Lyr Req: Turkey in the Straw

28 May 98 - 01:12 AM (#29501)
Subject: Lyrics for:
From: [e-mail]

Anybody out there who has the lyrics for turkey in the straw, could you please email them to:

[e-mail]

There's a version of the lyrics that has something to do with animals. For example:

I went to milk a cow but I didn't know how I milked a sheep instead of a cow

It goes something like that.

But any version anyone's got, If I could get the lyrics, I'll be very appreciative.

Thanks so much.

[e-mail] .

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Digital Tradition Version 1
Digital Tradition Version 2
Click for related thread
Click for related thread

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28 May 98 - 08:03 AM (#29517)
Subject: Lyr Add: TURKEY IN THE STRAW
From: Ted from Australia

Brad, Here ya go.

TURKEY IN THE STRAW

Oh we had a little chicken but it wouldn't lay an egg
So we poured hot water up and down its leg
The little chicken cried and the little chicken begged
And the little chicken laid a hard boiled egg

(Instrumental break [parts ABB])

Oh I went to Cincinnati and I walked around the block
And I walked right in to a bak'ry shop
And I picked three doughnuts out of the grease
And I handed the lady a five cent piece

Well - she looked at the nickel and she looked at me
She said this nickel's no good to me
There's a hole in the middle and it's all the way through
Said I there's holes in the doughnut too

Thanks for the doughnuts - Goodbye (tune "shave and a haircut - two bits""

This is from an old (20-odd years) cassette of Michael Cooney. The performance of the song was mainly clawhammer banjo and the singing part was only after 2 sets of AABB

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28 May 98 - 08:53 AM (#29521)
Subject: Lyr Add: TURKEY IN THE STRAW
From: Barry Finn

Came upon a river & I want get across
Jumped on an alligator thought it was a horse
Won't go forward & won't stay still
Went up & down like an old saw mill

Ch: Turkey in the straw, ha, ha, ha
Turkey in the hay, Hey, hey, hey
Roll em up na twist em up, high tuck a haw
Hit em up a tune like turkey in the straw

Hitched up my wagon & I went down the road
Got a 3 horse wagon & a 4 horse load
I cracked my whip & the lead horse sprung
And I said day, day to the wagon tounge Barry

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28 May 98 - 10:39 AM (#29526)
Subject: RE: Desparate!!!
From: Dawn

And my favorite....

Old Farmer Brown, well he got himself a scare
Got chased through the woods by a grizzly bear
All the neighbors thought that he must have lost his mind
Cuz he ran through the woods with a bear behind!

;-)

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28 May 98 - 11:02 AM (#29532)
Subject: RE: Desparate!!!
From: Jerry Friedman

The words Brad is looking for are in the database. I'll e-mail him.

My mother has a songbook with similar words to the first version in the DT, but the chorus goes

Dancin' tonight, *whistle four notes*
Dancin' tonight, *whistle four notes*
Purtiest gal you ever saw Will be dancin' with me to the Turkey in the Straw.

Speaking of the DT, the tune to "Skunk Hole" is "Dixie", not "Turkey in the Straw". This is not a matter of different variants--the words fit the one tune and not the other.

Does anyone know what "Day, day" means?

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28 May 98 - 11:51 AM (#29537)
Subject: RE: Desparate!!!
From:

Hey - Somebody get Art Thieme on this thread - He used to do this tune on jewsharp and had collected tons of great verses plus asides between verse: "What sign are you? I'm a feces" yep Art should ad his many verses here...

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28 May 98 - 12:56 PM (#29543)
Subject: RE: Desparate!!!
From: Les

"Well 18 miles of mountain road, and 15 miles of sand, before I travel this road again, I'll be a married man"

and from Uncle Dave Macon

"As I was a walkin" through the field, a blacksnake bit me on the heel, I tried to run and I done my best, but I jammed my head in a hornet's nest"

Also look for variants under the older minstrel tune that "Turkey" came from -- "Old Zip Coon"

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28 May 98 - 02:36 PM (#29547)
Subject: RE: Desparate!!!
From:

!!WARNING, OFFENSIVE LYRIC ALERT!!

Had a friend who learned in the Merchant Marine sing
(for the end of the B part)
Get a woman, get a woman, get a woman if you can
If you can't get a woman, get a clean old man

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28 May 98 - 05:12 PM (#29560)
Subject: RE: Desparate!!!
From: Barry Finn

Day, day-bye, bye. Barry

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28 May 98 - 05:13 PM (#29561)
Subject: Lyr Add: TURKEY IN THE STRAW 2
From: Ted from Australia

From the database
TURKEY IN THE STRAW 2

(More, and probably later, verses)

Oh there was an old geezer and he had a wooden leg [1]
And he never had tobacco, so he always had to beg.
There's another old soldier, as sly as any fox
And he always had tobacco in his old tobacco box.
Says the first old geezer, "Will you let me have a chew?"
Says the second old geezer, "I'll be damned if I do!
If you'd save your money and keep it in your socks
You'd always have tobacco in your old tobacco box."

Oh I went to Cincinnati and I walked around the block
And I walked right into a doughnut shop
And I picked up a doughnut and I wiped off the grease
And I handed the lady a five-cent piece.
She looked at the nickel and she looked at me
And she said, "This nickel's no use to me [2]
There's a hole in the middle and it goes right through."
Says I, "There's a hole in your doughnut, too."

Oh I had a little chicken and she had a wooden leg
The best damn chicken that ever laid an egg
She laid more eggs than any hen around the farm
And another wooden leg wouldn't do her any harm.[3]
One day the little chicken just wouldn't lay an egg
So I poured hot water down the little chicken's leg
The little chicken hollered and the little chicken begged
And the damned old chicken laid a hard-boiled egg.

[1] or "soldier" instead of "geezer"
[2] or "Kind sir, you can plainly see"
[3] or "another little drink wouldn't do us any harm"
@animal
filename[ TURKST2
RG

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28 May 98 - 07:28 PM (#29575)
Subject: RE: Desparate!!!
From: Susan of DT

Jerry - I learned Skunk Hole to Turkey in the Straw

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28 May 98 - 09:27 PM (#29591)
Subject: RE: Desparate!!!
From: Art Thieme

What the heck is "skunk hole"?!?!?!?
Reminds me of the tale 'bout the rabbit makin' love to the skunk; didn't get all he wanted but he got all he could stand!

Little kid, mean as hell,
Pushed his sister in the well,
His mother said while drawing water,
Gee it's hard to raise a daughter!

A man fell into a septic tank,
Whew, that tank it really stank,
He couldn't swim inside that tank,
But he went through the movements before he sank.

Another kid had a mirror,
And he licked the back off,
Thinking in his childish error,
It would cure the whooping cough.

At the funeral the kid's mother,
Shyly said to Mrs. Brown,
"'Twas a chilly day for Billy,
When the mercury went down."

I knew a boy--didn't have much sense,
Bought him a banjo for .15,
The only tune they asked him to play,
Was "Over The Hills And Far Away".

Do your "ears" hang low,
Do they wobble to and fro,
Can you tie 'em in a knot,
Can you tie 'em in a bow?

Can you toss 'em over your shoulder,
Like a continental soldier
Do yor "ears", do your "ears",
Do your "ears" hang low?

I saw Esau kissin' Kate,
Matter o' fact we all three saw,
I saw Esau, he saw me,
And she saw I saw Esau.

Can't think o' any more...

Art

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28 May 98 - 10:07 PM (#29595)
Subject: RE: Desparate!!!
From: rich r

I'm so excited another Turkey In The Straw thread came I've pondered the acronym for this song and decided not to use it. But, I have more words

O, the mule's gone lame, the hens won't lay
Corn's way down, wheat don't pay
Hogs no better, steers too cheap:
Cow's quit milkin', meat won't keep.

Oats all heated, spuds all froze,
Wheat crop's busted, wind still blows
Looks some gloomy, I'll admit
Get up Dobbin, we ain't down yet.

O the coal's too high, crops too low;
Freight rates doubled, got no show;
Money's tighter, morals loose,
Bound to git us; what's the use

Sun's not shining as it should
Moon ain't beaming like it could;
No use stoppin' to debate
Get up Dobbin, It's gittin' late

O the wheels all wobble, the axel's bent
Dashboards's broken, top all rent
One shaft splintered, t'other sags
Seat's all busted, end gate drags

May hang together, b'lieve it will;
Careful drivin'll make it still.
Road's smoothed out till it won't seem true
Get up Dobbin,WE WILL PULL THROUGH.

from "Parodology" eddited by E O Harbin, 1927

rich r

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28 May 98 - 10:20 PM (#29599)
Subject: RE: Desparate!!!
From: Nathan Sarvis ([e-mail])

Someone out there will know who to credit this one to
It fits lots of tunes

Well the little boy sat on the stoop and cried
The old man stopped and he asked him why
"Well, I can't do what the big boys do"
The old man sat down and he cried too.

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03 Jun 98 - 09:01 PM (#30007)
Subject: RE: Desparate!!!
From: [e-mail]

In the Ward Swingle piece "Country Dances", a medley of about 20 American folk tunes, there's a snippet of "Turkey in the Straw" that goes

"Turkey in the straw, haw haw haw-haw Turkey in the hay, hay hay hay-hay Roll 'em up and twist 'em up and high a tuck an' haw And ya hit 'em up a tune and call it Turkey in the Straw"

(I know 'cos I just sang it this spring :))

Sla/n, Kyra

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03 Jun 98 - 09:56 PM (#30008)
Subject: RE: Desparate!!!
From: Chet W.

Did you ever go fishin' on a sunny, sunny day/ When all the little fishes was swimmin' in the bay/ With their hands in their pockets and their pockets in their pants/ All the little fishes do the hoochie-koochie dance

Chet

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07 Jun 98 - 09:30 PM (#30280)
Subject: RE: Desparate!!!
From: kiwi

Chet -

I sang a slightly different version, also from "Country Dances" -

"Oh I love to go a-fishin on a sunny summer day just to watch the perches and the catfish play with their pennies in their pockets and their pockets in their pants, wouldja like to see the ladies to the hoochie-coochie dance?"

Kiwi

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08 Jun 98 - 05:11 PM (#30325)
Subject: RE: Desparate!!!
From: Ole Bull

You might be interested in the genealogy of this one. First,I believe, came the fiddle tune Natchez Under the Hill. Then the words to Zip Coon were put to it. You should be able to find them in the Lester Levy internet collection (recently discovered by the Mudcats). They start either "Old Zip Coon was a larned scholar.." or "I went down to Sandy Hook the arter afternoon.." Then about 1870 Dan Emmett droped the words and called just the fiddle tune "Turkey in the Straw."

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09 Jun 98 - 06:28 PM (#30453)
Subject: RE: Desparate!!!
From: Jerry Friedman

The words to "Old Zip Coon" that I have in a collection start something like:

There once was a man with a double chin
Who performed with skill on the violin,
And he played in time and he played in tune,
But he wouldn't play anything but Old Zip Coon.

Chorus:
Old Zip Coon he played all day,
Until he drove his friends away.
He played all night by the light of the moon,
But he wouldn't play anything but Old Zip Coon.

Susan, how did you manage to sing "Skunk Hole" to "Turkey in the Straw"? According to my calculations, you would have had to sing the syllable "-move" for eight beats comprising ten or fifteen notes.

The version I learned as a child goes to "Dixie", and the words follow, as best as I remember them:

I stuck my head in a little skunk's hole.
The little skunk said, "Well, bless my soul!
Take it out! Take it out!
Reeeemove it!"

Well, I didn't take it out, and the little skunk said,
"If you don't take it out, you'll wish you had.
Take it out! Take it out!
Reeeemove it!"
I removed it, too late.

[or "Take it out! Take it out! Take it out! Re-move it!" which goes better to the tune, but the longer "Re" is more fun.]

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10 Jun 98 - 05:56 AM (#30484)
Subject: RE: Desparate!!!
From: handiman

Turkey in the straw is on the list at this site. I just loaded it down and I can let you have the sheet music too 25 Dennison Av Hoppers Crossing Vic Australia 3029

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13 Jun 98 - 12:15 AM (#30642)
Subject: RE: Desparate!!!
From: Philip Hudson

Jerry Friedman - I just tried "The Little Skunk" to the tune "Dixie" and it works. You need to say "Take it out" three times instead of two. But as a loyal son of the South, I will sing it to that tune only in the privacy of my study and admit it to you alone, so don't tell a soul. As with Susan, the tune we sang it to when I was a boy is very like Turkey in the Straw. It followed the first two lines and then went off on its own. Thanks, Brad, for starting this thread and thinks to every contributor. I am going to download it so I can meditate at my leisure on the depth of human philosophy as revealed in old 'doggrel" verse - Philip HudsonDixie",

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13 Jun 98 - 12:28 AM (#30646)
Subject: RE: Desparate!!!
From: Bill D

copied and pasted from last October..

I remember the Skunk song as

The Woodpeckers Hole...(to approximately the tune of "Dixie"

I put my finger in the Woodpeckers hole And he woodpecker "well, damn your soul Take it out, take it out, take it out--remove it!"

I removed my finger from the Woddpeckers hole And the woodpecker said "well, damn your soul Put it back, put it back, put it back--replace it

I replaced my finger...etc ...... 'Turn it round, turn it round,turn it round--rotate it!

I rotated my finger in the wood peckers hole etc.... "Other way other way, other way--reverse it!

I reversed my finger in the woodpeckers hole etc..... "Do it again, do it again, do it again--repeat it!"

Of course,I have NO idea what all that might mean!

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13 Jun 98 - 12:39 AM (#30652)
Subject: RE: Desparate!!!
From: Bill D

(forgot the image from the original message)

click

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25 Nov 98 - 11:30 PM (#46831)
Subject: Lyr Add: TURKEY IN THE STRAW
From: [e-mail]

As I was a goin' on down the road,
with a tired team and a heavy load,
I cracked my whip and the leader sprung,
I says day-day to the wagon tongue.

CHORUS:

"Turkey in the straw (whistle)
Turkey in the straw (whistle)
Roll 'em up and twist 'em up a high tuck a haw
And hit 'em up a high tuck a haw"

Went out to milk and I didn't know how
I milked the goat instead of the cow
A monkey sittin' on a pile of straw
A winkin' at his mother in law

Chorus repeat

I came to the river and I couldn't get across
So I paid five dollars for a big bay hoss
Well, he wouldn't go ahead and he wouldn't stand still
So he went up and down like an old saw mill

Chorus repeat

Did you ever go fishin' on a warm summer day
when all the fish were swimmin' in the bay
with their hands in their pockets and their pockets in their pants
Did you ever see a fish do the hootchy kootchy dance?

Chorus repeat

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26 Nov 98 - 11:12 AM (#46855)
Subject: RE: Desparate!!!
From:

I worked at a day care and one of the kids absolutely loved this song. Try the Wee Sing Folksongs. Has the whole song and words.

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13 Nov 01 - 08:10 PM (#592031)
Subject: RE: Desparate!!!
From: Lonesome EJ

I revived this interesting old thread that talks about Turkey in the Straw and its supposed precursor Old Zip Coon. On our way to Sorcha's Cheyenne get together, we were talking about this very distinctive tune and wondering whether it had roots that pre-date its appearance in the US. Are any of our British, Scot, or Irish Mudcatters familiar with tunes similar to this one?

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14 Nov 01 - 12:12 AM (#592189)
Subject: RE: Desparate!!!
From: raredance

Not what EJ wanted, but couldn't pass up the opportunity to add more verses.

O, his horse went dead, and his mule went lame,
And he lost six cows; what a measly shame!
Then a hurricane came on a summer's day
And blew the house where he lived away.

An earthquake came, when this was gone
And swallowed up the land that the house stood on:
Then the tax collector camae around,
And charged him up with a hole in the ground.

Hole in the ground, te-he-he!
But he never frowned! No siree!
He put on a smile all of the while,
For hes a good Leaguer, and that's their style.

Farmer Jones went out in a boat,
The boat turned over, and we threw him a rope;
Said Farmer Jones: "Well, I can't swim,
But I'll be drowned first before I'll be roped in.

A little boy on his way from school
Saw a dollar bill at the foot of a mule;
He stooped right down as sly as a mouse,
Funeral next day at the little boy's house.

I once had a girl down in Mobile
She had a face like a lemon peel.
She had a wart on the end of her chin;
She said it was a dimple, but a dimple turns in.

source same as I used above.

rich r

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14 Nov 01 - 09:29 AM (#592372)
Subject: RE: Desparate!!!
From: SharonA

Wow, there certainly are disparate lyrics here! *G*

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14 Nov 01 - 11:33 AM (#592437)
Subject: RE: Desparate!!!
From: masato sakurai

"Turkey in the Straw - The Anatomy of a Melody" by Mark Wilson may be of some help, with sound clips and music pages, but I suspect "Old Bog Hole" wasn't the Scottish progenitor of the tune, since it was originally the name of a song set to the tune of "Zip Coon" (there's three song sheets of "Old Bog Hole" at the Library of Congress American Memory). "Natchez Under the Hill", which is seemingly related, may have been the antecedent of "Zip Coon." G.P. Knauff's version of "NATCHEZ ON THE HILL" is HERE at The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music. It has been said that the tune(s) came from "Rose Tree" composed(?) by William Shield. Might have been, but not so similar. The tune of "Rose Tree" was used for I'd Mourne the Hopes That Leave Me by Thomas Moore, for Beethoven's arrangement of "He Promised Me at Parting" (on Ludwig van Beethoven: Volkslied-Bearbeitungen, Deutsche Grammophon), and for Steeleye Span's "False Knight on the Road (on Please to See the King, Shanachie). Two versions of "Rose Tree" are in Brody, The Fiddler's Fakebook (p. 235). For much more detailed information, see The Fiddler's Companion.

~Masato

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14 Nov 01 - 12:17 PM (#592481)
Subject: RE: Desparate!!!
From: Lonesome EJ

Much thanks Masato. Your last link has a wealth of information, even if it is contradictory. An intriguing statement was this : "An overwhelmingly popular tune in American fiddle tradition. Bayard (1981) suggests that a Scottish tune called "The (Bonny) Black Eagle" (also called "The Way to Edinburgh" by Oswald) resembles "Turkey in the Straw" in in both parts. Besides Samuel Bayard, Alan Jabbour, Winston Wilkinson, George Pullen Jackson and others think that a tune with an even stronger resemblance in the first part to the first part of Turkey is "The Rose Tree" (Maureen ni Cullenaun). Their apparent conclusion is that the Turkey tune is a composite of two older Scottish tunes, the 'A' part of "The Rose Tree" and the 'B' part of "The (Bonny) Black Eagle."

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15 Nov 01 - 02:38 PM (#593430)
Subject: RE: Desparate!!!
From: Owlkat

Try singing The Lobster Quadrille from Alice through the looking glass by Lewis Carrol, for a tongue numbing experience. Owl.

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24 Aug 04 - 03:25 PM (#1255525)
Subject: RE: Desparate!!! 'Turkey In The Straw' Lyrics.
From: GUEST,Womboy

Do your balls hang low, can you swing em to an fro,
Can you tie em in a knot, can you tie em in a bow,
do you eat em in a bap for a fast and tasty snack,
do your balls hang low.

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25 Aug 04 - 09:24 AM (#1256228)
Subject: RE: Desparate!!! 'Turkey In The Straw' Lyrics.
From: GUEST,Hootenanny

Do they hang too low
Do they swing to and fro

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25 Aug 04 - 09:30 AM (#1256234)
Subject: RE: Desparate!!! 'Turkey In The Straw' Lyrics.
From: GUEST,Hootenanny

Sorry, got a phone call:

Do they hang too low
Do they swing to and fro
Do they bang around a lot
Can you tie them in a knot
Can you throw the 'round your shoulder
Like a European Soldier
Do they hang too low in the morning

Do they hang around your knees
Do they tear your BVD'd

etc etc.
Can't remember the rest. Got it from an Oscar Brand album some years back.
The chorus refered to above was:

Any old storm, any old port
Life is long and love is short
Better get a woman get a woman if you can
If you can't get a woman get a clean old man

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26 Aug 04 - 01:27 PM (#1257448)
Subject: RE: Desparate!!! 'Turkey In The Straw' Lyrics.
From: GUEST

Another verse I learned up in Arkansas:

Saw a big catfish comin' down the stream
Said the big catfish "What do you mean?"
Caught that big catfish right on the snout
And turned Mister Catfish inside out!

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18 Jun 08 - 03:18 PM (#2369161)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Turkey in the Straw
From: Goose Gander

Turkey in the Straw: the Anatomy of a Melody by Mark Wilson, from the Rounder Records website.

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18 Jun 08 - 04:12 PM (#2369227)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Turkey in the Straw
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego

For Bill in Alabama:

On an old Josh White album from years back, one of the tunes was "Raise a Ruckus Tonight." The words you furnished, in particular the last verse, are almost exactly the same as in that song, i.e.:

"Way down yonder in Chitlin' Switch,
Raise a ruckus tonight!
A bullfrog jumped from ditch to ditch.
Raise a ruckus tonight!
Bullfrog jumped in the bottom of the well;
Raise a ruckus tonight!
He swore, by God, he'd jumped in hell!
Raise a ruckus tonight!

    CH: Why don't you come along, little children come along,
          While the moon is shining bright.
          Get on board, down by the river shore,
          We're gonna raise a ruckus tonight."

This has got to be a very old piece, one undoubtedly used by many of the blind blues singers in the early years of the 20th century. Josh White very likely learned his version as a youngster from those singers who he guided and shilled for back in those days.

It turns out that this served as a theme song for an early radio show hosted by Pete Seeger and has been done by many other folk and blues artists, including Leon Bibb and Brownie McGhee.

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