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Date: 3/31/97; 11:28:48 PM
From: "Gene L. Graham" <ah827@rgfn.epcc.Edu>
Subject: THE LETTER EDGED IN BLACK


LETTER EDGED IN BLACK
Recorded by Marty Robbins
Public Domain

CAPO: 1st Fret/KEY: Eb/PLAY: D
[D] I was standin' by my window yesterday [A7] morning
Without a thought of worry or of [D] care
When I saw the postman [D7] comin' up the [G] pathway
With [A7] such a happy face and jolly [D] air.

He rang the bell and whistled as he waited
Then he said; "Good morning to you, Jack"
But he little knew the sorrow he had brought me
When he handed me a letter edged in black.

With trembling hand I took this letter from him
I broke the seal and this is what it said:
"Come home my boy, your dear old father wants you
Come home my boy, your dear old mother's dead."

I bowed my head in sorrow and in sadness
The sunshine of my life, it all had fled
When the post man brought that letter yesterday morning
"Saying come home my boy, your dear old mother's dead."

"The last words your mother ever uttered
Tell my boy I want him to come back
My eyes are blurred, my poor old heart is breaking
So, I'm writing you this letter edged in black."

"Forget those angry words that we had spoken
You know I didn't mean them, don't you, Jack
May the angels bear as witness, I am asking
Your forgiveness in this letter edged in black."

Source:  Marty Robbins - Just Me And My Guitar
         1983 CBS Records LSP 15388\Bear Family Records BFX-15119

Note. The Letter Edged In Black, written by Hattie Nevada, but
      the authorship being forgotten, moved into the folk tradition.
      It was recorded by Vernon Dalhart (as Al Craver) for Columbia
      in November 1925; but perhaps the most popular country version
      of the song was recorded by Kentucky balladeer Bradley Kincaid,
      who recorded it for Bluebird on February 14, 1934.