Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ASHTABULA, by BERTON BRALEY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ASHTABULA, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Oh the geographic ballads are the rage
Last Line: Chorus
Subject(s): Singing & Singers; Songs


Oh the Geographic Ballads are the rage
From the Tin Pan Alley troubadours they flow
To the phonographic record and the stage,
Where you hear about the chap who wants to go
"Back to Dear Old Tennessee, where a Welcome waits for me,
Back to"—any other place you chance to know,
But in all the lyric throng I have never heard a song
Which concerns itself with Ashtabula, O.

That's a town that shouldn't be upon the shelf,
So I'll write a little song for it myself:

CHORUS

Take me back to Ashtabula, far from dancers Hula
Hula
Where the life is, as a rule, a
Trifle slow;
Where the wintry breeze is cool, a
Fact that brings to Ashtabula
An unusually heavy fall of snow.
Take me back, oh don't forsake me,
I won't go unless you take me,
And you'll have to pay my fare to make me go,
But I've kept my word and you'll a-
Gree I've sung of Ashtabula
And have done my bit for Ashtabula, O.

I might sing a lot of verses on the theme
Of a girl in Ashtabula whom I knew,
I might muse about my childhood's happy dream
As the writers of a ballad often do,
But I'll pass them up, I guess, for I might as well confess
That the rhymes to Ashtabula are but few.
And I'll have to set it down that I've never seen the town,
Though that needn't keep my song from being true!

So just join in on the chorus, let her go!
And we'll give a boost to Ashtabula, O.

CHORUS





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