American Songs

Trail of the Lonesome Pine, The - Chords, Lyrics and Origins

Origins

The Trail of the Lonesome Pine was written by Ballard MacDonald and Harry Carroll. It was based upon a novel of the same name and was first published in 1913, one year before the outbreak of the first world war. I know it from the (very funny) Laurel and Hardy version, which was a chart hit in the U.K. during the nineteen seventies, several years after both Laurel and Hardy had died.

Chords

Capo at 5th Fret

Verse

C
On a mountain in Virginia

                                  G7    F#7 G7
Stands a lonesome pine.

G7               C
Just below is the cabin home

D7            G         G7
Of a little girl of mine.

C
Her name is June, and very, very soon

E7           B7        Em
She'll belong to me,

C
For I know she's waiting there for me

D7                                          G7 F#7 G7
'Neath that lone pine tree.

Chorus

G7       C                  A7                        D7
In the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia,

             G7                                C         F#7 G7
On the trail of the lonesome pine;

            C                 A7             D7
In the pale moon shine our hearts entwine,

                                                        G7 D7        G7
Where she carved her name and I     carved mine.

       C                      C7
Oh, June, like the mountains I'm blue,

               F                                       E7
Like the pine I am lonesome for you;

G7    C                  A7                        D7
In the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia,

             G7                                C         F#7 G7
On the trail of the lonesome pine;

Lyrics

On a mountain in Virginia
Stands a lonesome pine.
Just below is the cabin home
Of a little girl of mine.
Her name is June, and very, very soon
She'll belong to me,
For I know she's waiting there for me
'Neath that lone pine tree.

In the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia,
On the trail of the lonesome pine;
In the pale moon shine our hearts entwine,
Where she carved her name and I carved mine.
Oh, June, like the mountains I'm blue,
Like the pine I am lonesome for you;
In the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia
On the trail of the lonesome pine.

In the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia
On the trail of the lonesome pine
In the pale moon shine our hearts entwine
Where she carved her name and I carved mine
Oh, June, like the mountains I'm blue
Like the pine I am lonesome for you
In the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia
On the trail of the lonesome pine