[Jan]
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Thad and Cleona

  • Year: 1987
  • Included in Inca Hoots by Jan Harmon ..
    Digital download from:  iTunes, Amazon
  • Included in So Bravely Dream by Quasimodal Chorus ..
    CD from:  harmonpublishing.com
  • Sheet Music: To be transcribed
Listen: Thad and Cleona, live at the Portland Folk Club, on May 7, 1988. From Inca Hoots (clip)

About this song:

Thad and Cleona Bullock lived in Wyoming at turn of the century.

Words:

Thad and Cleona

By Jan Harmon
words and music © 1987
1. Thad and Cleona were two of a kind -- She kept a fine garden, he went into town, and he swept out the mill, and he worked in the mine, to give Cleona a home. 2. Right from the beginning, they couldn't agree! She would say one thing, he'd swear she was wrong. then she'd pack up a bag, and go off to Pawnee .. but she never stayed long. 3. When she heard the mine whistle, she ran like a deer, trampling the cabbage and the collard down. And how many men turned to fossil, are there, with dreams trapped in the stone? 4. She came home cold. She filled up the tub. Warm water tucked 'round her like quilts in the sled. Then she filled the coal stove with those damed old black bones, and went silent to bed. 5. Now, she likens to tree rings, those lines on her face. "See, this was a good year, this one was hard." And, frost blurs and crystals the garden with lace, like her old memories of Thad. Repeat #1