Singers at the Youth Traditional Song conference. Photo by Lorelei Erisis.
Photo by Lorelei Erisis
Country Dance & Song Society > Publications > Listen > Song of the Month

Song of the Month

Join us each month in song!

Since 2016—our designated Year of Song—CDSS has featured a traditional song each month. Lorraine Hammond spearheaded this effort, and it was such a popular feature that Judy Cook volunteered to continue the tradition in 2017 and beyond. 

Note: Many of these old songs should be looked at as “fairy tales for adults” in that they often address very strong, and sometimes scary, subject matter. They allow us to deal with difficult situations and emotions with the distance afforded by putting it in a song. They are cautionary tales, and had their use as such.

This month’s song:

  • Chickens in a field of dry grain September 2024: Waterbound
    Submitted by Judy Cook

    “Waterbound” is a play-party song from Grayson County, Virginia. The earliest known recording was 1929 (unissued recording, Grayson County Railsplitters). It was recorded in 1938 by the Bogtrotters band of neighboring Galax, VA. The Grayson Co. Railsplitters’ recording is essentially identical to the canonical version sung in the folk revival, mostly learned from the Wade Ward/Bogtrotters recording. The recording I’ve chosen is of The New Golden Ring, led by Joe Hickerson, on the 1971 Folk-Legacy recording Five Days Singing – Volume 1.

    I just got back from western North Carolina, where I enjoyed doing the first program in the newly renovated performance space in the 1904 Courtroom for the Ashe County Historical Society—a multi-media hour titled “Songs from These Mountains.” My closing song was “Waterbound.” My 45-year-old niece attended and remembered it well. I remember her standing on a kitchen chair and singing it beautifully when she was two years old.

    Listen to The New Golden Ring singing “Waterbound:”

    Sheet music for "Waterbound"
    Click here to download the sheet music for “Waterbound.”

    Lyrics: Waterbound

    Traditional

    Waterbound and I can’t get home
    Waterbound and I can’t get home
    Waterbound and I can’t get home
    Down in North Carolina

    Chickens crowin’ in the old plowed field
    Chickens crowin’ in the old plowed field
    Chickens crowin’ in the old plowed field
    Down in North Carolina

    Me and Tom and Dave goin’ home
    Me and Tom and Dave goin’ home
    Me and Tom and Dave goin’ home
    Before the water rises

    The old man’s mad and I don’t care
    The old man’s mad and I don’t care
    The old man’s mad and I don’t care
    I’m going to get his daughter

    If he don’t give her up, we’re gonna run away
    If he don’t give her up, we’re gonna run away
    If he don’t give her up, we’re gonna run away
    Down in North Carolina

    I’m going home with the one I love
    I’m going home with the one I love
    I’m going home with the one I love
    Down to North Carolina

    Judy Cook is an author, entertainer, and folk singer. She has been living in Oberlin, Ohio, with her husband Dennis since 2013. Since 1998, she has been touring throughout both Britain and the US. She is known for her repertoire and storytelling ability in song. Judy has one book and several CDs. Lyrics and recordings of her songs are on her website. You may reach her at judy@judycook.net.

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