From: "Gene L. Graham" ah827@rgfn.epcc.Edu
Performers: The Stanley Brothers and the Clinch Mountain Boys
Words and music: Alfred E. Brumley, Sr.

Thanks to "Brijet Neff" neff@svn.net for the little known second verse
"The only recorded version with three verses( that I could find) was
by Carl Story and his Rambling Mountaineers. It was recorded on
Starday album 'Mighty Close To Heaven'."

RANK STRANGERS

INTRO: Play last two lines of chorus.

CAPO: 4th Fret/KEY: F#/PLAY: D
I wandered a-[D] gain - to my [A7] home in the [D] mountains
Where in youths' early dawn - I was [E] happy and [A7] free [E] [A7]
I looked for my [D] friends - but [A7] I never could [D] find them
I found they were all - rank [A7] strangers to [D] me. [G] [D]

CHORUS
Ever'body I met (ECHO: ever'body I met)
Seemed to [G] be a rank [D] stranger (seemed to be a rank stranger)
No mother or dad (no mother or dad) ...
Not a [E] friend could I [A7] see (not a [E] friend could I [A7] see)
They knew not my [D] name (they knew not my name)
And I [A7] knew not their [D] faces (and I knew not their faces)
I found they were all (I found they were all)
Rank [A7] strangers to [D] me (rank [G] strangers to [D] me).

I searched every face for a sign of a loved one,
and  I asked everyone where the old folks could be.
I went down the road to inquire of some neighbors,
but found they were too, rank strangers to me.

"They've all moved away" - said the voice of a stranger
"To a beautiful home - by the bright crystal sea"
Some beautiful day - I'll meet 'em in heaven
Where no one will be - a stranger to me.

CHORUS

Source: THE BLUEGRASS HALL OF FAME, 1987 HIGHLAND MUSIC HT-105