Lyr Req: Daddy's on the Roof / Papa's on the ...

Subject: Lyr Req: Daddy's on the Roof (partying, I guess)
From: Mrrzy
Date: 10 Mar 09 - 12:25 PM

Hi, don't know if this is the title but it's one of the lines... This is a song I heard this morning on an unknown radio station driving around central Virginia, USA. Something about Mom made him be quiet as a mouse so he went up on the roof and whooped, or hooted, and hollered, sounded like a lot of fun but then I reached my destination without time for a "driveway moment" as NPR calls them, when you can't get out of your car until the end of whatever you are listening to.

Searched the Trad and Forum, didn't find anything? Looked under "papa" too as I'm not sure of the precise word used, despite knowing what it meant.

Thanks!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Daddy's on the Roof (partying, I guess)
From: Dave Illingworth
Date: 10 Mar 09 - 02:01 PM

In our trio GOLLOP/VAN-DELLER/ILLINGWORTH, Steve Van-Deller sings the old Leroy Carr song "Poppa's on the housetop".

If this is the one you want, I will hunt out the words.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Daddy's on the Roof (partying, I guess)
From: peregrina
Date: 10 Mar 09 - 02:17 PM

Papa's on the housetop: on Tim and Mollie O'Brien's CD Take Me Back (Sugar Hill 1988). The notes just say 'trad.'

It's fairly likely to be them if you heard it on a Virginia station.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Daddy's on the Roof (partying, I guess)
From: Cool Beans
Date: 10 Mar 09 - 05:15 PM

The Jim Kweskin Jug Band recorded "Papa's on the Housetop" in the 60s. The chorus goes:
Baby's in the cradle
Brother's gone to town
Sister's in the parlor
Trying on a gown
Mama's in the kitchen
Messin' all around
Papa's on the housetop
Won't come down.
--
Is that your song?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Daddy's on the Roof (partying, I guess)
From: Mrrzy
Date: 10 Mar 09 - 07:35 PM

No, it isn't. It's more like Mommy made him be as quiet as a mouse (at which point housetop might be the right word) then he's up there hollerin and yammerin and maybe in the end he won't come down but that isn't the part that I heard. The other kinfolk being busy sounds right, but not with the words you cited...?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Daddy's on the Roof (partying, I guess)
From: peregrina
Date: 10 Mar 09 - 07:56 PM

Tim and Mollie O'Brien (Take me Back) begin by singing:

'Well Mama told Papa be quiet as mouse/ Papa climbed up to the top of the house/ He made a lot of whoopee made a lot of noise/ Stood up and cheered with the rest of the boys'

then:
'the blues they come the blues they go...'

'Baby's in the cradle, brother's on the town, sister's in the parlor flying up and down, Mama's in the kitchen messin' all around and Papa's on the housetop he won't come down...'

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Daddy's on the Roof (partying, I gues
From: Bainbo
Date: 10 Mar 09 - 08:20 PM

Leroy Carr & Scrapper Blackwell from 1930?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Daddy's on the Roof (partying, I guess)
From: Peace
Date: 10 Mar 09 - 08:30 PM

Tim O'Brien wrote a song entitled "Daddy's On the Roof Again".

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Daddy's on the Roof (partying, I guess)
From: peregrina
Date: 10 Mar 09 - 08:30 PM

The O'Briens sing the same words as Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell--great youtube by the way-thanks!-- and the Jim Kweskin extract comes from that too.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Daddy's on the Roof (partying, I guess)
From: Peace
Date: 10 Mar 09 - 08:32 PM

Then it wasn't O'Brien's creation?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Daddy's on the Roof (partying, I guess)
From: peregrina
Date: 10 Mar 09 - 08:35 PM

Yes and no--the song Daddy's on the roof (O'Brien plus Darrell Scott) uses a few lines from the Papa's on the housetop song; you can find the words here
the words here

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Daddy's on the Roof (partying, I guess)
From: Peace
Date: 10 Mar 09 - 08:36 PM

Thank you, peregrina.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Daddy's on the Roof (partying, I guess)
From: peregrina
Date: 10 Mar 09 - 08:42 PM

And then for a variation on the image cluster of roofs, wild times and the blues--(and fowl, because Papa's on the Housetop has a chicken in a pot) there's 'Henhouse Blues' on Mollie O'Brien's CD 'Tell it True'--but that's about wanting to raise the roof of the chicken coop. Probably also an oldie, and a topic for another thread.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Daddy's on the Roof (partying, I guess)
From: Mrrzy
Date: 11 Mar 09 - 12:02 PM

Thank you all! I knew I could count on y'all...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Daddy's on the Roof / Papa's on the ...
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 23 Apr 23 - 07:11 PM

Somewhat germane to this thread:

Papa’s in the shed, mixing up the mash;
Junior’s in the parlor, counting all the cash;
Mama’s in the kitchen, washing out the mugs;
Sister’s in the pantry, filling up the jugs.
— Anonymous

http://digitalexhibits.wsulibs.wsu.edu/exhibits/show/prohibition-in-the-u-s/bootlegging-during-prohibition

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

stumbled on this ditty while researching tapioca starch in home brewing.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Daddy's on the Roof / Papa's on the ...
From: GUEST,Dave Hanson
Date: 25 Apr 23 - 03:12 AM

Cats on the rooftop cats on the tiles,
Cats with syphelis and cat with piles,
Cats with their arsoles wreathed in smiles,
As we revel in the joys of fornication.

Dave H