Midnight Special

i give you the words to a great old song called "midnight special." i knew of it from leadbelly's singin it, pete seeger did too, but mostly people know of it by creedence clearwater revival's playin of it. incredible song, especially if it's sang by someone who personally knows what the song's sayin. it's a song about prison, i have no experience with anything they're sayin here but it's an incredible song, and maybe it means a little something more to one of you. if not, though, sing it and it'll at least mean something.

when you wake up in the morning
hear that big bell ring
go marchin to the table
you get the same damn thing
knife and fork are on the table
nothing in my pan
if you say somethin bout it
you got trouble with the man

chorus:
let the midnight special
shine a light on me
let the midnight special
shine an everloving light on me

well jumpin little judy
was a mighty fine girl
she brought that jumpin
to the whole wide world
she brought it in the morning
just before the day
she brought me the news
that my wife was dead
and that started me a grievin
and a hollerin and cryin
it started me a thinkin
about my great long time

well yonder come my woman
tell me how do you know
i can tell her by her apron
and the dress she wore
an umbrella on her shoulder
piece of paper in her hand
marchin up to the captain
sayin "i want my man"

if you ever get to houston
boys, you better act right
you better not squabble
and you bettter not fight
or the police will arrest you
and they'll bring you down
if the jury finds you guilty
well you're prisonland bound

Whoopie Ti-Yi-Yo

here's a great old cowboy song for you guys, called "whoopie ti-yi-yo". while i've never been a cowboy, it's still an incredible song you can dig without knowin a lot about the references they're makin. for those of you living out on the plains, though, i'd guess some of these things would still mean somethin to you, but as for me i've never had to tangle with jimson weed or prickly pear. i've heard woody guthrie and peter la farge sing this song, but i'm sure others have too. it's a great american tune, bein a cowboy out west and all of its joys...

when i was out walking one morning for leasure
i spied a young cowboy come riding along
his hat was tipped back and his spurs were a jinglin
as he was ridin a singin this song

chorus:
whoopie ti-yi-yo, get along little doggies
it's your misfortune and none of my own
whoopie ti-yi-yo, get along little doggies
don't you know that wyoming will be your new home

it's early in the springtime we round up the doggies
we brand them ere mark them and bob off their tales
round up the cavie, load up the chuckwagon
and throw them doggies out on the trail

some boys they goes up the trails for a pleasure
but that's where they got it most awfully wrong
for they got no idea of the troubles they gives us
as we goes a drivin those doggies along

your mother was raised a way down in texas
where the jimson weed and the sand burs grow
will fill you up on that prickly pear and choya
and throw you on the trail down to mexico

Diamond Joe

well folks, i'm gonna take care of all the cravings going around for more posts by posting some, and the only things i've got to offer this night are some lyrics. there will be a more diverse selection of posts later on, what with albums and lessons and thoughts and such, but here it'll be some more lyrics. a song called "diamond joe" it'll be tonight, a traditional, i know of it from cisco houston's singing but more have sung it. little bit of a warning to workers everywhere...hopefully you wouldn't have to deal with it all your life if you'd get in a situation like that, but if you've got a family or the like it's not too easy to just up an leave, but it'll all even out in the end.

there is a man you hear about most every place you go
his holdings are in texas and his name is diamond joe
he carries all his money in a diamond studded jaw
and he never was much bothered by the process of the law

i hired to diamond joe boys, i did offer him my hand
he gave me a string of horses so old they could not stand
i liked to die of hunger, he did mistreat me so
and i never earned a dollar in the pay of diamond joe

his bread it was corndodger, his meat i could not chaw
he drove me near distracted with the waggin of his jaw
by the tellin of this story i aim to let you know
that there never was a dodger who lied like diamond joe

i tried three times to quit him boys, but he did argue so
that i'm still punchin cattle in the pay of diamond joe
when i'm called up yonder, and it's my time to go
give my blankets to my buddies, give the fleas to diamond joe

The Butcher Boy

well i figure i'll start you guys off with the lyrics to an old folk song called "the butcher boy." there are two versions, one with a railroad boy from london town and another with a butcher boy from yonder town, but both are called "the butcher boy." so depending on how ya sing it, you may be singin a song called "the butcher boy" that doesn't talk about one... but it's a tragic story and an intense song. sung by Buell Kazee, the Clancy Brothers later did a version that sounds completley different than his. their version's probably closer to the traditional song from way back, but how you sing it's really all up to you.

she went upstairs to make her bed
and not one word to her mother said
her mother she went upstairs too
said, "daughter dear daughter, what's troublin you?"
"oh mother oh mother, i cannot tell
that railroad (butcher) boy that i loved so well
he courted me my whole life away
and now at home will no longer stay
there is a place in london (younder) town
where my love goes and sits him down
he takes that strange girl on his knee
and tells to her what he won't tell me"
her father he came home from work
said, "where's my daughter, she seemed so hurt"
he went upstairs to give her hope
and found her there hanging by a rope
he took his knife and cut her down
and on her chest these words he found,
"go and dig my grave both wide and deep
put a marble slab at my head and feet
and over my grave put a snow white dove
to warn the world that i died of love"