The Coming of the Roads
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legacy / lyric song
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Standard Notation
Mandolin Tablature
Song Sheet
Billy Edd Wheeler
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
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Lyrics:
Now that our mountain is growing
With people hungry for wealth
How come it's you that's a'going
And I'm left all alone by myself?
We used to hunt the cool caverns
Deep in our forest of green,
Then came the road and the tavern
And you've found a new love it seems.
Once I had you and the wild wood,
Now it's just dusty road
And I can't help but blaming your going
On the coming, the coming of the roads.
Look how they've cut all to pieces
Our ancient poplar and oak
And the hillsides are stained with the greases
That burned up the heavens with smoke.
You used to curse the bold crewmen
Who stripped the earth of its ores.
Now you've changed and you've gone over to them
And you've learned to love what you hated before.
Once I thanked God for my treasures
Now like rust, it corrodes.
I can't help from blaming your going
On the coming, the coming of the roads.
"The Coming of the Roads" was written by Billy Edd Wheeler. It relates the changes<br> brought to the southern mountains by strip mining and the introduction of other<br> changes and modernizations.<br> The tune is lovely but is obviously not traditional or based on any traditional<br> model. The lyrics are real poetry.<br> Billy Edward "Edd" Wheeler (born December 9, 1932, Boone County, West Virginia) is an<br> American songwriter, performer, writer, and visual artist. <br> His songs include "Jackson", "The Reverend Mr. Black", "Desert Pete", "Ann",<br> "High Flyin' Bird", "Ode to the Little Brown Shack Out Back", "Coal Tattoo",<br> "Winter Sky", and "Coward of the County".<br> He graduated from Warren Wilson College in 1953, and Berea College in 1955.<br> "The Coming of the Roads" was recorded by Billy Edd Wheeler on Country Essentials,<br> Judy Collins, Peter Paul & Mary, Maureen McGovern, Kathy Mattea, and Johnny Darrell &<br> Anita Carter.<br> I learned this from Judy Collins' recording.<br>
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