Folk Songs in
One Family
The E.L. Simons Folk Song Collection

Songs Way Out In Kansas
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Way Out In Kansas

Time: 2:21
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Lyrics
Where the Mississippi washes on the southern sunny shores,
And the steamboat comes puffin' round the bend,
Stands a little white-washed cabin with a grapevine o'er the door,
And a moss-covered chimney at the end.
Oh, I've been 'way out in Kansas where they told me I would find
Money growin' round like apples on the trees;
But 'twas just like Dinah told me, I'd find nothing of the kind
And the weather was so cold, I like to freeze.
Chorus: Goin' back, goin' back, oh, what a happy day
To be with Dinah and the baby Ben,
Ad to see the white-wash cabin with the grape vine o'er the door,
And the moss-covered chimney at the end.

When I see the smoke a-curlin' from the little chimney top
And a-mixin' with the green leaves on the trees,
Then I'm bound to start a-runnin' and I know I'll never stop
Till I fall down by the cabin on my knees.
Then I'll praise my God in glory that he ever let me live,
To kiss the rosy lips of little Ben,
And to see the white-washed cabin with the grapevine o'er the door
And the moss-covered chimney at the end.

 

Note from E.L. Simons (1952): My grandmother Simons learned this song in the 1890's from a second cousin once-removed, Mr. Fred Anderson who now, 1952, lives in Houston, Texas. This song was not alone in reflecting the hardships of the early homesteaders. My grandmother remembers another lament which went as follows --

Potatoes they grow small in Kansas,
Potatoes they grow small in Kansas,
Potatoes they grow small,
And we dig them in the fall,
And we eat 'em tops and all in Kansas.

This song is called "The Geese Fly High in Kansas" and its most popular verse is:

The geese fly high in Kansas,
The geese fly high in Kansas,
The geese fly high,
'Cause they don't want to die,
No, they don't want to die in Kansas

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