Appalachian Song - Dan Cunningham
Track 2
OUT OF MY MIND
"OUT OF MY MIND" is a very cool, dark, murder ballad.
Artful. Your voice is very compelling"
-John Francis (2006 ASCAP Sammy Cahn Lyricist of the Year)
Recognition for this song:
-Regional finalist 2010 New Song/Mountain Stage contest
-Story Song finalist 2010 Independent Music Awards
-Semi-Finalist Acoustic Roundtable 2011 Worldwide Search
-Semi-Finalist 2011 SONG OF THE YEAR contest
-2012 East Coast Songwriters Honorable Mention Americana/Folk
-2017 Just Plain Folks Music Awards Finalist Americana
OUT OF MY MIND is a tragic tale from the Appalachian coal-fields
While the story is fictional, the background is drawn from the history of coal mining in West Virginia around 1920. When the miners attempted to unionize, the mining company would hire companies like the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency to provide security. Among other duties, these "hired guns" would evict miners (and their families) from company housing when they no longer worked for the company. All of the possessions of the miner's family might be literally stacked in the street. A miner might lose his job for involvement union organizing, and of course, a dead man was no longer an employee. In this song, the narrator tries to stop his mother's eviction and the confrontation ends in violent confrontation.
(--from the song--)
“The Baldwin-Felts came calling
The week my daddy died
Put my momma on the street
I tried my best to help her but I killed a man instead”
CONCERNING TRAINS (and this song) - In the narrow valleys of the coal fields, there may be a road, a creek or river, and a railroad track, with scant room for much else on that narrow ribbon of "flat" land between the mountains. The sound of the train winding through the valley is part of the environment. It is the background music for every activity in those small communities. Of course, we end the song with some coal train imagery.
..."snake of coal cars..." trains in the narrow mountain valleys twist and curl, compared to the flat, straight rail lines of the midwest.
(--from the song--)
“I set out on the rails tonight
I have to get away
the wheels, they click, the lonely whistle blows
A snake of coal cars follows me, black as my wicked deed”
For more information on the West Virginia coal wars and the Baldwin Felts Detective Agency:
THUNDER IN THE MOUNTAINS by Lon Savage (book)
MATEWAN, directed by John Sales (movie)
here are the lyrics:
(verse 1) We all kneeled at the graveyard
When they laid my pa to rest
I held my mother's hand
Now I'm hiding, cold and hungry, not a penny to my name
(chorus) I can't get it, get it out of mind
No place of rest, that I can find
I can't go home, it's not there anymore
(verse 2) The Baldwin-Felts came calling
The week my daddy died
Put my momma on the street
I tried my best to help her but I killed a man instead
chorus
(verse 3) My momma lives with relatives
Her health is failing now
Ain't much, at all that I can do
In the darkness I sneak back and we keep the curtains closed
chorus
(bridge) Darkness in the daytime
I swear my mining days are done
I call the savior's name
For now a new night has begun
Deliver me
(verse 4) I set out on the rails tonight
I have to get away
the wheels, they click, the lonely whistle blows
A snake of coal cars follows me, black as my wicked deed
c 2010 pickndawg music
words and music by Dan Cunningham
Dan Cunningham: guitars, vocal, and percussion (the train-like sound is a metal trashcan played with brushes)
recording info :
guitars: Yamaha LJX6C - Larrivee SD50
Mics: Rode NT-1 (rebuilt) - RodeNTK
preamp: Art Digital MPA Gold
recorded in the BOOM CLOSET, Morgantown WV
mixed at Moviesound Studios in Parkersburg WV by David Traugh