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Original Talking Blues lyrics
Miscellaneous
Talking Blues
Talking Blues
If you want to get to heaven, let me tell you what to do,
You gotta grease your feet in a little mutton stew.
Slide right out of the devil's hand,
And ease over to the Promised Land.
Take it easy! Go greasy!
I was down in the holler just a'settin' on a log,
My finger on the trigger and my eye on a hog;
I pulled that trigger and the gun went "zip"
And I grabbed that hog with all of my grip
'Course l can't eat hog eyes, but I love chitlins
Down in the hen house on my knees,
I thought I heard a chicken sneeze,
But it was only the rooster sayin' his prayers
Thankin' the Lord for the hens upstairs.
Rooster prayin', hens a-layin',
Pore little pullets just pluggin' away best they know how.
Mama's in the kitchen fixin' the yeast,
Poppa's in the bedroom greasin' his feets
Sister's in the cellar squeezin' up the hops,
Brother's at the window just a-watchin' for the cops.
Drinkin' home brew-makes you happy.
Now, I'm just a city dude a-livin' out of town.
Everybody knows me as Moonshine Brown;
I make the beer, and I drink the slop,
Got nine little orphans that call me Pop.
I'm patriotic...raisin' soldiers. Red cross nurses.
Ain't no use me workin' so hard,
I got a gal in the rich folks' yard.
They kill a chicken, she sends me the head.
She thinks I'm workin', I'm a-layin' up in bed.
Just dreamin' about her. Havin' a good time. . .
Two other women.
Recorded by Woody Guthrie
filename[ TALKBLUE
RG
n.
===DOCUMENT BOUNDARY===
Miscellaneous
Talking Blues
Part of these releases
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- Track 15 on Blues Songs Ballads
- 14 Sister Kate
- 16 Pallet on the Floor
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- Track 15 on Blues, Songs and Ballads
- 14 Sister Kate
- 16 Pallet on the Floor
Original Talking Blues Video
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P.S. For an excellent example of how the "original" talking blues song undergoes significant changes in lyrics, key and tempo but adheres to the form and sports the title "Original Talking Blues," give a listen to Tom Rush's version on his 1963 album, Blues, Songs and Ballads.
Follow/cut & paste the link below to the Tom Rush album on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSxf4et8Hsk
"Original Talking Blues" starts at 8:17min.
A version (Tom Rush, I believe) I heard in the early '70s had more verses and another chorus:
"what's the use in my working so hard when I got a gal in the rich folk's yard, (she) kills the chicken, sends me the feet, thinks I'm working but I'm walking the streets...looking in the windows, looking at the cars, looking at all the pretty women..."
I'd suppose it's the same as with any other traditional or American folk/roots song in that different artists in different times spin their own additions to the old talking blues song frm. I've heard many other 'talking blues' songs which follow the same simple form, really only three simple chords (G,C & D) or in different keys but still only 3 chords and a little flat-picking or finger-picking, up-tempo, slow, bluesy, humorous and many with different lyrics and titles . Take for examples, Doc Watson's "Deep Elem Blues" and Tom Paxton's "Talking Vietnam Potluck Blues," amongst many others. Deep Elem Blues is in a different key with a few change-ups, yet it's essentially the talking blues form. Paxton's song (melody and chord progression) is the exact same as the so-called "original talking blues" form (albeit entirely different title and lyrics.)
I wonder what else came before the "original?"