From the recording Apple & Setser
1. Hand Me Down My Walking Cane (3:30) (James A. Bland, 1880, Public Domain) Uptempo - folk/bluegrass/old-time. ISRC: USCGH2222630. A traditional song in the public domain attributed to African-American James A. Bland in 1880. The song compares dying and going to heaven to grabbing a cane and catching the midnight train now that "all my sins are taken away." Brad suggested they work it up as a duet, and Pam loved the idea because her parents, longtime musicians themselves, used to perform this song. The clawhammer banjo along with the fiddle and mandolin help to bring to life the old-time style of this song. (Brad Apple-Lead vocals, guitar, mandolin, acoustic bass; Pam Setser-harmony vocals; David Johnson-fiddle, clawhammer banjo)
Lyrics
Hand Me Down My Walking Cane
Chorus Hand me down my walking cane 3x
I’m gonna leave on a midnight train All my sins have been taken away taken away
I got drunk and I got in jail 3x Had no one to go my bail All my sins have been taken away taken away
Chorus
If I had listened to what momma said 3x I’d a been sleeping in a feather bed All my sins have been taken away taken away
Chorus
Yonder comes a man across the field 3x Kickin' up dust like an automobile
All my sins have been taken away taken away
Chorus
(James A. Bland, 1880, Public Domain)