Clifton Hicks - I've Always Been a Rambler

Banjo Heritage 👉 https://Patreon.com/CliftonHicks
f♯DF♯AD I learned this song from Josh Hayes of Watauga County, North Carolina, who probably learned it from the 1920s recording of Grayson & Whitter. The song was also recorded by Ralph Stanley and Ola Belle Reed, and Kelly Harrell under the title "My Name is John Johanna."

My instrument is a circa 1919 Vega Fairbanks "Regent" banjo with calfskin head, La Bella No. 17 nylon strings, and bridge by Joel Hooks.

I've always been a rambler my fortune's been quite hard
Always loved the women drank whisky and played cards,
My parents treated me kindly they had no boy but me
But I shook hands and parted at the age of twenty-three.

There was a wealthy farmer who lived a neighbor by
He had one only daughter on whom I cast my eye,
She was most tall and handsome so gentle and so fair
There ain't one gal in the wide world with her I could compare.

I asked her if she'd be true to me while I crossed o'er the plain
She said, "It makes no difference if you ever return again,"
She said she would be true 'til the sea burned with fire
So I shook hands and parted with the gal I left behind.

I left old North Carolina up to Marion I did roam
On up to Johnson City, boys, all in the sleet and snow,
Work and money was plentiful and the women treated me kind
But the only object of my heart was the gal I left behind.

I was walking up on George Street all in the public square
The mail was just returning and the post boy met me there,
He handed me a letter that I might understand
The gal I'd left behind me had married some other man.

I read on a few lines further 'til I saw that it was true
My heart was filled with trouble I didn't know what to do,
My heart was filled with trouble trouble on my mind
I'm going to drink and gamble for that gal I left behind.

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