music        news/events        bio        contact        recordings American Folk Songs Book 2 1996 soprano string quartet piano   duration 15' commissioned by the MIT Chorus first performance:  Margaret O´Keefe with MIT Student Performers Kresge Auditorium, MIT, Cambridge / December 6, 1996  SCORE Johnson Boys One Day Careless Love Way Over in the Heavens Blue The Horse Named Bill  TEXTS Johnson Boys Johnson boys, raised in the ashes, Never knew how to court a maid, Turn their backs and hide their faces, Sight of a pretty girl makes them afraid.  Johnson boys went a-courtin', The Coon Creek girls so pretty and sweet, They couldn't make no conversation, They didn't know where to put their feet.  The Johnson boys, they went a-huntin', Took two dogs and went astray, Tore their clothes and scratched their faces, Didn't get home till the break of day.  Johnson boys went to the city,  Ridin' in a Chevrolet, They came home broke and a-walkin', They had no money for to pay their way.  Shame, O shame on the Johnson boys!  One Day One day when I was walking I hear my boyfriend talking To the pretty girl  With the strawberry curl, And this is what he said, "I love you."  She jumped in the lake  and swallowed a snake And came back home with a belly ache.  Fudge, fudge, tell the judge,  Mama's got a baby, Tisn't a boy, tisn't a girl,  Just a common baby,  Wrap it up in tissue paper, Send it to the elevator. First floor, miss! Second floor, miss! Third floor, miss! Fourth floor! Out the door!  Careless Love Love, O love, O careless love, Love, O love, O careless love, Love, O love, O careless love, O see what careless love can do.  When my apron strings would bow You'd pass my door and say hello.  Now my apron strings won't pin, You pass my door and won't come in.  How I wish that train would come, Take me back where I come from.  I cried last night and the night before, I'll cry tonight and I'll cry no more.  Love, O love, O careless love, You see what careless love can do.  Way Over in the Heavens I wish't I had a-heard ye when ye called me,  I wish't I had a-heard ye when ye called me, I wish't I had a-heard ye when ye called me, To sit on the seat by Jesus.  Way over in the heavens, To sit on the seat by Jesus.  Sister, my soul's a-happy When I sit on the seat by Jesus. Won't you be glad when he calls you? Sitting on a seat with Jesus.  Blue Had a dog and his name was Blue, Bet you five bucks he's a rounder too.    O Blue, Blue, Blue, O Blue.  Every night just about good dark, Blue goes out and begins to bark.  Blue treed a possum in a 'simmon tree, Blue looks at possum, possum looks at me.  Chased that possum out on a limb, Blue set down and talked to him.  Blue got sick and very sick, Called for the doctor to come right quick.  Called for the doctor and the doctor come, He says "Blue, your huntin' days are done."  Old Blue died and he died so hard, Scratched little holes in my back yard.  Dug his grave with a silver spade, Let him down with a golden chain.  When I get to heaven first thing I'll do Take my horn and blow for Blue.  Come on, Blue, come on, Blue, There's a possum in heaven for me and you.  The Horse Named Bill Oh, I had a horse and his name was Bill,  When he ran he couldn't stand still, He ran away, one day, And also I ran with him.  He ran so fast he could not stop, He ran right into a barber's shop, And he fell exhaustionized, with his eye-teeth, In the barber's left shoulder.  I'm going out in the woods next year And shoot for beer, and not for deer, I am—I ain't I'm a great sharpshootress.  I knew a girl and her name was Daisy And when she sang the cat went crazy  With deliriums, St. Vituses, And all kinds of cataleptics.  Oh, what could you do in a case like that? Oh, what could you do but stamp on your hat, On your mother, and your toothbrush And everything—That's helpless