No two albums have done more to bring bluegrass to the masses than the soundtrack for the Coen brothers’ 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou? and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s 1971 album, Will The Circle Be Unbroken.
“Keep On The Sunny Side” appears on both.
Ada Blenkhorn wrote the song in 1899, apparently inspired by her disabled nephew who always wanted his wheelchair pushed down the sunny side of the street. The Carter Family made it famous with their 1928 recording.
“Mother” Maybelle Carter herself carried the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band version—backed by Doc Watson, Earl Scruggs and Merle Travis, among others—and The Whites followed up with their contribution on the O Brother soundtrack.
“Keep On The Sunny Side” lyrics and cords
There’s a
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dark and a
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troubled side of
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life
There’s a bright and a sunny side,
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too
Though we meet with the darkness and
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strife
The
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sunny side we also may
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view
CHORUS
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Keep on the sunny side,
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always on the sunny
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side
Keep on the sunny side of
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life
It will
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help us every day, it will
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brighten all the
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way
If we keep on the
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sunny side of
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life
Oh the
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storm and its
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fury broke to
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day
Crushing hopes that we cherish so
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dear
Clouds and storms will in time pass a
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way
The
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sun again will shine bright and
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clear
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Let us
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greet with a
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song of hope each
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day
Though the moment be cloudy or
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fair
Let us trust in our savior al
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ways
To
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keep us, every one, in His
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care
CHORUS
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Iconic: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band feat. “Mother” Maybelle Carter
