Digital Tradition Mirror

The Man Who Picked the Wildwood Flower

(This score available as ABC, SongWright, PostScript, PNG, or PMW, or a MIDI file)
Pennywhistle notation and Dulcimer tab for this song is also available

The Man Who Picked the Wildwood Flower

I only saw five people when they buried Jack Dupree
Two diggers and a preacher the funeral man and me
The prayer was said and the hole was filled in less than half an hour
We said good-bye to the little man who picked the Wildwood Flower

For twenty years i'd seen him on the lower Nashville streets
They said he always earned enough to buy his clothes and eat
He'd stop awhile and check his watch with the big clock on the tower
That's when I asked him once if he could pick the Wildwood Flower

He always drew a crowd because he put on such a show
He'd dance and sing and play and smile just like a college pro
And every time he saw me standing in the crowd
I knew the tune that he'd play next would be the Wildwood Flower

I told him once that he could be what people called a star
And he said why boy I'm happy. None of them folks are
I'd hate to have to force a smile and feel my self turn sour
There ain't no put on in my face when I pick the Wildwood Flower

Then I saw a thousand people as they began to come
Business men, opera stars, party girls and bums
And on that little mound of clay bouqueted with endless showers
They paid respect to the little man who picked the Wildwood Flower

This is a version that my Late Uncle used to sing. I don't know where
     he got it from, but he used to sing it to the tune of The Wildwood
     Flower. N

NX
OCT98

Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!