My Old Kentucky Home, Good Night!
My Old Kentucky Home, Good Night!
Original Text
My Old Kentucky Home, Good Night, Foster's Plantation Melodies, No. 20, As Sung by Christy's Minstrels, Written and Composed by Stephen C. Foster (New York: Firth, Pond & Co., 1853). Facsimile in Stephen Foster, Minstrel-Show Songs, introduction by H. Wiley Hitchcock, Earlier American Music 14 (New York: Da Capo Press, 1980). M780.82 E13 no. 14 Toronto Metro Public Reference Library.
1[Solo] The sun shines bright in the old Kentucky home,
2'Tis summer, the darkies are gay,
3The corn top's ripe and the meadow's in the bloom
4While the birds make music all the day.
5The young folks roll on the little cabin floor,
6All merry, all happy and bright:
7By'n by Hard Times comes a knocking at the door,
8Then my old Kentucky Home, good night!
9[Chorus] Weep no more, my lady, oh! weep no more to-day!
10We will sing one song
11For the old Kentucky Home,
12For the old Kentucky Home, far away.
14On the meadow, the hill and the shore,
15They sing no more by the glimmer of the moon,
16On the bench by the old cabin door.
17The day goes by like a shadow o'er the heart,
18With sorrow where all was delight:
19The time has come when the darkies have to part,
20Then my old Kentucky Home, good-night!
21[Chorus] Weep no more, my lady, oh! weep no more to-day!
22We will sing one song
23For the old Kentucky Home,
24For the old Kentucky Home, far away.
25[Solo] The head must bow and the back will have to bend,
26Wherever the darkey may go:
27A few more days, and the trouble all will end
28In the field where the sugar-canes grow.
29A few more days for to tote the weary load,
30No matter 'twill never be light,
31A few more days till we totter on the road,
32Then my old Kentucky Home, good-night!
33[Chorus] Weep no more, my lady, oh! weep no more to-day!
34We will sing one song
35For the old Kentucky Home,
36For the old Kentucky Home, far away.
Notes
13] possum: opossum. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1853
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
RPO 1998.