Digital Tradition Mirror

This notation is pretty simple; dark circles mean covered holes; empty circles mean uncovered holes; a '+' below means to blow harder to get the upper octave; a '#' below means this note is too low for the whistle chosen and you'll have to fake it :) The author of this program always plays accidentals by closing holes, so you'll never see half-covered holes.

When I was starting, I found notation like this to be very helpful, and I know plenty of people who have trouble reading music who find this notation easier. Good luck!

Because He Was Only a Tramp

(E whistle)

(This score available as ABC, SongWright, PostScript, PNG, or PMW, or a MIDI file)
(Choose a whistle key: A B C D E F G Ab Bb Cb Db Eb Fb Gb A# B# C# D# E# F# G#)
Dulcimer tab for this song is also available

Because He Was Only a Tramp

I'm a man broken down without credit or cash
My clothes are all ragged and torn;
Not a friend have I in this dreary world
I wish I had never been born.

in vain I search for employment
Sleeping out onm the ground cold and damp
I'm stared (pronounced "starred") in face by starvation
God pity the life of a tramp.

Last night down on the L and N Railroad
There's a man most hungry and cold.
An empty boxcar stood still on the track
He jumped in and closed up the door.

He had rode three miles in an empty boxcar
Till a brakeman came round with his lantern (lamp?);
He was thrown from the train and was killed by the rails
Because he was only a tramp.

Kind friends, I want you all to remember
That every poor man is not a tramp;
THere's many a true heart still beating
Beneath the old coat of a tramp.

Poor Lazarus lay at the rich man's door
And the dogs came and licked his sores;
But at last his spirit took its sweet flight
Where there's room and bread for the poor.

From Long Steel Rail, Cohen
Recorded by Sam and Kirk McGee

RG

Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!