“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 roam
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 some dark hollow
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 roam
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.