You can hear this on YouTube:


FISHERMAN'S LUCK
As sung by The Dixon Brothers, 1937.

One day I went a-fishin' and I used a frog for bait.
I slung it in the water and I pulled me out a snake.
I had me a bottle o' moonshine to keep me feeling right.
You should have been a-watchin'; well, it was an awful sight.

I pulled his mouth wide open and I poured some whiskey in,
And then I turned that snake a-loose and I used my frog again.
I caught me a great big jackfish, but one thing I did hate:
That doggone greedy pounder(?) had gobbled down my bait.

I then got busy thinking, and I got to feeling blue.
I could not find another frog and I didn't know what to do.
I soon got tired of thinking and I leaned against a tree.
I was calmly smoking when something come to me.

It touched me on the shoulder; I looked around to see,
That doggone water rattler had come to trade with me.
Frogs I think a dozen, he brought them to the bank,
There where I was a-fishin', to trade them in for drink.

The frogs was all around me; the snake coiled(?) on the ground.
He smiled and winked his eye at me and he drank my whiskey down.
Now this will end my story; that rattler headed south.
He crawled away so happy with my bottle in his mouth.


Spotify has recordings by—
Mike Seeger on "Old Time Country Music" (1962)
Roy Harper & Johnny Beller on "Memphis Music & Heritage Festival: Live 1989 Highlights"
(There are other songs with the same title.)