The Mosam Skiffle Train
Twice Bitten Three Times Shy - Lyrics
1. John Henry
(Trad. / J. Innemee)
Well John Henry told his little woman
Gotta cook my supper soon
I got nineteen miles-a-track I’m goin’ to line
Gonna line ‘m by the light of the moon Lord Lord
Gonna line ‘m by the light of the moon
Now John Henry told his captain
A man ain’t nothin’ but a man
But before I let your steamdrill beat me down
Gonna die with that hammer in my hand Lord Lord
Gonna die with that hammer in my hand
John Henry told his captain
A man ain’t nothin’ but a man
But before I let your steamdrill beat me down
Gonna die with a hammer in my hand Lord Lord
Die with a hammer in my hand
John Henry had a little woman
And the dress that she wore was red
Oh she started on track oh Lord she never looks back
I’m going where John Henry lies dead Lord Lord
I’m going where John Henry lies dead
Well John Henry went down to Arkansas
And they buried him in the sand
And the people from the east and the people from the west
Said “see there’s a steel drivin’ man” Lord lord
Said “See there’s a steel drivin’ man”
Well there’s some say he’s from England
And there’s some say he’s from France
Lord knows he’s nothin’ but a Louisiana man
He’s the leader of a steel drivin’ gang Lord Lord
He’s the leader of a steel drivin’ gang
2. Oh Monah
(Trad. / J. Innemee)
An old coloured preacher was sitting on a log - Oh Monah
Had his finger on the trigger and his eye on the hawk - Oh Monah
The gun went boom and the hawk went zzzip - Oh Monah
The preacher grabbed it with all his grip - Oh Monah
Oh Mona you shall be free, oh Lawdy Lawd
Oh Mona you shall be, yes you shall be free
When the good Lord sets you free Lalalala lalalala
I was down behind the hen-house on my knees - Oh Monah
When I thought I heard a chicken sneeze - Oh Monah
It sneezed so hard with a wooping cough - Oh Monah
That it sneezed his head and his tail right off - Oh Monah
I was goin' down the road - Oh Monah
Had a tired team and a heavy load - Oh Monah
I cracked my whip and the leadhorse cowered - Oh Monah
And the hindwheels busted, the wagon toppled - Oh Monah
3. In The Evening
(Leroy Carr)
In the evening, in the evening, mamma when the sun goes down
In the evening, mamma when the the sun goes down
Ain’t it lonesome, ain’t it lonesome
When your mamma ain’t in town
When the sun goes down
Well goodbye, all sweethearts and palls
Lord I’m on my way
I may be back to see you again
Guess some old rainy day
In the evening, in the evening
Mamma when the sun goes down
When the sun goes down
Well I love you, in the winter
and I love you in the fall
I love you in the winter
Love you all to the fall
But when it’s late in the evening
Well I love you best of all
When the sun goes down
4. Putting On The Style
(Trad. / Cazden)
Sweet sixteen goes to church just to see the boys
Laughs and screams and giggles at every little noise
Turns her face a little, and turns her head a while
But everybody knows she’s only putting on the style
Putting on the agony, putting on the style
That’s what all the young folks are doing all the while
And as I look around me I sometimes have to smile
Seeing all the young folks putting on the style
Young man in a hot rod car driving like he’s mad
With a pair of yellow gloves he boroughed from his dad
Make it roar so lively just to see his girlfriend smile
But she knows that he is only putting on the style
Putting on the agony, putting on the style
That’s what all the young folks are doing all the while
And as I look around me I sometimes have to smile
Seeing all the young folks putting on the style
Preacher in the pulpit roars with all his mind,
Sings Glory Halleluja, puts the folks all in a freight
And you may think it’s Satan who’s coming down the aisle
It’s only a poor preacher boy that’s putting on the style
Putting on the agony, putting on the style
That’s what all the young folks are doing all the while
And as I look around me I sometimes have to smile
Seeing all the young folks putting on the style
5. Bright Lights Big City
(Jimmy Reed)
Bright lights big city gone to my baby’s head (2x)
I tried to tell the woman but she don’t believe a word I said
It’s alright pretty baby, gonna need my help some day (2x)
Ya’ gonna wish you had a listened to some a those things I said
Go ahead pretty baby, honey knock yourself out (2x)
I still love you baby cause you don’t know what it’s all about
6. Green Corn
(Trad. / J. Innemee)
All I want in this creation
Is a little wife and a big plantation
Green corn, come along Charly (2x)
Green corn, come along Charly (4x)
All I want in this creation
Is a little wife and a big plantation
Green corn, come along Charly (2x)
Wake snake the day’s a breakin’
Peas in the pot and who’s cake a baking
Green corn, come along Charly (4x)
Got two sons called Happy and Gravy
One’s gonna plot and the other’s gonna save me
Green corn, come along Charly (4x)
Wake snake the day’s a breakin’
Peas in the pot and who’s cake a baking
Green corn, come along Charly (4x)
Got two sons called Happy and Gravy
One’s gonna plot and the other’s gonna save me
Green corn, come along Charly (4x)
Green corn, come along Charly (4x)
All I want in this creation
Is a little wife and a big plantation
Green corn, come along Charly (4x)
Got two sons called Happy and Gravy
One’s gonna plot and the other’s gonna save me
Green corn, come along Charly (4x)
8. Little Red Rooster
(Willy Dixon)
I am a little red rooster too lazy to crow for day (2x)
Keep everything in the barnyard upset in every way
The dogs begin to bark and the hounds begin to howl (2x)
Watch out strange kin people the little red rooster is on the prowl
If you see my little red rooster please drive him home (2x)
There’s been no peace in the barnyard since my little red rooster’s been gone
9. Parlez nous a boire
(Dewey Balfa)
Va parlez nous a boire
Non pas du marriage
Toujours en regrettant
Les joli temps passés
Si que tu marrie avec une jolie fille
C’est dans les grands dangers
Qu’il vont te la voler
Si que tu marrie avec une villaine fille
C’est dans les grands dangers faudra
Tu fais ta vie avec
Si que tu marrie avec une fille bien pauvre
C’est dans les grands dangers faudra
travailler tout la vie
Si que tu marrie avec une jolie fille
C’est dans les grands dangers
Qu’il vont te la voler
10. Sixteen Tons
(Merle Travis)
Some people say a man is made out of mud
A poor man is made out of muscle and blood
Muscle and blood and skin and bones
A mind that´s weak and a back that´s strong
You load sixteen tons and what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don´t you call me ´cause I can´t go
I owe my soul to the company store
I was born one morning it was drizzlin´ rain
Fighting and trouble are my middle name
I was raised in the canebrake by an old mammalein
Ain’t no goddamn woman gonna make me toe the line
I was born one morning when the sun didn´t shine
I picked up my shovel and I walked to the mine
I loaded sixteen tons of number nine coal
And the store boss said: “well bless my soul”
If you see me coming, better step aside
A lot of men didn´t, a lot of men died
One fist ‘s of iron the other’s of steel
If the right one don´t get you then the left one will
11. My Dixie Darling
(Carter)
My Dixie darling listen to the song I sing
Beneath the silvery moon with my banjo right in tune
I love no one but you, my heart is always true
My Dixie darling, my Dixie Belle
I just got back from out of town
I been ramblin’ round and round
I met lots of Southern Belles but I had no romance to tell
It’s been true as true can be
I swear that on my bended knees
There’s no one half as swell as my Dixie Belle
My Dixie darling listen to the song I sing
Beneath the silvery moon with my banjo right in tune
I love no one but you, my heart is always true
My Dixie darling, my Dixie Belle
I like whiskey, I like gin
I like the horse when they win
Gamblin’ at Kentucky races I meet lots of pretty faces
But there is one thing I will bet
My Dixie gal is the prettiest yet
There is no one half as swell as my Dixie Belle
My Dixie darling listen to the song I sing
Beneath the silvery moon with my banjo right in tune
I love no one but you, my heart is always true
My Dixie darling, my Dixie Belle
I’m gonna marry, settle down
Settle down in a Southern town
Buy myself a small homestead, livin’ in peace until I’m dead
There is no one half as swell
Listen again as I wanna tell
There is no one half as swell as my Dixie Belle
My Dixie darling listen to the song I sing
Beneath the silvery moon with my banjo right in tune
I love no one but you, my heart is always true
My Dixie darling, my Dixie Belle
12. Pay Me My Money Down
(Trad. / J. Innemee)
Pay me, pay me, pay me my money down
Pay me or go to jail
Pay me my money down
Think I heard my captain say
Pay me my money down
Tomorrow is my sailin’ day
Pay me my money down
Wish I was Mr. Steven’s son
Pay me my money down
Sleep all day till the work was done
Pay me my money down
Wish I was Mr. Alfred’s son
Pay me my money down
I’d stay in the house and drink good rum
Pay me my money down
Wish I was a millionair
Pay me my money down
And on money I never care
Pay me my money down
13. The Grand Coulee Dam
(Woody Guthrie)
Well the world has seven wonders the travellers always tell
Some gardens and some towers, I guess you know them well
But now the greatest wonder is in Uncle Sam’s fair land
It’s the King Columbia River and the big Grand Coulee Dam
She heads up the Canadian Rockies where the rippling waters glide
Comes a-rumbling down the canyon to meet that salty tide
Of the white Pacific Ocean where the sun sets in the west
And the big grand Coulee country in the land I love the best
In the misty chrystal glitter, up the wind and windward spray
Men fought the pounding waters, and met a watery grave
She tore their boats to splinters, but she gave men dreams to dream
On the day that Coulee dam would cross that wild and wasted stream
Uncle Sam took up the challenge, in the year of 33
For the farmer and the factory, and for all of you and me
He said: “Roll down to Columbia and ramble to the sea
But river while you rambling you can do some work for me
Now in Michigan and Oregon, you can hear the factories hum
Making chrome and making manganese and light aluminum
And there roars a mighty furnace now to fight for Uncle Sam
Spawned upon the King Columbia by the big Grand Coulee Dam
14. Song For Lonnie
(P. Houben / L. Eikelmann)
Take your guitar and play on forever
Pick up your banjo and light up the stars
The heavenly band will sound so much better
Skiffle from Venus to Mars
Lonnie o Lonnie, you’ll never leave us
You gave us your music, your laughter, your soul
What ever happens, we’ll always remember
Young hearts will never grow old
You brought the music back to the people
Never so simple, yet never so fine
You led the way to the top of the steeple
The end of the Rock Island Line
Take your guitar and play on forever
Pick up your banjo and light up the stars
The heavenly band will sound so much better
Skiffle from Venus to Mars
Lonnie o Lonnie, you’ll never leave us
You gave us your music, your laughter, your soul
What ever happens, we’ll always remember
Young hearts will never grow old
You brought the music back to the people
Never so simple, yet never so fine
You led the way to the top of the steeple
The end of the Rock Island Line
16. Big Rock Candy Mountain
(Trad. / P. Houben)
One evening as the sun went down and the jungle fire was burning
Down the track came a hobo hiking, and he said”boys I’m not turning
I’m headed for a land that’s far away. beside the crystal fountains
So come with me, we’ll go and see the Big Rock Candy Mountains.”
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains,there’s a land that’s fair and bright,
Where the hand-outs grow on bushes, and you sleep out every night,
Where the boxcars all are empty, and the sun shines every day,
On the birds and the bees and the cigarette trees,
The lemonade springs where the blue bird sings
In The Big Rock Candy Mountains
In The Big Rock Candy Mountains all the cops have wooden legs
And the bulldogs all have rubber teeth and the hens lay soft-boiled eggs
The farmer’s trees are full of fruit and the barns are full of hay
Oh I’m bound to go, where there ain’t no snow,
Where the rain don’t fall, the winds don’t blow,
In The Big Rock Candy Mountains
In the Big Rock Candy Mauntains, you never change your socks
And the little streams of alcohol, come a-trickling down the rocks,
The brakemen have to tip their hats and the railroad bulls are blind,
There’s a lake of stew and of whiskey too,
You can paddle all around ‘em in a big canoo,
In The Big Rock Candy Mountains
In The Big Rock Candy Mountains the jails are made of tin
And you can walk right out again as soon as you are in
There ain’t no short-handled shovels, no axes, saws or picks
I’m a-goin’ to stay, where you sleep all day,
Where they hung the jerk, that invented work
In The Big Rock Candy Mountain
I’ll see you all this comin’ fall in The Big Rock Candy Mountains