel, for biding his fun
Jump on the turnstile and watch me go ’round
Swim with the cactus and float with the stone
I try to convey what you strive to condone

Da da, da da, da-da, da da doo
Da da, da da, da-da, da da doo
Da da, da da, da-da, da da da-da da da da da do

Would you please
Make clear to me
I’m peering out through your opacity
Though you rehearseTomorrow’s verse
Forgive me if I don’t sing in your key

Would you please (In all that dust and stone)
Make clear to me (And when you see me)
Why nothing is the first thing that I see
(???possibly “Don’t Go”)

And if you do (In all that dirt and stone)
And I see you (And when you see me)
Then you will be the nothing left for me
(???possibly “Don’t Go”)