PRISONER'S SONG, THE
(Guy Massey / Robert Massey / Vernon Dalhart)

Vernon Dalhart - 1924
International Novelty Orchestra - 1925
Kaplan's Melodists (vocal: Carson Robison) - 1925
Eddie Peabody & His Band (vocal: Carson Robison)
Ezra Paulette & His Beverly Hill Billies - 1930
Al Bowlly - 1930 (sung in Afrikaans as "Banditlied")
Eddy Arnold & His Tennessee Plowboys - 1947
Bunny Berigan And His Orch. - 1948
Patti Page - 1951
Kay Starr - 1955
Hylo Brown & His Timberliners - 1956
Louis Armstrong with Sy Oliver And His Orch. - 1957
Rusty Dedrick & The All Star Orch. - 1957
Slim Whitman - 1958
Fats Domino - 1958
Warren Storm - 1958
Joe Jones - 1958
Chet Atkins (Instr.) - 1959
Duane Eddy (Instr.) - 1960
Brenda Lee - 1961
Sun Valley Trail Singers - 1961
Vic Dana - 1963
Ace Cannon (Instr.) - 1963
Hank Snow - 1964
The Kentucky Colonels - 1964
Johnny Cash - 1972
Sonny James - 1975
Floyd Cramer (vocal: Pat Daisy) - 1976
The Bluegrass Cardinals - 1976
David Grisman - 1980

Also recorded by:
Bob White; Bill Monroe; Ross Gorman Orch. (vocal: Dalhart);
The Yellow Jackets (vocal: Dalhart) ....... and others.





As recorded by VERNON DALHART, 13th August 1924,
with Carson Robison (Guitar) and Lou Raderman (Viola):


Oh, I wish I had someone to love me
Someone to call me their own
Oh, I wish I had someone to live with
'Cause I'm tired of livin' alone

Oh, please meet me tonight in the moonlight
Please meet me tonight all alone
For I have a sad story to tell you
It's a story that's never been told

(Instrumental Break)

I'll be carried to the new jail tomorrow
Leavin' my poor darlin' alone
With the cold prison bars all around me
And my head on a pillow of stone

Now I have a grand ship on the ocean
All mounted with silver and gold
And before my poor darlin' would suffer
Oh, that ship would be anchored and sold

Now if I had wings like an angel
Over these prison walls I would fly
And I'd fly to the arms of my poor darlin'
And there I'd be willin' to die


**TRIVIA: Vernon Dalhart made over a dozen different
recordings of this song on a variety of record labels;
some under his own name; some under different names;
and some as the vocalist with a band. All-in-all, it
is believed that he achieved sales of around 7 million
copies with this one song.


********************


As recorded by EZRA PAULETTE:


Oh, I wish I had someone to love me
Somebody to call me their own
Oh, I wish I had someone to live with
I'm so tired of living alone

Oh, meet me tonight in the moonlight
Oh, meet me tonight all alone
For I have a sad story to tell you
Must be told in the moonlight alone

If I had wings like an angel
Over these prison walls I would fly
I wouldd fly to the arms of my poor darling
And there I'd be willing to die

Oh, meet me tonight in the moonlight
Oh, meet me tonight all alone
For I have a sad story to tell you
Must be told in the moonlight alone

I'll be carried to the new jail tomorrow
Leaving my poor darling alone
With the cold prison bars all around me
And my head on a pillow of stone

Oh, meet me tonight in the moonlight
Oh, meet me tonight all alone
For I have a sad story to tell you
Must be told in the moonlight alone


(Transcribed by Mel Priddle - July 2013)