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Two Little Boys

Composer: Traditional / Edward Madden / Theodore Morse


Recordings

info Bluegrass At Carnegie Hall, The Country Gentlemen, 1962
info Strictly Bluegrass, The Valley Ramblers, 1967
no info Single, Mike O'Rourke and the Free Born Men, 1972
info 25 Years, The Country Gentlemen, 1980
no info The Smithsonian Collection of Classic Country Music, Various Artists (Country Gentlemen), 1981
no info Bluegrass: The Greatest Show On Earth, Various Artists (Country Gentlemen), 1983
info Bluegrass: The World's Greatest Show, Various Artists (Country Gentlemen), 1987
no info Acoustic Music to Suit Most Occasions, Deighton Family, 1988
no info Bathtub Blues, Greg Brown, 1993
no info Peace Together, Various Artists, 1993
no info Melody Ranch Girl, Jean Shepard, 1996
info The Early Rebel Recordings 1962-1971, The Country Gentlemen, 1998
info High Lonesome: Complete Starday Recordings, The Country Gentlemen, 1998
no info Songs of the Civil War, Various Artists (Simon and Verity Grace), 1998
no info Two Little Boys, Jeff Warner and Jeff Davis, 199?
no info Single, Jim Greer and the Mac-O-Chee Valley Boys, 19??
no info Single, Country Gentlemen, 19??
info Old & In The Gray, Old & In The Gray, 2002
info Classic Bluegrass Collection, Vols. 1-4, Various Artists (Country Gentlemen), 2007

Notes

Played by the Black Mountain Boys on the 7th March 1964.

The lyrics used by the Black Mountain Boys are as follows;

Two little boys had two little toys
Each had a wooden horse
Gaily they played [each] summer day
Four year's old [?]

Then one chap had a mishap
Broke off his horses head
He wept for his toy then he cried for joy
When he heard his brother say

Do you think I would leave you crying
There's room on my horse for you
Climb up behind, stop your crying
We'll mend up your horse with glue

When we grow up we'll both be soldiers
Our horses will not be toys
Then maybe you will remember
When we were two little boys

[Long] years have passed, war came at last
Bravely they marched away
Cannons roared loud, amid that bright crowd
Where wounded and dying Joe lay

Then came a cry, a rider came by
Out of the ranks of blue
He galloped away to where Joe lay
And he heard his brother say

Do you think I would leave you dying
There's room on my horse for you
Climb up behind Joe, stop your [?]
[?] (note 1)

Can't you see Jack I'm all a-trembling
It may be the flask and the noise
But maybe because I remember
When we were two little boys

Note 1 - At the end of this verse they forget the words. At the end of the song they apologise to the audience by saying "Sometimes you forget"

Possibly written in 1903 by Madden and Morse but may have been based on an earlier song.