|
Watermelon Song
You can plant a watermelon up above my grave,
And let the juice (slurp) seep through,
You can plant a watermelon up above my grave,
That’s all I ask of you.
Now chocolate chip cookies, they taste mighty fine,
But nothing’s quite as good as the watermelon vine,
You can plant a watermelon up above my grave,
And let the juice (slurp) seep through.
Lynchburg Town
Wish I had a pig in a pen,
And corn to feed him on,
Pretty little girl to stay at home,
And feed him when I’m gone.
Chorus:
I’m going down to town,
I’m going down to town,
I’m going down to Lynchburg town,
To tote my tobacco down.
There’s sixteen horses in my team,
And the leader he is blind,
And every time that sun goes down,
There’s a pretty girl on my mind.
Jeff Davis rides a big white horse,
Old Abe he rides a mule,
Jeff Davis is a gentleman,
Old Abe he is a fool.
It’s whiskey by the jar, boys,
And sugar by the pound,
A great big mug to put them in,
And a spoon to stir it ‘round.
I’m gonna get some sticks and stones,
And make my chimney higher,
To keep that gol-derned old tom cat
From putting out my fire.
There Was an Old Woman
There was a woman in our town,
In our town did dwell,
She loved her husband dearly,
But another man twice as well.
Chorus:
Sing too-di-um, sing too-di-um,
Whack fa-lal-the-day.
She went down to the butcher shop
To see if she could find,
To see if she could find something
To make her old man blind.
She got twelve dozen marrow bones,
She made him suck them all,
Says he, “Old woman, I am so blind,
I can’t see you at all.”
Says he, “I’d go and drown myself
If only I could see.”
Says she, “My dear old husband,
I’ll go and show you the way.”
She bundled him up in his old grey coat,
She took him to the brim,
Says he, “I cannot drown myself
Unless you push me in.”
The old woman took a step or two back
To take a rolling spring,
The old man stepped a little aside,
And she went tumbling in.
She bubbled and gurgled and squalled out
As loud as she could bawl,
Says he, “Old woman, I am so blind,
I can’t see you at all.”
The old man being kind-hearted,
For fear she could not swim,
He went and got a very long pole,
And pushed her further in.
Chicken Song
In these inflationary times, some folks got lots of bread,
But we’re still paying through the nose just to keep our family fed.
We tried to change our diet and get something cheaper to eat,
We’re eating lots more chicken now, and a whole lot less red meat.
Chorus:
It’s chicken, chicken, put ‘em in a pot,
Cook ‘em up most any way, tell you what you got -
Chicken in a pot.
When you go to the butcher just to get yourself that bird,
Make sure you get the whole thing, ‘cause you can use it all, I’ve heard,
You can cook the eggs and gnaw the bones and eat up all of that meat,
Stuff a pillow with the feathers and make a soup out of the feet.
Well, eating all these chickens, I’m sure that it’s a sin,
It seems their lives have just begun before we do them in,
I’ve been doing a little calculating, and I’ll tell to you right now,
It takes five hundred twenty three chickens just to make up one old cow.
Well, I’ve had them fried, broiled, braised, curried, baked, and creamed,
Cordon bleued and barbecued, I can see them in my dreams,
Croquette, cutlet, almondine, paprikash and fricassee,
It’s time to switch to tofu--and set your chickens free.
Doodle Dandy
Doodle, doodle, doodle dandy,
Cornstalks, rum and homemade brandy,
Indian pudding and pumpkin pie,
And that will make the Yankees fly!
And every Yankee will have on his back
A great big pumpkin in a sack,
A little molasses and a piece of pork,
And away we’ll go straight for New York.
Stetson Hat
Filled with alkaline, sand and mud,
Smeared with grease and crimson blood,
Battered and bent from constant use,
Still you withstood the derned abuse.
A good companion through all the years,
Fanning broncs and long-horned steers,
I dedicate this to the old grey lid
For the useful things the old hat did.
Coaxing a smoldering fire in the cold,
Panning dirt in search of gold,
Pushed up big and knocked down flat,
That’s been the lot of my Stetson hat.
Carrying oats to a spooky bronc,
Security for drinks in a honky-tonk,
Mistreated, abused on a round-up spree,
Walked on, stomped on, old J. B.
Fighting a fire in a clapboard shack,
Stopping a hole in a windy crack,
Been everywhere that a hat can go,
Forty-eight states and Mexico.
Growing old as we trailed along,
But you, old hat, you’re going strong,
Been a good pal through all of that,
You dirty, old, grey Stetson hat.
Gay Paree
I been to gay Paree,
Where the wind at half past three
Comes strolling along where the boys belong,
Hollering ta-ra-boom-di-ay.
I danced the “oyster can”
Upon the American plan,
I shed great tears when I got three years
For stealing a couple of long-horned steers.
I’ve been to Kansas C,
I’ve been upon a spree,
I’ve been in jail, been out on bail,
And I’ve been on a ship that would not sail.
I’ve been to Ohio,
And likewise Cameo,
Indianapolis, Cincinnati,
Louisville and Buffalo.
I’ve been up in a balloon,
I’ve been in a saloon,
I’ve been dead broke and I’ve been in a soak,
And I drank and I drank ‘til I thought I’d croak.
I’ve been a real hard dude,
And sometimes rather rude,
I’ve been draped in mourning and crape,
For a year and a half I’ve been stuck on my shape.
Been bunkoed once or twice,
With cards and shooting dice,
Bet a house and a lot and fourteen spot,
But they pulled my leg plum full of knots.
I’ve been in bum hotels,
Paid prices that were swells,
I’ve been in bum beds where I fought and bled,
Chasing the bed bugs ‘round my head.
I often played baseball,
Been umpire and all,
Been hit with bats and sticks and bricks,
And thumped around in a terrible fix.
And I’ve been to Chicago, too,
That place where the wind blows through,
Where I went to the fair, and they clipped my hair,
And they charged me a dollar an inch for air.
And I went down to the track,
On a horse I took a crack,
I bet a ten or two on a horse I knew,
But the horse dropped dead and never came to.
I lived on pork and beans,
And slept in room thirteen,
I’ve been out at night, and I’ve seen the sights,
And I’ve hit the tiles by candlelight.
And I’ve been to Salt Lake, too,
That’s the only place I knew
Where the girls are beauties, and they does their duties,
And they chew the gum they call tootsy-frootsy.
And I went to In-di-an,
And I stepped on a banan,
And I slipped and fell, and it hurt as well,
But the words I used I never can tell.
And I owned an automobile,
And likewise rode a wheel,
I made a gold strike and had a prize fight,
But since that night I’ve never been right.
And I’ve fought for the blue and the grey,
And I’ve slept on a bale of hay,
I drove a mule, taught public school,
But I never could learn that golden rule.
And I’ve been in politics, too,
Oh, how the money flew,
In Tammany Hall, I had a close call,
But I never could learn to sing “After the Ball.”
I drank red lemonade
Made from a post hole spade,
I’ve shot snipes by electric lights,
And I marched with the Salvation Army at night.
And I’ve been where I didn’t belong,
You’ve heard this lovely song,
Well, these are all facts, but I made a few cracks,
And Ivll get it in the neck where the chicken got the ax.
Green Willow Tree
There was a ship a-sailing on the North Amerikee,
And she went by the name of the Green Willow Tree.
Chorus:
Sailing, O, the lonesome lowlands low,
So level and so low.
She had not been a-sailing for two weeks or three,
When they were overtaken by the Turkish Reveillee.
“Oh,” cried the captain, “Whatever shall we do?
For the Turkish Reveillee will surely cut us all in two.”
Up spoke the cabin boy, “What will you give to me,
If I will go and sink for you the Turkish Reveillee?”
“I will give you gold, and I will give you fee,
And my only daughter your wedded wife to be.”
Out on his back and away swam he,
And he swam ‘til he came to the Turkish Reveillee.
He had a little instrument just fitting for the work,
And he bored nine holes in the bottom of the Turk.
Some they came with hats and some they came with caps,
And they tried for to fill them salty water gaps.
Out on his back and away swam he,
And he swam ‘til he came to the Green Willow Tree.
“Oh,” cried the cabin boy, “Come take me up on board,
And be unto me just as good as your word.”
“No,” cried the captain, “I’ll not take you up on board;
I’ll not be unto you just as good as my word.”
“If it wasn’t for the love of your daughter and your men,
I would do unto you just as I done unto them.”
Out on his back and away swam he,
“Farewell, farewell to the Green Willow Tree!”
Down on Penny’s Farm
Come you ladies and you gentlemen and listen to my song,
You may think I’m right and you may think I’m wrong,
May make you mad, but I mean no harm,
It’s all about the renters out on Penny’s farm.
Chorus:
It’s hard times in the country,
Down on Penny’s farm.
Hasn’t George Penny got a flattering mouth,
He’ll move you to the country in a little log house,
Ain’t got no windows but the cracks in the wall,
He’ll work you in the summer, but he’ll rob you in the fall.
You’re out in the field and you work all day
Late into night but you get no pay,
Promise you some meat or a little piece of lard,
It’s hard to be renter out on Penny’s farm.
Here’s George Penny, he’s a-coming into town
With a wagon load of peaches, not one of them sound,
Gotta get some money or somebody’s check,
You pay him for a bushel but you don’t get a peck.
George Penny’s renters they’re a-coming into town
With their hands in their pockets and their heads hanging down,
Go to the merchant and the merchant he’ll say,
“Your mortgage is due and I want to get my pay.”
So you reach in your pocket with a trembling hand,
“I can’t pay you all, but I’ll pay you what I can.”
Merchant to the telephone, and then he makes a call,
“I’ll put you on the chain gang if you don’t pay it all.”
Fooba Wooba
Saw a flea heave a tree,
Fooba wooba, fooba wooba,
Saw a flea heave a tree,
Fooba wooba John.
Saw a flea heave a tree,
Forty miles out to sea.
Chorus:
And old blind, drunk John,
Fooba wooba John.
Saw a mouse chase a cat (3X),
Saw the cheese eat the rat.
Saw a snail chase a whale (3X),
All around the garbage pail.
Saw a bear with no hair (3X),
He was in his underwear.
Frog in the Spring
Well, there was a frog lived in the spring,
King kong, kitty, won’t you kimee-o,
And he had such a cold that he could not sing,
King kong, kitty, won’t you kimee-o.
Chorus:
Keemo kimo, kimo kee
Way down yonder in the hollow tree,
The mouse and the bat and the bumble bee,
King kong, kitty, won’t you kimee-o.
Mah hi, mah ho, ricky ticky, tummy tiddle,
Soup back, penny winkle,
Nit cat, sing song, kitty, won’t you kimee-o.
“Who’s been here since I’ve been gone?”
“A pretty little man with his new shoes on.”
“A pretty little dandy man,” said she,
“With a striped back and a crooked knee.”
Well, the mouse went swimming out across the lake,
And she got swallowed by a big old snake.
Old Chisholm Trail
Come along, boys, and listen to my tale,
I’ll tell you ‘bout the troubles on the old Chisholm Trail.
Chorus:
Come a ti-yi-yippie, yippie-yea, yippie-yea,
Come a ti-yi-yippie, yippie-yea.
Ten-dollar horse, a forty-dollar saddle,
I’m going to punch them Texas cattle.
It’s bacon and beans most every day,
I’d rather be eating that prairie hay.
It’s cloudy in the west and it looks like rain,
And my derned old slicker’s in the wagon again.
Well, the wind commenced to blow and the rain began to fall,
And it looks, by God, we’re gonna lose them all.
We rounded them up and put them in the cars,
And that was the last of the old “Two Bars.”
I’m going into town to see my honey,
Going into town to collect my money.
I went to the boss to collect my roll,
He had me figured nine dollars in the hole.
With my seat in the saddle and my saddle in the sky,
I’ll quit punching cattle in the great by-and-by.
Jimmy Sutton
I took my gun and I went a-hunting,
“Bang!” went the gun, and down went the mutton.
Cow and the sheep walking through the pasture,
“Cow,” says the sheep, “Can’t you walk a little faster?”
Well, the cow fell down and skinned her shin,
Good God-a-mighty, how the billy-goat grinned.
I can’t stand meal, I can’t stand mutton,
I don’t give a blank for that old Jimmy Sutton,
You can’t sing that, you can’t sing nothing!
Doodle Bug
When I was a kid, this is what I did
Just to pass the time away,
I’d look all around until I found
A doodle hole, then I’d say:
Chorus:
“Doodle, doodle, doodle; bug, bug, bug,
Doodle, doodle, doodle; bug, bug, bug,
Doodle bug come out and look all around,
And doodle back in the ground.”
Well, I don’t know why to a doodle I’d lie,
So this is what I’d say,
“Your house is on fire, your children will burn,
Doodle, fly up this way.”
Now that I’m grown, I wish I did own
A doodle piece of ground,
I’d get up each day, with a doodle I’d play,
Happiness I would have found.
Glendy Burk
Now the Glendy Burk is a mighty fast boat
With a mighty fast captain, too,
And he sits all day on the hurricane deck,
And he keeps his eye on the crew.
I can’t stay here ‘cause I work too hard,
I’m bound to leave this town;
I’ll take my duds and I’ll tote ‘em on my back
When the Glendy Burk comes down.
Chorus:
And it’s, ho, Louisiana,
I’m bound to leave this town,
I’ll take my duds and I’ll tote ‘em on my back
When the Glendy Burk comes down.
The Glendy Burk has a mighty fine crew,
And they sing the boatman’s song,
And they burn the pitch and the pine knot, too,
For to shove the boat along.
Well, the smoke goes up and the engine roars,
And the wheel goes ‘round and ‘round,
So, fare thee well, I’ll take a little trip
When the Glendy Burk comes down.
I work all day in the wind and storm,
And I work all night in the rain
Until I find myself on the dock
In New Orleans again.
They make me work in the hay fields there,
They hit my head with a flail,
I’m going where they work with the sugar in the cane,
And roll the cotton bale.
My lady love, she’s pretty as a pink
I’ll meet her on the way,
I’ll take her back to the sunny old south,
And there I’ll have her stay.
So don’t you fret, my pretty little miss,
And don’t you fret, Miss Brown,
I’ll take you there ‘fore the middle of the week,
And roll the cotton down.
|