Ain't You Coming Back To Dixieland 1917

by James Pitt-Payne, London UK - 26 Feb 2008
2008

I had a letter from my Mammy
down in sunny Tennessee
and tho' it may sound queer
to folks up here
'deed it sounds mighty good to me.
It says: 'They're lonesome down in Dixie.'
And there's a tear in ev'ry line
for they're calling me to Tennessee
it starts out: 'Honey chile of mine...'

Ain't you coming back to Dixieland
where the sweet magnolias grow?
Don't you ever yearn just to return
to the land of Old Black Joe?
All the little pickaninnies seem to miss you
Lawdy how I'm longing just to kiss you
Darlin' your Mammy's growin' old.
'Deed I am Honey Lamb.
Don't you want to see the cotton fields
and the sugar cane once more
and the pretty flowers growing 'round
the old folks cabin door?
Dixie looks like Heaven all the while
you sho' don't have to die to go there honey chile
ain't you comin' back to dear old Dixieland.

Ain't you coming back to Dixieland
where the sweet magnolias grow?
Don't you ever yearn just to return
to the land of Old Black Joe?
All the little pickaninnies seem to miss you
Lawdy how I'm longing just to kiss you
Darlin' your Mammy's growin' old.
'Deed I am Honey Lamb.
Don't you want to see the cotton fields
and the sugar cane once more
and the pretty flowers growing 'round
the old folks cabin door?
Dixie looks like Heaven all the while
you sho' don't have to die to go there honey chile
ain't you comin' back to dear old Dixieland.

There's something haunting in that message
'Ain't you coming back once more?'
That letter sounds to me like poetry
tho' the spelling is mighty poor.
I sent a little note to Dixie
it's just to sort o' pave the way
saying: 'Watch for me in Tennessee
I'm coming back to hear you say...'

Ain't you coming back to Dixieland
where the sweet magnolias grow?
Don't you ever yearn just to return
to the land of Old Black Joe?
All the little pickaninnies seem to miss you
Lawdy how I'm longing just to kiss you
Darlin' your Mammy's growin' old.
'Deed I am Honey Lamb.
Don't you want to see the cotton fields
and the sugar cane once more
and the pretty flowers growing 'round
the old folks cabin door?
Dixie looks like Heaven all the while
you sho' don't have to die to go there honey chile
ain't you comin' back to dear old Dixieland.

Ain't you coming back to Dixieland
where the sweet magnolias grow?
Don't you ever yearn just to return
to the land of Old Black Joe?
All the little pickaninnies seem to miss you
Lawdy how I'm longing just to kiss you
Darlin' your Mammy's growin' old.
'Deed I am Honey Lamb.
Don't you want to see the cotton fields
and the sugar cane once more
and the pretty flowers growing 'round
the old folks cabin door?
Dixie looks like Heaven all the while
you sho' don't have to die to go there honey chile
ain't you comin' back to dear old Dixieland.

Soft karaoke
Words
piano 1
piano 2
piano 3
piano 4
lyric
pizz str bass
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Ain't You Coming Back To Dixieland 1917
Song
Music by Richard A.Whiting
Lyrics by Raymond Egan
© MCMXVII by Jerome H.Remick & Co. -  N.Y. & Detroit
*
sequence & karaoke by James Pitt-Payne, London UK
on Tuesday 26 February 2008 at 12.43
in association with Doug Grierson
*