Stepstone
Oh, 'tis sad to be parted from those that we love
Strange faces we see every day
Each heart string of mine is broken in time
When I think of those dear ones at home.
cho: Goodbye dear old stepstone, goodbye to my home
God bless those I leave with a sigh
I'll cherish fond memories when I'm far away
To roam o'er this wide world alone.
I stood on my doorstep at evening and morn
The wind whispered by with a moan
The fields may be whitening, but I will be gone
To roam o'er this wide world alone.
I stood on my doorstep when school time was o'er
And I wish for the time to go by
Now it has passed. and I stand here tonight
To bid this old stepstone goodbye.
from the singing of Bascom Lamar Lunsford (1882-1973) of Mars Hill, North
Carolina, near Asheville.
Bascom Lamar Lunsford (Old Stepstone) Smithsonian Folkways CD 40082, 1996
(recorded in
1949)
Ernest V. Stoneman (Goodbye Dear Old Stepstone) County CD 3510, 1996 (recorded
in 1928)
Jane Voss (Goodbye To My Stepstone) Bay LP 207, 1976 (Out of print, but well
worth digging
for)
Walt Michael, an excellent hammer dulcimer player performs it, as does Harmony,
a group
from Stone County, Arkansas they just call it Stepstone, by the way.
From the excellent notes on Smithsonian Folkways:
OLD STEPSTONE (Brown 713, p. 448 vol. V) " 'Old Stepstone' is the title of this
song,
which I learned in 1904 from Miss Lela Ammons of Robbinsville, North Carolina.
She sang,
played the song on the old-time organ, and would sing this beautiful text of
'Old Stepstone.' "
DR
Oct00
Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!