GOING
TO THE WEST
4/4 Key of
G
Verse 1: In this fair
G /
/ / G /
/ / G /
/ / G /
/ /
land,
I can- not stay,
Here
D /
/ / D /
/ / G /
/ / G /
/ /
la-
-bor is in
vain
I'll
D /
/ / D /
/ / C /
/ / C /
/ /
leave
the mountains of my birth
to seek the fertile
G /
/ / G /
/ /
Plains
I'm
D /
/ / D /
/ / G /
/ / G /
/ /
going
to the West
Chorus :
(same chords as verse)
You say you will not go with me
You turn your eyes away
You say you will not follow me No matter what I
say
I'm going to the West
Verse 2:
The years have passed since we first met
When you became my bride
Now I must journey far away Without you by my side
I'm going to the west
Verse 3:
I'll leave you here in the land you love,
Mid scenes so bright and fair,
Where fragrant blossoms are a'bloomin' And music fills the air,
I'm going to the West.
This sone is found in "Folk Songs Of Alabama" by Byron Arnold. Peggy Seeger
says that Janie Barnard Couch, the Alabama singer from whom this song was collected in the late 1940's, said of it: "I believe this song was composed about 1880, when there was a large migration of people from the county (Marshall County) going to the new lands of Texas. This is about a young man whose wife would not accompany him on the journey."
YouTube version - Critton Hollow String Band playing this song in the key of A