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River in the Pines

from Crossroads of Galahad by Austin Moffa

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about

When I decided I was going to "get serious" about folk music one of the first resources I sought was a now out of print copy of Alan Lomax's "Folk Songs of North America" with chords and melodies transcribed by the great Peggy Seeger. This song shows up early, I want to say in the first hundred or so pages, and the melody captivated me. As with many of the other traditional songs on this collection, it is not a faithful line by line recreation of the version transcribed in that book. When a song sets its hooks into me, I love to research it further and see the other versions that have floated around out their in the musical aether and cobble together the bits that seem most interesting to me, and if ever I find a rhyme that seems unpleasant or a line that doesn't hit me right, I change it. In this case, I think my greatest change/contribution would be the sixth verse where they find Charlie's body. In the original version, Mary is not mentioned again beyond verse 3, and yet is in the grave by the end of the song. I thought it best to rectify that by at least letting her see her husband one last time and giving her the dramatic climax of the song.

lyrics

Sweet Mary was a maiden
When the birds began to sing.
She was fairer than the blooming rose
So early in the spring.

Her thoughts were clear and happy
And the morning fair and fine,
For her lover was a village boy
From the river in the pines.

Now Charlie, he departed
from sweet Mary in the spring
When the trees were budding early
And the birds began to sing.

But come first freeze of autumn
When the fruit has turned to wine,
I'll return to you, my darling
From the river in the pines.

yet it was that next morning
In Wisconsin's dreary clime
When he rode the wild rapids
For that last and fatal time.

They found his body lying
neath the jagged river crest
and when Mary saw him broken
her heart stopped in her chest

Now every raft of lumber
That comes down the river's flow,
There's a lonely grave that's visited
by the drivers as they tow

They plant wild flowers upon it
In the morning fair and fine.
'Tis the grave of two young lovers
From the river in the pines

credits

from Crossroads of Galahad, released May 3, 2021
Guitar and Vocals - Austin Moffa
Traditional

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Austin Moffa Fairfax, Virginia

Austin Moffa is a musician based out of Fairfax, VA. He has previously released 10 industrial/ambient albums under the pseudonym "ROZKOL". Moffa was born and grew up in a small Pennsylvanian town along the Allegheny Mountain Range.

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