David Holt's State of Music
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpeqsuZRGkoQ2JS4J4Ldsew

Rhiannon Giddens of the Carolina Chocolate Drops and "Nashville" based her lyrics for this song on a 19th-century slave's memoir. This is an excerpt from an episode of the PBS series "David Holt's State of Music" (Season 1).

For more info, please visit http://www.davidholttv.org


Julie, oh Julie
Won't you run?
'Cause I see down yonder, the soldiers have come
Julie, oh Julie
Can't you see?
Them devils have come to take you far from me

Mistress, oh mistress
I won't run
'Cause I see down yonder, the soldiers have come
Mistress, oh mistress
I do see
And I'll stay right here 'til they come for me

Julie, oh Julie
You won't go
Leave this house and all you know
Julie, oh Julie
Don't leave here
Leave us, who love you, and all you hold dear

Mistress, oh mistress
I will go
Leave this house and all I know
Mistress, oh mistress
I will leave here
With what family I've got left, they're all I hold dear

Julie, oh Julie
Won't you lie?
If they find that trunk of gold by my side
Julie, oh Julie
You tell them men
That that trunk of gold is yours, my friend

Mistress, oh mistress
I won't lie
If they find that trunk of gold by your side
Mistress, oh mistress
That trunk of gold
Is what you got when my children you sold

Mistress, oh mistress
Don't you cry
The price of stayin' here is too high
Mistress, oh mistress
I wish you well
But in leavin' here, I'm leavin' hell


About “Julie” (Unreviewed)

Julie is a song set in the Civil War, based on a real life event in Mississippi. The lyrics are loosely drawn from an excerpt from The Slaves' War by Andrew Ward. In the excerpt, Julie and Mill, two house slaves, are with their mistress as Yankee soldiers head towards the plantation. Their mistress begs them to run away, saying that the Yankees are the devil and they cannot get caught, but the slaves refuse. The mistress asks them to lie about her money so it won’t get taken, but Mill refuses, as her mistress got that after selling Mill’s children. When the Yankees finally reach them, the two leave, letting the mistress break down.

Written By Rhiannon Giddens
Banjo Rhiannon Giddens
Fiddle Dirk Powell
Bass Jason Sypher
Release Date February 24, 2017

Freedom Highway
Rhiannon Giddens

https://genius.com/Rhiannon-giddens-julie-lyrics