“I Was Born in East Virginia (informal recording vocal)”

?: We are rolling.
?: Other one, Pete; that one’s dead.
?: Okay.
?: Swing it over. Move it over, Mick.
Micky: This one here, we got it.
Peter: We’ll stand here. Alright, this is uh, “East Virginia”.
Micky: I gotta have a stool.
Peter: Sit, sit.
Micky: No, no, no, no. You should sit there ’cause get the, get the banjo up.
Peter: No, the banjo is very close, it’s close enough, I’ll bal—
Micky: Okay.
Peter: —for balance. One, two.
[plays banjo]
Micky?: A little bit of the echo and the whole thing there and here we go. Go. Can you get enough, can you hear the banjo?
[plays banjo]
Peter: One, two.

I was born in East Virginia
North Carolina I did wrong
There I met a fair young maiden
Her name and age
I do not know

Her hair it was of a light brown color
Cheeks they were a ruby red
On her breast, she wore white lilies
There I long
To lay my head

I’d rather be in Santa Carlo
Where the sun refuse to shine
Than to see her with another
And to know
You’ll never be mine

I was born in East Virginia
North Carolina I did wrong
There I met a fair young maiden
Her name and age
I do not know
Her name and age
I do not know


  1. The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story of the ’60s TV Pop Sensation (2005), Andrew Sandoval, p. 289.