'New' verses to old songs

Subject: "New" verses to old songs
From: Bill D
Date: 12 Sep 97 - 10:47 AM

I am getting this little collection of verses...some of which may be 'serious', some of which are obviously not, but I think they should be shared...

to "Miss Bailey"

Next day his man came to his door-
"Oh, John,my man, come dress me-
"Miss Bailey's got my five pound note."
Said John,"Good Heavens, bless me!"
"I shouldn't mind if she had got
"No more than all your riches-
"But with your five pound note, Ye gads,
"She's got your only britches."

to Wildwood flower

Oh, my flower of the wildwood is long and she's tall.
If it weren't for her Adam's Apple, she'd have no shape at all
I can still see her standin',underneath the trees,
Tyin' knots in her stockings, to look like she's got knees.

to "Farther Along"

If workin' and prayin' have any reward-
Surely someday, I'll meet with my Lord.
'Cause workin' and prayin' are my greatest thrill-
If anyone makes it, Lord, surely I will.

(collected in Texas by a friend of mine at a little church..he swears they were singing it seriously)

to "The Baltimore Fire"....(already posted this once before, but it needs wider circulation, since it seems to be authentic..I met a guy who saw it in 'a ragged little songbook'.

The woeful tidings spread across the wire
Of another sad catastrophe so dire-
That Baltimore city is afire,
And sinking 'neath the foe's relentless hand.

so..there's a start...who has more?

Subject: RE: 'New' verses to old songs
From: DrWord
Date: 18 Sep 97 - 03:41 PM

Your verse for "Wildwood Flower" is from Flat & Scruggs' parody... The second verse was something like:

She went off to Knoxville and joined the striptease ... ... Instead of hollerin "take it off!" they hollered "leave it on!"

Does anyone else out there remember more of this? The flip side of the 78 had a parody of Johnny Cash's "I don't like it, but I guess things happen that way"

Dennis

Subject: RE: 'New' verses to old songs
From: Old Folk
Date: 18 Sep 97 - 09:58 PM

Here's one I made up for "Betsy From Pike"

Ike betrayed Betsy one night on the trail Betsy swore then that revenge would prevail She fixed a big meal -oh-she went whole hog and the roasted main course was Ike's ol Yeller Dog

Thanks Trent

Subject: Lyr Add: FLOWER OF THE WILDWOOD^^
From: Gene
Date: 18 Sep 97 - 11:50 PM

Never heard the Flatt & Scruggs version but I have this
LP of Homer & Jethro with it...They're the BEST IMHO!

FLOWER OF THE WILDWOOD
HOMER & JETHRO AT THE CONVENTION
1962 RCA LP-2492

Oh, my flower of the wildwood was skinny and tall.
But for her Adam's apple, she'd have no shape at all.
I can still see her there, sittin' under the trees,
Tyin' knots in her stockin's so it'd look like she had knees.

Then she joined a burlesque show that come to our town,
And she thought as a stripper her fortune was found,
But she bumped into trouble and now she is gone.
Instead of yellin' "Take if off," they hollered "Leave it on."

She would eat like a horse but she never grew big.
'Bout as useless as sprayin' perfume on a pig.
"I'm a natural blond," my flower would swear,
But black was the color of the roots of her hair.

Subject: RE: 'New' verses to old songs
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 19 Sep 97 - 03:27 PM

A toast to the late H&J--who once described themselves as"The Stone Age Smothers Brothers". Funny folk and--in Jethro's case, in particular--fine musicians.

Subject: RE: 'New' verses to old songs
From: Alice
Date: 19 Sep 97 - 10:38 PM

We had lots of 78's we listened to when I was growing up, including Homer and Jethro's "Does the Spearmint Lose It's Flavor on the Beadpost Overnight". I think the flip side was "Cornbread, Molasses, and Sassafrass Tea". Alice in Montana

Subject: RE: 'New' verses to old songs
From: Ferrara
Date: 20 Sep 97 - 10:44 PM

Can we start a new thread about dimly-remembered Homer and Jethro songs? I'm going out and start it, with "Your Li'l Ol' Kiss of Fire" (only the chorus, that's all I remember) as my contribution.

Now a question for Bill D and the other folks in this thread: Are we only including little-known verses, or can we add recently-composed verses?

Subject: RE: 'New' verses to old songs
From:
Date: 24 Dec 01 - 08:28 AM

Perhaps we can add to this one.

Subject: RE: 'New' verses to old songs
From: Ditchdweller
Date: 24 Dec 01 - 04:25 PM

I added a couple to "Landlord Fill The Flowing Bowl" that are now part of the tradition! Here's to the lads that dance the Morris With Bells and sticks a plenty! Here's to the lads that dance the Morris With Bells and sticks a plenty! They are fine upstanding men, They are fine upstanding men, They are fine upstanding men, May their tankards never be empty!!

Here's to the girls that Morris Dance, With smiles upon their faces, Here's to the girls that Morris Dance, With smiles upon their faces, But they look very strange to me, But they look very strange to me, But they look very strange to me, They bounce in all the wrong places!!

The last line accompanied by appropriate bouncing actions with the hands!!

Subject: RE: 'New' verses to old songs
From: Ditchdweller
Date: 24 Dec 01 - 04:27 PM

My posting above was written as two verses. Why has it not appeared as verses?

Subject: RE: 'New' verses to old songs
From: Bill D
Date: 24 Dec 01 - 04:49 PM

ah, Sapper..there are 'tricks' to be done when entering songs so the line breaks in the proper place. You have to put a little <font color='#FF0000' size='2'>&lt;br&gt;</font> after each line.

Perhaps some Christmas elf will change it...

Subject: RE: 'New' verses to old songs
From: Bill D
Date: 24 Dec 01 - 04:52 PM

well..seems as if I didn't poosha da' right buttons myself.....

anyway..you need a < followed by 'br' followed by > after each line...

Subject: RE: 'New' verses to old songs
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 24 Dec 01 - 05:43 PM

I've heard the 'Wildwood Flower' parody from Iain MacKintosh, who gave Cheech and Chong as authors and sang the verses quoted above by Gene (except that he sang 'I'm a natural blonde, my true love did declare' in the third verse), then added, to the tune of 'Tennessee Waltz'

And I was waltzing with my darling to the Tennessee Waltz
At the annual fireman's ball
And people were staring because she was wearing
A newspaper dress, and that's all

She had comic strips from her knees to her hips
Where the want ads were I can't recall
Then her dress went on fire and burnt her entire
Front page, the sports section and all

Subject: RE: 'New' verses to old songs
From: Snuffy
Date: 24 Dec 01 - 06:25 PM

Another addition to the Flowing Bowl, popular in Morris circles is:

Come into the garden, Maud, and don't be so particular
Come into the garden, Maud, and don't be so particular
And if the grass is very, very wet,
If the grass is very, very wet,
If the grass is very, very wet,
We'll do it perpendicular

WassaiL! V

Subject: RE: 'New' verses to old songs
From: 53
Date: 24 Dec 01 - 07:26 PM

she'll be coning round the mountain, with the words saying she'll be wearing p.i.n.k. when she comes. my wife's granddaughter wrote that verse. BOB

Subject: RE: 'New' verses to old songs
From: GUEST,Sonja
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 12:18 AM

There is a fourth verse to Flanders & Swann's "Hippopotamus Song" --having to to with the hippoes' post-marital life, I think. I believe it's in a thread somewhere here. If no one beats me to it, I'll try to find it and post it later this week.

Sonja

Subject: RE: 'New' verses to old songs
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 09:12 AM

I read this topic differently, I guess. I thought you were asking about adding a new verse to an old/traditional song with the same feel to it, to further flesh out the song. I know people do that, although it somehow seems to be scariligeous to the whole preservation of tradition (you can bet people were constantly adding new verses in the tradition.) I got a call from Sally Rogers once, asking me where I learned a song, Levi Kelly, because she'd learned it from me. AI asked why, and she said that she'd written another verse to the song. When I told her that I had written it, there was an awkward silence on the other end of the line. She thought that it was traditional. Which means, I guess in the proper world of folk music, that it's all right to add a verse to a song if the person is dead. I didn't have any problem with it. When she sings the song, she sings her added verse, and when I do, I sing it the way I wrote it.

My favorite "new" verse to a song is a third verse that Peter Stampfel of the Holy Modal Rounders wrote for Moving Day, by Charlie Poole. It is perfect for the song, and the song is too short, the way that it is. If a "new" verse fits right, it will probably be carried into the tradition.

Anybody else add a verse to an exisiting Traditional song, not a parody, or just a funny verse? If so, you're edging precariously close to being a singer/songwriter.

Jerry

Subject: RE: 'New' verses to old songs
From: GUEST,Julie B at home
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 09:26 AM

I sing 'Early one Morning', which is a good chorus song, but one that always seemed to end too soon (I could only find 4 traditional verses). When I reached the end on one occassion, just as everyone was getting into the swing of it, the MC of the club suggested I write a couple of new verses of my own to pad it out. That I did, and have been singing them ever since at various places. I never mention that they're not part of the original song and, so far, nobody has queried me on them, so hopefully they sound reasonably authentic!

Julie

Subject: RE: 'New' verses to old songs
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 12:25 PM

Good for you, Julie: The verses must be organic enough to be a part of the song, and if you sing them that way, I'm sure that most people hear them that way. This is kinda fuzzy territory here... just as you could do a thread about the "Last Folk Song" (you can't write a folk song anymore) you could argue that the time of being able to add verses ended somewhere the other side of the folk revival.

But, as someone once said, "The song is the thing." If you have expanded on the song, respecting the original, that seems very much in keeping with the folk tradition.

How traditional of you.

Jerry