The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #2649   Message #4164241
Posted By: BrooklynJay
02-Feb-23 - 05:23 PM
Thread Name: Lyr ADD: Whoa Back Buck (Leadbelly)
Subject: RE: Lyr ADD: Whoa Back Buck (Leadbelly)
Seventh transcription. Maybe from a private recording? My notes don't specify exactly, and I haven't gone back to check these transcriptions against the original recordings. However, anyone out there is certainly welcome to and correct any errors I have probably made.

Whoa Back Buck (Ox Driving Man/Moan) - Lead Belly version #7

[Unintelligible words at beginning, word “Cunningham” can be made out.]

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

[Spoken:]
But it's… goddamn come in, that's because a Baptist preacher come along one Sunday… man drivin' twenty yokes of oxen… an' them oxen's all balled [?] down, they wouldn't pull… the preacher said, "Listen, brother, if you say a little cuss word an' that bull come on through!" So, the man commence a-poppin' his whup… "Ta-whoa, back up, gee! Git over there!"

Whoa, 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!
Goddamn, an’ whoa goddamn,
Who made the back-band? Whoa, goddamn!

[Spoken:]
The master went on home, an' he's been singin' this same song, ever so long.

Eighteen, nineteen, twenty years ago,
I taken my gal to a country store,
I taken my gal to a country store,
I bought my gal some calico.
("Ta-ya! Whoa! Back up, gee, git over there, Buck, yeah!")

Whoa, 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!
Whoa goddamn, an' whoa goddamn,
Who made the back-band? Whoa, goddamn!

I taken my gal to a country store,
I bought my gal some calico,
Taken my gal to a party-o,
I wouldn't let her dance but a set or so.
("Ta-ya! Whoa! Back up, gee, git over there, Buck, yeah!")

Whoa, 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!
Whoa goddamn, an' whoa goddamn,
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,
Sugar in the gourd an' the gourd on the ground,
Wanna get the sugar, got to roll the gourd around.
("Ta-ya! Whoa! Back up, gee, git over there!")

Whoa, 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!
Whoa goddamn, an' whoa goddamn,
Who made the back-band? Whoa, goddamn!
("Ta-ya! Whoa! Back up, gee, yeah!")

(A woman's voice can be heard briefly in the background after the song - laughing?)