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The Cold Susquehanna

from Wonderful Fairytale by Bill Jones

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about

Written by firing electronic files between me in Sunderland (UK) and Anne in Pennsylvania (USA). A new variant of The Two Sisters. Anne's words and riff, my song tune.

lyrics

1 Two sisters played by the river wide, river wide
Oh the river running dark and deep
While a Johnny boy he walked on the other side
Oh, the cold Susquehanna flows

2 Well he gave one sister flowers bright, flowers bright
Rolled with the other one all through the loving night

3 So the sisters fought and they tumbled round, tumbled round
Pushed their Johnny boy all into the river brown

4 Arm in arm they skipped on the river bank, river bank
Watched him as he rose, cried out and his body sank

5 And the sisters laughed as they ran away, ran away
Neither shed a tear nor thought of it any day

6 Poor Johnny boy floated long and far, long and far
His bones were as white, white as the whitest star

7 And his long hair shone like a silken thread, silken thread
Drifted and it dragged and caught in the river bed

8 But the fish carried him to the rocky shore, rocky shore
Then they swam away, they knew they could do no more

9 Now his skull and hair like a violin, violin
Played a little tune each time the wind blew in

10 And the words of the song sounded like this, like this
Water may be thick, but blood it thicker is

credits

from Wonderful Fairytale, track released April 19, 2019
The Cold Susquehanna - by Bill Jones & Anne Hills (PRS/ASCAP)

Bill Jones - vocals, piano
Jean-Pierre Garde - viola
Gareth Davies-Jones - backing vocals
Anne Hills - backing vocals
Ian Stephenson - double bass
Stephen Henderson - percussion

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Bill Jones UK

Bill Jones is an acclaimed UK folksinger, songwriter and musician (piano and accordion).

New album Wonderful Fairytale was released on 1st May 2019 after a 15 year break.

Bill's previous recordings, from 2000-2003 but still fresh and relevant today, are all available here. ... more

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