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Five Hundred Miles

[ Roud 4959 ; Ballad Index LxU073 ; Hedy West]

Hedy West wrote this lament by a traveller far from home in the beginning of the 1960s. It was a big hit for the Kingston Trio and for Peter, Paul & Mary in 1962.

Jon Boden sang this song as Five Hundred Miles as the January 6, 2011 entry of his project A Folk Song a Day. His last verse about Tienanmen Square was written by The Hooters, in their 1989 album Zig Zag.

Lyrics

Jon Boden sings Five Hundred Miles

If you miss the train I'm on, you will know that I am gone,
Lord I`m five hundred miles from my home.
One hundred miles, two hundred miles, three hundred miles, four hundred miles,
Lord I`m five hundred miles from my home.

Not a shirt on my back, not a penny to my name,
And I can't go home this-a-way,
This-a-way, this-a-way, this-a-way, this-a-way,
And I can't go home this-a-way.

A hundred tanks across the square, one man stands and stops them there,
Someday soon the tide will turn and I'll be free,
I'll be free, I'll be free, I'll go home to my country,
Someday soon the tide will turn and I'll be free.

One hundred miles, two hundred miles, three hundred miles, four hundred miles,
Lord I`m five hundred miles from my home.

Links

See also the Mudcat Café thread 900 Miles/500 miles.