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Joe Offer Origins: Bad Lee Brown / Little Sadie (40) ADD: Coon Can / Poor Boy [from Sandburg] 05 Dec 02


Fossil, I was thinking the same thing - in "Bad Man's Blunder," there's this line:
The judge said, "Son, this here shootin' of deputy sheriffs has just natcherly got to stop."
Or something like that. "Blunder" must be different, but it sure steals a lot from this song.
Thanks to Masato, I found the entry in Carl Sandburg's American Songbag (1927). The title is certainly different, but it's definitely the same song. There are some great bits of humor in these songs, a bit different in each one.
-Joe Offer-


COON CAN (POOR BOY)

1. My mother called me to her deathbed side, these words she said to me:
"If your don't mend your rovin' ways, they'll put you in the penitentiary,
They'll put you in the penitentiary, poor boy, they'll put you in the penitentiary,
If you don't mend your rovin' ways, they'll put you in the penitentiary."

2. I sat me down to play coon can, could scarcely read my hand,
A thinkin' about the woman I loved, ran away with another man.
Ran away with another man, poor boy, ran away with another man.
I was thinkin' about the woman I loved, ran away with another man

3. I'm a standin' on the corner, in front of a jewelry store,
Big policeman taps me on the back, says, "You ain't a goin' to kill no more."
Says, "You ain't a goin' to kill no more, poor boy," says, "You ain't a goin' to kill no more."
Big policeman taps me on the back, says, "You ain't a goin' to kill no more."

4. "Oh, cruel, kind judge, oh, cruel, kind judge, what are you goin' to do with me?"
"If that jury finds you guilty, poor boy, I'm goin' to send you to the penitentiary.
I'm goin' to send you to the penitentiary, poor boy, goin' to send you to the penitentiary.
If that jury finds you guilty, poor boy, I'm goin' to send you to the penitentiary."

5. Well, the jury found him guilty, the clerk he wrote it down,
The judge pronounced his sentence, poor boy; ten long years in Huntsville town.
Ten long years in Huntsville town, poor boy, ten long years in Huntsville town;
The judge pronounced his sentence, poor boy, ten long years in Huntsville town.

6. The iron gate clanged behind him, he heard the warden say,
"Ten long years for you in prison, poor boy, yes, it's ten long years for you this day.
Ten long years for you in prison, poor boy, yes, it's ten long years this day."
As the iron gate clanged behind him, that's what he heard the warden say.

    Here are Sandburg's notes on the song:
      Of Fort Smith, Arkansas, we have heard, "There is no fort there and they have forgotten which Smith it was named after." It is a town where they sing Coon Can and Poor Boy; either name is correct, according to Kate Webber of Fort Smith and Chicago, who communicated the tune and one verse, other verses coming by fast freight with no demurrage from Jack Hagerty of Los Angeles
      Its moral is plain: retribution overtakes the wrongdoer; years in the penitentiary are long. Folk songs are often like this; they leave the hearer to piece out the story. . . . The boy is found guilty of killing a woman. Why he killed her, his excuses, and explanations, are not told. There must have been extenuating circumstances, or the jury was impressed by the youthful aspect of the prisoner at the bar, in addition to the mother's testimony that he was always a good boy.


    Source: Carl Sandburg's American Songbag (1927), page 310


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