The ToneWay® Project: helping people play music


Come All Ye Tender-Hearted

Come all you 4 tender 1 hearted
Your 5 attention I will 1 call
I'll tell you 4 how it 1 started
Come 5 listen one and 1 all

Last Wednesday night, there was a light
Seen shining on a hill
A mother wept with all her might
While everything was still

She went into a neighbor's house
Some hundred yards away
She sat down and she talked with them
But she did not mean to stay

Don't stay too long dear mother there
For we'll be lonesome here
I'll get some liniment she said
Then I'll return again

But when she started home again
Her house was in a flames
She cried, Oh Lord my babies are gone
And I'm the one to blame

She burst in all asunder then
And the flames rolled o'er her head
She cried, Oh Lord how sad they sleep
Wrapped up in a red hot flame

Their little bones lay on the ground
They both lay face to face
Each other did entwine
Each other did embrace


A song from the The ToneWay Mountain Music Collection, which offers lyrics and free Song Clips (recordings for learning the song by ear) for nearly 400 traditional songs, many of which are often heard in bluegrass and old-time jam circles. The ToneWay Project also offers songbooks, CDs, and a free online video series for learning to play music by ear. http://ToneWay.com