The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #61843   Message #996079
Posted By: Joe Offer
03-Aug-03 - 05:59 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Don't Let Your Deal Go Down
Subject: ADD Chords: Don't Let Your Deal Go Down
Gee, Maximus, you sure are nasty today. I suppose it's true that expert guitarists don't need to get chord information on songs. Some of us, though, struggle with that sort of stuff even though we may have studied music all our lives. I'm sorry you can't understand us lesser mortals.
-Joe Offer-

DON'T LET YOUR DEAL GO DOWN

      D                     G
I've been all around this whole wide world
C                         F
Way down in Memphis Tennessee.
D                G
Any old place I hang my hat
C                   F
Seems like home to me.

Chorus
D                       G
Don't let your deal go down.
C                         F
Dont let your deal go down.
D                      G
Don't let your deal go down sweet mama
         C                F
For my last old dollar's gone.

When I left my love behind,
She's standin' in the door,
She throwed her little arms around my neck and said,
'Sweet daddy please don't go."

Now it's who's gonna shoe your pretty little feet?
Who's gonna glove your hand?
And who's gonna kiss your ruby lips
Honey, who's gonna be your man?

She says, papa will shoe my pretty little feet,
Mama will glove my hand,
You can kiss my rosy lips
When you get back again.

Where did you get them high-heel shoes
And that dress you wear so fine?
Got my shoes from a railroad man
Dress from a driver in the mine.


Sorce: Folksinger's Wordbook (Fred & Irwin Silber, 1973)
Here's the entry on this song at the Traditional Ballad Index:

Don't Let Your Deal Go Down

DESCRIPTION: Floating verses: "Been all around this whole round world... Anyplace I hang my hat/Feels like home to me"; "Left my little girl a'crying"; "Where did you get your high-top shoes" Chorus: "Don't let your deal go down/Till your last (g)old dollar is gone"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (recording, Charlie Poole)
KEYWORDS: gambling nonballad floatingverses
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
BrownIII 301, "High-Topped Shoes" (2 texts, both mixed; "A" is mostly "Pretty Little Foot" with verses from "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down" while "B" is a hash of "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down," ""More Pretty Girls Than One," "In the Pines," and others)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 182-183, "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down" (1 text, 1 tune)
Rorrer, p. 70, "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down Blues" (1 text)
Darling-NAS, p. 285, "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 144, "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down" (1 text)
DT, DEALDOWN*

RECORDINGS:
Fiddlin' John Carson, "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down" (OKeh 45096, 1927)
Lake Howard, "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down" (Perfect 13151, 1935)
Dick Justice, "Old Black Dog" (Brunswick 395, c. 1929)
Kessinger Brothers, "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down" (Brunswick 411, c. 1930)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down" (on NLCR01, NLCRCD1) (NLCR12)
W. Lee O'Daniel & the Light Crust Doughboys, "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down" (Vocalion 03471, 1937)
Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down Blues" (Columbia 15038-D, 1925; on CPoole01, CPoole05); (Columbia 15184-D, 1927)
Riley Puckett, "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down" (Columbia 15448-D, 1929) (Bluebird B-6067, 1935)
Ernest V. Stoneman, "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down" (OKeh 45054, 1926)
Bob Wills & his Texas Playboys, "Don't Let the Deal Go Down" (Vocalion 05282, 1939; Columbia 37739, 1947)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "In the Pines" (words)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Last Gold Dollar
High Top Shoes
Notes: The phrase "let your deal go down" refers to the Georgia Skin Game, a card game popular among gamblers in the first half of the 20th century. - PJS
File: CSW182

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