I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
I lived in a place called Okfuskee
And I had a little girl in a holler tree
I said, little girl, it's plain to see,
There ain't nobody that can sing like me
She said it's hard for me to see
How one little boy got so ugly
Yes, my luttle girly, that might be
But there ain't nobody that can sing like me
Ain't nobody that can sing like me
Way over yonder in the minor key
Way over yonder in the minor key
There ain't nobody that can sing like me
We walked down by the Buckeye Creek
To see the frog eat the goggle eye bee
To hear that west wind whistle to the east
There ain't nobody that can sing like me
Oh my little girly will you let me see
Way over yonder where the wind blows free
Nobody can see in our holler tree
And there ain't nobody that can sing like me
Her mama cut a switch from a cherry tree
And laid it on the she and me
It stung lots worse than a hive of bees
But there ain't nobody that can sing like me
Now I have walked a long long ways
And I still look back to my tanglewood days
I've led lots of girls since then to stray
Saying, ain't nobody that can sing like me.
And I had a little girl in a holler tree
I said, little girl, it's plain to see,
There ain't nobody that can sing like me
She said it's hard for me to see
How one little boy got so ugly
Yes, my luttle girly, that might be
But there ain't nobody that can sing like me
Ain't nobody that can sing like me
Way over yonder in the minor key
Way over yonder in the minor key
There ain't nobody that can sing like me
We walked down by the Buckeye Creek
To see the frog eat the goggle eye bee
To hear that west wind whistle to the east
There ain't nobody that can sing like me
Oh my little girly will you let me see
Way over yonder where the wind blows free
Nobody can see in our holler tree
And there ain't nobody that can sing like me
Her mama cut a switch from a cherry tree
And laid it on the she and me
It stung lots worse than a hive of bees
But there ain't nobody that can sing like me
Now I have walked a long long ways
And I still look back to my tanglewood days
I've led lots of girls since then to stray
Saying, ain't nobody that can sing like me.
Lyrics submitted by FackingHell
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I learned it from a Dubliner on a Bank Holiday at a hostile in the Far West of Ireland. We were all sitting around the fireplace one night, following whomever was leading by watching their chords. I remember doing a double-take when I heard the line about being way over yonder in the minor key. It was so weird and so cool... Anyway I started playing the song on my return to the States... it does get some odd reactions now and then.
Anyway, thank you Woody, thank you Billy, thank you Wilco, and thank you Smilin' Bob, you know who you are.
I'm searching for this song right now. Heard an excellent version performed by a local blues singer/guitarist, and it absolutely took my breath away. "There ain't nobody that can sing like me.."
it was a hostel, not a hostile. in fact it was quite hospitable. everyone needs an editor.
I'd assumed that a hostile was some sort of traditional Irish gathering.