Origins: Bread and Gravy

Subject: ADD: Bread and Gravy
From:
Date: 12 May 99 - 09:02 AM

This is an old song that my family sings and I want to find out who did it and see if I can play it on my guitar.

--I've traveled this country all over and been to the best of hotels.
Some were good some were bad some were lowsy
and some were the best that they had.
The last place I stopped was a lulu so quiet so clean and so neat
But you'll wonder why I am alive today when I tell you what they gave us to eat.

On Monday was bread and gravy
on Tuesday was bread and gravy
and on Wed. and Thur. was gravy and toast
which is nothing but gravy and bread.
So on Friday I went to the landloard
and asked for a bit of a change
so on Staurday morning by way of a change
we had gravy w/o any bread.

That is all I have please help
Blake

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From: Jeri
Date: 13 May 99 - 10:30 AM

We sing this in our friday session. I'll see if I can corner the guy who leads it and write down the lyrics.

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From:
Date: 13 May 99 - 11:49 AM

That is wild I thought only our family new that old song ! If you can find any info like who wrote it who preformed it anything would be great. Thank You Jeri, Blake

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 13 May 99 - 01:51 PM

If there's any more to the song, I've never heard it. I collected it, almost exactly as you have it, Blake, back in the 60s, from Grant Rogers, a great old singer and fiddler (and sometime quarry worker) in the Catskills. I included it on Grant Rogers, Songmaker of the Catskills, an LP that is now available as a "custom cassette" from Folk-Legacy Records.

Sandy

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From: Blake
Date: 14 May 99 - 12:51 PM

Thank You Sandy, Did you compile the Grant Rodgers LP yourself? That is great! Thank you sooooo much! This has really been a great experience for me and I will be back to talk with you again soon. I will definitely be back to here from Judy as well maybe on Monday. Thank You again please feel free to email me at [e-mail] or my web site http://ccbhenry.home.mindspring.com/ Maybe I will put in a link to this site. Blake

Subject: ADD: Bread and Gravy
From: Jeri
Date: 14 May 99 - 10:52 PM

Update:
Went to the session and asked my friend to sing the song, explained about the request. He did. (Major key, somewhat complicated tune for folk music, and a lot of gratuitous harmony since everyone here knows it.) Here's David's shorter version:

"on Mon we had bread and gravy,
On Tues was gravy and bread,
On Wed and Thu was gravy and toast,
Which is nothing but gravy and bread,
So on Fri I went to the landlord,
To get something else instead,
So on Sat morning by way of a change,
We had gravy without any bread.

David says it's a song his family has always sung - he learned it from his mom when he was little, and he's close to 70, if not already there, so the song goes back at least to the '30s. His mom still lives in the family house in Canada - Quebec, I think - and he said he'd ask her about the song next time he talks to her.

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From: Blake
Date: 15 May 99 - 06:02 AM

Thank you Jeri, I am 30 and it was a song my grandfather used to sing at family gatherings. The way he sang it was slow and smooth you know so others could join in. David is about 10+ years younger than my grandfather would have been so maybe it had been song even prior to the '30s when the song may have been popular not that it isn't now by the looks of things. I am from Southport CT. as was my grandfather and before him my great grandparents were from Ireland but I think the song is American. Thanks again Jeri and I look forward too seeing what else we can find. Blake

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From: Banjer
Date: 15 May 99 - 07:33 AM

Neat little song, folk tradition in action.....

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From: Blake
Date: 16 May 99 - 07:00 AM

I will check back with everyone on Monday and meanwhile I will try and do some research now that I can narrow the search to the 30s. Thanks guys and I hope to speak to you all Monday, Blake

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From: Blake
Date: 17 May 99 - 08:11 AM

Just a quick note to say hello and to get my question to the top of the list.

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From: Jeri
Date: 17 May 99 - 10:00 AM

I don't know if it's the same song, but in the ASCAP database, there's a "Bread and Gravy" registered to Hoagy Carmichael. It doesn't appear he ever recorded it, though. There is an "M. Waters" listed as recording artist.

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From: Blake
Date: 21 May 99 - 06:23 AM

Hello, I looked into that Hoagy Carmichael and it turns out that it is a Jazz song from the 30's. I am not sure if it was the right song. I could not find anything on M. Waters. I am still searching.Thank you again Jeri. Blake

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From: Jeri
Date: 22 May 99 - 11:03 AM

Well - I screwed up (sorry). It's "E" Waters. (Excuse: the "M" fell over?) Maybe Ethel? I haven't been very successful in looking for more info. Discographies I can find don't have track listings.

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From: Dale Rose
Date: 08 Jan 00 - 01:49 PM

Grandpa Jones did a version which was somewhat different ~~ haven't heard it since the early 50s or so. If memory serves, it went something like this.

On Monday we have bread and gravy
On Tuesday it's gravy and bread
On Wednesday and Thursday,it's gravy on toast
But that's only gravy and bread
On Friday it's rye bread and gravy
On Saturday it's whole wheat instead
But Sunday's a treat, 'cause we never get meat
We just have gravy without any bread!

Whatever else there may have been to his version, I've forgotten.

Subject: Bread and Gravy
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 08 Jan 00 - 04:42 PM

I seem to recall hearing the "Bread and Gravy" song on television in the 50's or early 60's, which means it may have been recorded somewhere. For some reason I think it may have been on Captain Kangaroo, but Sing Along with Mitch also comes to mind. And, to further complicate things, the last two lines I recall, after "Thursday", are:

On that day we went to the principal, and asked for something instead
So on Friday for luncheon by way of a change...we had gravy without any bread.

That would make sense if it had been turned into a kids' song for the good Captain, since there's no school on Saturday. By the way, if this brings back any memories to young boomers out there, there was a fascinating thread about Captain Kangaroo some months back, that I started with a request for the song "A Lonely Little Petunia in an Onion Patch." You can use Max's fantastic new Forum Supersearch engine to find it. (How's that for thread creep?)

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 08 Jan 00 - 04:48 PM

The Captain Kangaroo thread is here. I see that my original post referred to the Bread and Gravy song, so there must be another thread about it from last spring, that I don't have time to track down.

Max, the Supersearch is Super!

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: Bread and Gravy
From: Joe Offer
Date: 08 Jan 00 - 04:52 PM

Hey, this song sure sounds familiar. From the first post, I gather it's a variation on Rosin the Beau (Bow)/Acres of Clams/The Old Settler's Song - is that the tune for it?
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From: Jeri
Date: 09 Jan 00 - 12:52 PM

A correction to the lyrics I posted - the second to last line should be:

"And on Saturday morn, just as sure as you're born."

Thanks.

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 09 Jan 00 - 01:04 PM

No, Joe, the tune is not the same as the old "Rosin the Beau" used by "Acres of Clams," etc. Next time we get together, or chat on that antique device, the telephone, I'll show you how Grant Rogers sang it, since I don't have the tech know-how to post it.

Sandy

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From: Jeri
Date: 09 Jan 00 - 01:11 PM

Sandy, I just sent Joe a MIDI. When it gets posted, maybe you could listen and tell us if it's the same as the one Grant Rogers sings, and if it sounds correct.

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 09 Jan 00 - 01:36 PM

I'm afraid midis are beyond me, Jeri. Wish I could afford to hire you as a consultant down here for awhile!

Sandy the Cyberklutz

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From: Jeri
Date: 09 Jan 00 - 02:01 PM

Will work for food...and music.
Oy, forget the food...

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From:
Date: 24 Jun 00 - 06:17 AM

I love the fact that this song has some history if you could please send that midi to me as well that would be great. Just thought I would tell you all that about 3 years ago I heard a bluegrass version of bread and gravy on the Today show but when I called them they had no idea what I was talking about, you know the crazy listening puplic. Thanks, Blake

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From: Noreen
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 03:24 PM

This song,or one with very similar words, is on an LP called something like 'Around This Land' by the Canadian singer Stomping Tom Connors.

(......something less boring instead,

............gravy without any bread.)

This must have been released in the early 1960's. Good song, good fun and I love his accent!

--Noreen

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From:
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 04:24 PM

That sounds good I will look for it thanks Noreen.

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From: kendall
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 04:34 PM

My friend, Smokey Green, old time country performer from Fort Edward N.Y. also sings this. I believe he got it from Grampa Jones.

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From: Art Thieme
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 04:53 PM

Try these great Hoagy sites at the University of Indiana--Bloomington, IN. It's ALL here::

http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/collections/hoagy/index.html

http://caliope.ucs.indiana.edu/ead/hoagy.html

Art Thieme

Subject: DTADD: Bulbes (Yiddish)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 14 Oct 03 - 02:35 AM

There's a well-known Yiddish song that follows the same pattern:

BULBES (POTATOES)

Zuntik - bulbes
Montik - bulbes
Dinstik un mitvokh - bulbes
Donershtik un fraytik - bulbes
Shabes in a novene - a bulbe-kugele
Zuntik - vayter bulbes!

Broyt mit bulbes
Fleysh mit bulbes
Varemes un vetshere - bulbes
Ober un vider - bulbes
Eyn mol in a novene - a bulbe-kugele
Zuntik - vayter bulbes!

Sunday-potatoes, Monday-potatoes, Tuesday and Wednesday-potatoes, Thursday and Friday-potatoes. But on Saturday for a change-a potato pudding! Sunday-potatoes again.
Bread with potatoes, meat with potatoes, morning and evening-potatoes, over and again-potatoes. One time for something new, a potato pudding. Sunday-potatoes again.

Source: Mir Trogn a Gezang, Eleanor Gordon Mlotek, 1972.

---

Click to play

Subject: Lyr/Chords Add: BREAD AND GRAVY (Hoagy Carmichael)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 15 Oct 03 - 10:23 PM

Just to clear up any doubt or confusion, here's the Hoagy Carmichael song. It's a nice song in its own right.

Copied from http://www.iol.ie/~murphypj/FOLK/BRDGRAVY.TXT (with a few corrections made by me based on various sound samples).

BREAD AND GRAVY
(Hoagy Carmichael, 1935)

   G         B7    G                  C
  Bread and gravy, lots of bread and gravy.
    G        B7     G                 C7
  Beans and bacon, lots of beans and bacon.
   E7       B7      G               C
  No more frettin' since I've been gettin'
   G                  D7           G      D7
  Lots of bread and gravy all the time.

Peace and quiet, lots of peace and quiet.
Friends and money, lots of friends and money.
No more ramblin', I'm through with scramblin'.
Keep up with the Joneses all the time.

  G7  C         E7
  Got no reason to be swell,
  C                   A7
  And my clothes all fit me well,
        G   Bf  D7   G     G7
  And I wear a nice ring.
  C              E7
  I'm as free as I can be,
  C               A7
  And my honey's lovin' me,
     G  Bf         D7        G      D7
  So I just can't keep from singin':

Bread and gravy, lots of bread and gravy.
Goodnight kisses, my love never misses.
No more blues now, no bad news now,
Just lots of bread and gravy all the time.

[Recorded by Ethel Waters and a few others.]

Subject: ADD: Gravy and Bread
From: Joe Offer
Date: 16 Oct 03 - 04:09 AM

Here's my transcription of the Grant Rogers recording. I don't have any of the books for the custom CD's yet - so this is what I hear.

GRAVY AND BREAD

I've traveled this wide world all over,
I've stayed in some fancy hotels,
Some were good, some were bad, some were different;
And some were the best in the world,
This one place place I stayed was a lulu,
So good, so cunning, so neat,
Now you may wonder how I'm still alive,
When you hear what they gave us to eat…

On Monday we had bread and gravy,
On Tuesday 'twas gravy and bread,
On Wednesday and Thursday
'Twas gravy on toast - that was was nothing but gravy and bread

On Friday I spoke to the landlord,
"Would you please give us something instead?"
On Saturday morning by way of a change…
We had gravy without any bread.

As sung by Grant Rogers on the Folk-Legacy CD, "Grant Rogers: Catskill Mountain Songmaker." Recorded by Sandy Paton in Walton, NY, in 1964.

---

No, the tune isn't "Rosin the Beau." Maybe Jeri will send me that MIDI again.

Subject: RE: help me find this old song: Bread and Gravy
From: Backstage Manager(inactive)
Date: 07 Jun 04 - 09:09 AM

Jane Voss & Hoyle Osborne have an excellent version of Hoagy Carmichael's "Bread and Gravy" on their new CD, "Beyonf the Boundaries" on their Ripple label.

Subject: RE: help me find this old song: Bread and Gravy
From: GUEST,Bernie
Date: 07 Jun 04 - 02:14 PM

This was also popularized by a country singer in the forties named Texas Jim Robertson;my father learned it from the radio and it had at least three verses[one similar to the Grandpaw Jones version posted above].Also,there's a nice version of "Silver Dew on the Bluegrass Tonight" currently being played on O.J. Sikes' "Western Music Time"[Boston Pete.com].....by Bob Wills with Tommy Duncan on vocal.....memorial day commerative show,but they usually stay on the web a couple of weeks before a new one goes up in it's place......

Subject: RE: help me find this old song: Bread and Gravy
From: GUEST,Captain Beefart
Date: 10 Nov 05 - 05:08 AM

You guys are not old enough! "Gravy and Bread" came from a movie. It was one of those old fashioned musicals of the late 40's or 50's. I recall seeing the flick as a kid (I am in my 59th year). The musical was "Annie get your gun", or "Oklahoma", or one of that bunch of terrifying productions of the period.

Subject: RE: help me find this old song: Bread and Gravy
From: GUEST,silvia
Date: 09 Jan 08 - 07:58 PM

Captain Beefart dates the song in the late 40's or later. It's older than that. I learned it in 1945. The movies might have just picked it up. It was a quite popular song.

Subject: RE: help me find this old song: Bread and Gravy
From: Waddon Pete
Date: 10 Jan 08 - 04:19 PM

Just helping brush the cobwebs off the thread :0)

So.....what is the tune if it ain't "Rosin the Bow?"

Best wishes,

Peter

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bread and Gravy
From: GUEST,Dianne
Date: 14 Jan 08 - 01:59 AM

Grant Rogers wrote many great songs. He was a very talened man. He went to Nashville and sang with little Jimmie Dickin's at the grand ole opry in 1968.My Dad was with him. Grandpa Jones did sing some of the same songs. I think and if wrong Sandy can correct me on this, Grandpa Jones wrote one of the songs Grant recorded, Bessie the Heifer.
I just purchased the CD of Grant from Sandy. People around here in Delaware Co. NY love him. What beautiful music he made !

Subject: ADD Version: Bread and Gravy
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 15 Jan 08 - 07:44 AM

The only recording I can find online of BREAD AND GRAVY (not the Hoagy Carmichael song) is by J. E. Mainer's Mountaineers. It sounds like a rather late recording. It's on the Various Artists compilation "Sound Traditions: Appalachian Mountain Bluegrass," Rural Rhythm CD 317, 2007. This is what I hear in a sound sample found at Allmusic.com:

…we used to eat liver and onions.
But beef stew we never went wrong;
But lately I've noticed the difference,
And that's why I'm singing this song:
On Monday we have bread and gravy.
On Tuesday it's gravy and bread.
On Wednesday and Thursday …

[There's enough there to get an idea of the tune, and it's nothing like "Rosin the Beau."]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86HWQQzoL9c

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bread and Gravy
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Feb 08 - 03:47 PM

My father & grandfather called this song The Boarding House Lament. Dad was a WII vet who just passed away. I plan on singing this at his memorial.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bread and Gravy
From: GUEST,Dick Weaver-Little Fudges Creek-Cabell Count
Date: 11 Jul 08 - 07:20 PM

As a native West Virginian who survived the depression and spent 30 years in the U.S.Navy, may I introduce the lyrics I learned relative to "Bread and Gravy"- (about as Welsh as you can get):

On Monday we had bread and gravy
On Tuesday twas gravy and bread
On Wednesday and Thursday we had gravy on toast- now that's nothing but gravy and bread
On Friday I said to the landlord, don't you think that it's time for a change
On Saturday morning, in the way of a change, we had gravy without any bread

    To those who have lived the "good life" and have been deprived of the "palate-pleasing" flavors of lard and water gravy, and lard and water biscuits, which were sometimes the staples of our lives,you are indeed fortunate. And aren't all of us who live in this WONDERFUL country?????

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bread and Gravy
From: GUEST,The Bard Rocks
Date: 09 Aug 08 - 10:45 PM

I am familiar with Grant Rogers' version, but there is an older (I believe) versions, very similar, from Wade Mainer.
       The Bard Rocks

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bread and Gravy
From: GUEST,Guest, et
Date: 19 Aug 08 - 01:57 PM

In the mid-nineteen-thirties, (1933 to 1936 I believe), there was a radio program in New York City titled "Cowboy Tom's Roundup". Performing on the program was Tex Ritter. On a World Transcription of Program 5, Tex Ritter sang Bread and Gravy. His words were:
I've traveled this country all over
I've stopped at the best of hotels
Some are good some are bad some were different
And some were as awful as ---- well
The last one was a lulu
So nice so fine so neat.
Would you wonder that we are still living
When you hear what they gave us to eat.
On Monday we had bread and gravy
On Tuesday 'twas gravy and bread
On Wednesday and Thursday 'twas gravy on toast
That's nothing but gravy and bread
On Friday we said to the landlord
Won't you please give us something instead
So on Saturday morning by way of a change
We had gravy without any bread.

There were three songbooks sold for Cowboy Tom's Roundup, dated between 1933 and 1935, but none of them contained Bread and Gravy.

On August 7, 2008, Los Angeles PBS TV station KCET, broadcast a show "Johnny Cash, The Man, His World, His Music". In this program June Carter and another unknown woman sang Bread and Gravy. Their words were:
On Monday we have bread and gravy
On Tuesday it's gravy and bread
On Wednesday and Thursday it's gravy and toast
But that's only gravy and bread.
On Friday we said to the landlord
Oh please give us something instead
So on Saturday morning by way of a change
We had gravy without any bread.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bread and Gravy
From: grant's niece
Date: 23 Aug 08 - 07:24 PM

I just found this page looking for a way to get Grant's music on CD. Grant Rogers was my great uncle and I have all of his albums unfortunately I am not able to play them anymore because I do not have a record player. I grew up listening to him and hearing stories about him. If someone out there could help me find a way to get his music so that I can listen to it without buying a record player I would be greatful. Thank you!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bread and Gravy
From: GUEST,Lisa
Date: 24 Sep 08 - 02:43 PM

My version is a bit different. And you sing it kind of slow.
My dad sang this song to us all the time as kids. He's 65 so it's been around for awhile, I was looking for help with some lyrics I'd forgotten; but here's what I remember. (I'll have to call my dad and have him sing it to me again...which he loves to do)

I've traveled the whole world wide over,
and stopped at the best of hotels.
some were good, some were bad, and some were the best
and some were the best that they had.

(here's where I get fuzzy)it's something like the versions above, but ends "this is what we had to eat"

    (then it goes)
on monday was bread and gravy
on tuesday was gravy and bread
on wed. and thur. was gravy on toast, which is nothing but gravy and bread.
on fri. i went to the landlord, and asked for something instead,
so on sat., sun. in well of a change,
we had gravy without any bread, daaanaaanaaa, we had gravy without any bread!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bread and Gravy
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 24 Sep 08 - 07:48 PM

Little bit of a variation --

The singer Jeri quoted early in this thread passed away about a year and a half ago.

And I can't remember for sure how he sang it in the beginning at the Press Room sessions, but by 2000 or 2001, he was singing it --

On Monday we had bread and gravy.
On Tuesday was gravy and bread.
On Wednesday and Thursday was gravy and toast
But that's only gravy and bread.
On Friday we went to the landlord
To get something else instead.
So on Saturday morn
Just as sure as you're born
We had gravy without any bread.

Linn

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bread and Gravy
From: GUEST,dianne
Date: 14 Oct 08 - 01:53 AM

This is for grant's niece. I purchased the CD from Sandi Patten. My Dad has a record player and got out Grants records. OMG ! They sound horrible ! The old records ! You need to get a CD. So much better. The price is worth it.

Dianne

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bread and Gravy
From: GUEST,JCUB
Date: 14 Feb 09 - 01:00 PM

My grandfather said he learned one of ther versions printed here while he was in the CCC during the Great Depression.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bread and Gravy
From: GUEST
Date: 10 May 09 - 10:50 AM

My grandfather sang it a little bit differently but his memory and maybe mine weren't that great.
Gravy and Bread
While traveling through lots of cities
We stopped at a lot of hotels
Some were good, some were bad, some indifferent
And some of the rooms were like cells.

But the last one we came to was a daisy.
So keen and so cool and so neat.
It's a wonder we didn't go crazy
When we found what they gave us to eat.

On Monday twas bread and gravy,
On Tuesday twas gravy and bread.
On Wednesday and Thursday it was gravy on toast,
but that's only gravy and bread.
So Friday we went to the landlord
And asked for a change instead
So on Saturday morning by way of a change
We had gravy without any bread!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bread and Gravy
From: GUEST,guest
Date: 22 Jun 09 - 06:49 PM

I can't believe so many people know this song. My grandfather and my mother both used to sing it and would exagerate an accent.They would use a v instead of w so it sounded like...

Vile travelling all round through this country
Sure I stop at a lot of otels
Some vas clean some vas neat, some vas cozy
But, some had the looks like a cell
But the last one I stop at, she vas a daisy
She vas cozy she vas neat and she vas clean
But I thought that I vould go crazy
When they told me what I got to eat

Vell, on Monday we has bread and gravy
On Tuesday vas gravy and bread
On Vednesday and Thursday vas gravy and toast
Eh! But, that's only gravy and bread
So, on Friday I says to the landlord
Can't you give me something else instead
So, Saturday morning by a vay of a change
Ve had gravy vithout any bread

After singing this song they would do a whole comedy act that started off... When I first come to the United States of America I was looking for a job
I was so surprised while looking for the words to the comedy act to find the bread and gravy song

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bread and Gravy
From: GUEST,ajp
Date: 04 Aug 09 - 10:57 PM

This song was, indeed, public domain, but the various versions are very similar. The one recorded by Homer & Jethro (1963 - on "Ooh! That's Corny") was copyrighted by Moe Jaffe and Dwight Latham, who wrote "I'm My Own Grandpaw." It's listed in the ASCAP file as "Bread N Gravy." Since ASCAP's search system is very sensitive to wording variations, it only picks up the different Hoagy Carmichael tune under "Bread AND Gravy."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bread and Gravy
From: GUEST
Date: 11 Aug 09 - 05:09 PM

I have a MP3 of this Homer and Jethro "Bread and Gravy" song that I just made from my "Oh, that's corny" LP. Its' a little scratchy but it sure seems like it will satisfy the itch on this board. If anyone wants it, let me know how best to get it to you.