The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #2649   Message #4164237
Posted By: BrooklynJay
02-Feb-23 - 04:57 PM
Thread Name: Lyr ADD: Whoa Back Buck (Leadbelly)
Subject: RE: Lyr ADD: Whoa Back Buck (Leadbelly)
Fourth transcription. A few words were not decipherable. According to my notes, this à cappella version may have been an early recording.

Whoa Back Buck - Lead Belly version #4 (à cappella)

(Chorus)
Whoa, back Buck, an' gee, by the lamb!
Who made the back-band? Whoa, goddamn!
Whoa, Buck, an' gee, by the lamb!
Who made the back-band? Whoa, goddamn!

Tom done buck and Bill won't pull,
I was gonna cut that other little bull.
Whoa back, Buck, an' gee, by the lamb!
Who made the back-band? Whoa, goddamn!

Whoa, Buck, an' gee, by the lamb!
Who made the back-band? Whoa, goddamn!

Eighteen, nineteen, twenty years ago,
I take Sal to the party-o,
I take a gal to the party-o,
I wouldn't let her dance but a set or so.

Whoa, Buck, an' gee, by the Lamb!
("Ta-yah, whoa yeah, back up, gee Buck!")
Who made the back-band? Whoa, goddamn!

[Spoken:]
This man was a long way from home. And it was so driven rain… and he's tryin' to get home and you know that's about how much [???] there are from this [???] He was drivin' twenty yokes of oxen. And then the oxen gettin' faster. They was speedin' and [???] An' once in a while he'd look out on the cut-out, "Ta-ya! Yeah, gee Buck, whoa!"

[Sung:]
Whoa, back Buck, an' gee, by the lamb!
Who made the back-band? Cunningham!
Whoa, back Buck, an' gee, by the lamb!
Who made the back-band? Whoa, goddamn!
Whoa, Buck, an' gee, by the lamb!
Who made the back-band? Whoa, goddamn!

I take Sal to the party-o,
All dressed up in her calico.
I take Sal to the party-o,
I wouldn't let her dance but a set or so.

Whoa, Buck, an' gee, by the lamb!
Who made the back-band? Whoa, goddamn!

Nineteen, twenty years, twenty years ago,
I went down to the party-o,
I went down to the party-o,
I wouldn't let her dance but a set or two.

Whoa, Buck, an' gee, by the lamb!
Who made the back-band? Whoa, goddamn!
Whoa goddamn an' whoa goddamn,
Whoa back Buck, and gee by the lamb!
Whoa goddamn an' whoa goddamn,
Who made the back-band? Whoa, goddamn!
Whoa, Buck, an' gee, by the lamb!
Who made the back-band? Whoa, goddamn!

Me an' my gal come a-walkin' down the road,
Wind from her feet knockin' sugar in the gourd.
Get the sugar in the gourd an' the gourd on the ground,
Wanna get the sugar, got to roll the gourd around.

Whoa Buck, an' gee by the lamb,
("Ta-ya! Yeah, back up, gee whoa, back!")
Who made the back-band? Whoa, goddamn!
Who made the back-band? Cunningham!
Who made the back-band? Whoa, goddamn!
Whoa goddamn, an' whoa, goddamn,
Who made the back-band? Whoa, goddamn!

Whoa Buck, an' gee by the lamb!
Who made the back-band? Whoa, goddamn!