The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #31090   Message #1790073
Posted By: Goose Gander
22-Jul-06 - 03:47 PM
Thread Name: Origin: Blues Chase Up a Rabbit
Subject: Lyr Add: JACKRABBIT BLUES
Charles Todd and Robert Sonkin collected the following in a Farm Service Adminstration camp in California . . . .

JACKRABBIT BLUES

Jack Bryant
Firebaugh, 1940

Blues jumped the rabbit, he ran four solid miles
Blues jumped the rabbit, he ran four solid miles
That rabbit he got down and he cried just like a child.

Can't you tell me, mama, whose muddy shoes are these?
Can't you tell me, mama, whose muddy shoes are these?
That are setting right here where my shoes ought to be.

Roud 15501 (only reference)

Voices From the Dust Bowl

A similar lyric was printed by Rudi Blesh in Shining Trumpets
(1946), but I don't have that in front of me right now. The lyric is various forms has been used by Blind John Davis, Big Joe Turner, and Wynonie Harris.