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(Bascom Lamar Lunsford said he learned this song from Fred Moody in North Carolina in 1901. Later Bascom’s fabulous recording was included in Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music.)

“Now what the singer wants is obvious, and almost impossible to comprehend. He wants to be delivered from his life and to be changed into a creature insignificant and despised. He wants to see nothing and to be seen by no-one. He wants to destroy the world and to survive it. That’s all he wants. The performance is quiet, steady, and the quiet lets you in … You can imagine what it would be like to want what the singer wants. It is an almost impossible negation, at the edge of pure nihilism, a demand to prove that the world is nothing, a demand to be next to nothing and yet it is comforting”
-Greil Marcus, Lipstick Traces

lyrics

Well I wish I was a mole in the ground
I wish I was a mole in the ground
If I’s a mole in the ground I’d root that mountain down
I wish I was a mole in the ground

Well, Kempy wants a nine dollar shawl
Kempy wants a nine dollar shawl
When I come over the hill with a forty dollar bill, it’s baby where you been so long?

Well I don’t like the railroad man
No I don’t like the railroad man
Well the railroad man, he’ll kill you when he can, and he’ll drink up your blood like wine

Well I wish I was a lizard in the Spring
I wish I was a lizard in the Spring
If I’s a lizard in the Spring, well I’d hear my darlin’ sing, I wish I was a lizard in the Spring

Well Kempy let your hair roll down
Kempy let your hair roll down, let your hair roll down and your bangs curl around
Kempy let your hair roll down

Well I wish I was a mole in the ground
I wish I was a mole in the ground
If I’s a mole in the ground, I’d root that mountain down, I wish I was a mole in the ground

credits

from Halfway Home, released October 8, 2014

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Seth Mountain 이산 image

Seth Mountain 이산 South Korea

Seth Martin (aka Seth Mountain or 이산), is a roots musician originally from the Pacific Northwest (US).

Continuing in the radical tradition of artists like Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, and Utah Phillips, Martin has been living in Seoul since 2015. He regularly performs with Korean and foreign folk, indie and rock acts.

"Quite possibly the closest thing we have to Woody Guthrie."
--Bill Mallonee ... more

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