Jeni Hankins & Billy Kemp: Listen & Lyrics

Early on in our courtship, Billy got on the wrong side of me over something small - isn't it always something small? - and I wrote this song while I was cross. It has all of the imagery I love from the old songs - black mountains, oceans, and wandering. I also got to use one of my favorite words from the old ballads, "prayhaps." Sheila Kay Adams uses that word in her version of Pretty Fair Miss which I learned from her at the Blue Ridge Old Time Music Camp at Mars Hill.

All I wanted was to kiss you
to hold you close and call you mine
All my dreams, well, they died with you
When you left our home behind

Somewhere across the bitter ocean,
over mountains black and steep
You’re a-wandering and a-roaming,
while I stay at home and weep

You promised that you’d always love me
You held me close as I wished
Little did I know that morning
I’d received your parting kiss

Somewhere across the bitter ocean,
over mountains black and steep
You’re a-wandering and a-roaming,
while I stay at home and weep

Prayhaps I’ll take to roaming,
I’ll seek you in a foreign land
And if you find me not at home,
Prayhaps you’ll understand

Somewhere across the bitter ocean,
over mountains black and steep
You’re a-wandering and a-roaming,
while I stay at home and weep