Girl in the Wood: Lyrics

Music: Terry Gilkyson; Lyrics: Neal Stuart

• LP Hard Travelin'
• CD The Folkways Years

Oh, when I was a young boy
   and drove my mother wild,
I met a maiden in the woods
   and she said
"Child, look deep into my green eyes
   and at my autumn hair,
When you're a man you'll never see
  a girl quite as fair".

Chorus:
Remember me
Remember me
Remember me
for the rest of your life.

Her eyes were green as grassy pools
   looking right at me,
And her hair was red and grown with leaves
   just like an autumn tree
She moved her tiny hands
   and she made a little turn.
She swayed in the wind
   just like a graceful fern.

Chorus:

I swore as she vanished
   that when I was full grown,
I'd have a girl just like her
   to be my very own.
And now I am a man
   and I'd marry if I could
But I can't lose the mem'ry
   of The Girl In The Wood.

Chorus:

I've wished a hundred times
   that she'd never looked at me.
With the first wild beauty
   that only youth can see,
For a man cannot find it
   when he's looking for a wife,
And he'll end up in bachelorhood
   the rest of his life.

Chorus:

Of note:

Dr. Guy Logsdon calls this one of the most beautiful songs in Cisco's repertory. We respectfully disagree. It ranks in our bottom-of-the-barrel performances that could have been left off any "Best of..." compilation without us missing it. Lame metaphors and adjectives, e.g. "her little hands" and "graceful as a swaying fern" and tedious dirge-like tune tune combine for a stinker. Interestingly, this was a contemporary song when Cisco performed it. He must have liked it. We don't.

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