Kenny Ray Horton: Music

• MP3 short clip, hi-fi play (broadband)
• MP3 short clip, lo-fi play (modem)

I heard this song in the mid 90's when I was living in Nashville. I went to a writers night and when I heard it I fell in love with it. I held on the the name of the song for years and when I was chosen to be the lead singer for the group Country Current, I told the guys I had a song that I wanted to do.

I contacted Mike Doyle at Major Bob and he allowed us to add it to our shows, then when I decided to do a record, I asked if I could put it on the record and Mike said we could.

I am honored to get the opportunity to do what I consider to be one of the greatest songs I've heard and to make it the title track to this album. Thanks to Mike for allowing me to do it and to Buddy and Garth for writing it!

Chorus
While the Mockingbird warbles
Near the mountain stream
Down in a mine
A canary sings
In a deep dark hole
Where men didn’t belong
They listened to their lives
In a canary’s song

Verse 1
I remember mountain mornings
So quiet I could almost hear
The wind in the red-tails feathers
And the breathin of the deer
Those old tracks seemed to go forever
As a child I’d walk all day
Findin diamonds in the cinders
Pickin chunks of coal away

Verse 2
As morning faded to evening
So too came my time
To follow down in my Daddy’s footsteps
And leave the mountain for the mine
Always bring a bright canary
Our link to the world of air
For we knew while she kept singin
We wouldn’t suffocate down there

Chorus
While the Mockingbird warbles
Near the mountain stream
Down in a mine
A canary sings
In a deep dark hole
Where men don’t belong
We listened to our lives
In a canary’s song

Bridge
And we’d listen for the sunrise
For wings against the sky
And we’d listen for the dreams
That’d make men try

Verse 3
Once again I left the mountain
To find work when the mine shut down
Those old tracks don’t go forever
They end in this old part of town
All I brought was this canary
As I wake from dreams of home
I pray I’ll hear her singin
And fear a silence cold as stone

Chorus
While the Mockingbird warbles
Near the mountain stream
In a cold water room
A canary sings
Livin in this hole
Where I don’t belong
I listen to my life
In a canary’s song