Why I Love Bluegrass Banjo

A presentation to my office about why I love to play bluegrass style banjo. Lyrics written by Michelle Haft to the music of Bile Dem Cabbage Down

Lyrics:

CHORUS:
Pick those string so loud
Roll them fingers round
You can't help but tap your feet
When you hear that banjo sound

First let's take this back
To the land of cotton gins
In the 1830's south
Is where this song begins

An old Virginia farm
There lived a boy named Joe
He'd mingle with the local slaves
They'd teach him the banjo

He took his show on the road
To the Broadway city lights
First time that banjo played
From the hands of a man so white

The audience they cheered
They howled and they roared
Those Yankees loved that twangy sound
To the Brits that banjo soared

Now moving through the years
Some changes did arrive
The goard became a drum
And four strings became five

And through the civil war
They played it on both sides
When Lincoln freed the slaves
Banjo spread far and wide

Let's head back to the south almost
A century ahead
In the Appalachian Smokies
Is where Bluegrass was bred

Those Bluegrass Boys they chimed over
The Opry radio
And in it you could hear that sound
Of the old five-string banjo

That bluegrass banjo that you heard
Was Scruggs the prodigy
Others picked with two fingers
But Earl he picked with three

And this is where my history
And Earl's they do collide
Been playing bluegrass for a year
and playing it with pride

I practice hard and long
And lessons once a week
The Sunnyvale, the Old Gray Goose
And the Cripple Creek

[CRIPPLE CREEK INTERLUDE]

First time I held it in my arms
I fell in love so quickly
I'll see you all next year
Down at Hardly Strictly

Category:

Comedy

Tags:

• Banjo
• SYPartners
• Earl
• Scruggs
• Joel
• Sweeney
• Bluegrass