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Origins: Born 10,000 Years Ago

DigiTrad:
I WAS BORN ABOUT 10,000 YEARS AGO (And That's No Lie)
I'M THE MAN THAT RODE THE MULE 'ROUND THE WORLD
JUST THE FACTS, MA'AM


Related threads:
Lyr Req: I'm the Man That Rode the Mule 'Round... (22)
(origins) Origins: Melody: 'I Was Born 100,000 Years Ago' (4)
(origins) Origins: Six Thousand Years Ago (Doc Watson) (9)
Lyr Add: Good Old Days of Adam and Eve (11)
(origins) Origin of '10,000 Years Ago' (8) (closed)
Lyr Req: Ten Thousand Years Ago (8) (closed)
Lyr Req: Great Historical Bum (5)


30 Dec 97 - 01:34 PM
Joe Offer 30 Dec 97 - 03:16 PM
Joe Offer 30 Dec 97 - 03:20 PM
30 Dec 97 - 09:59 PM
Bo 31 Dec 97 - 12:20 AM
Timothy Jaques tjaques@netcom.ca 02 Jan 98 - 08:01 PM
Dale Rose 03 Jan 98 - 11:38 AM
Tim Jaques tjaques@netcom.ca 04 Jan 98 - 07:31 PM
Wolfgang Hell 06 Jan 98 - 06:43 AM
Elektra@gate.net 08 Jan 98 - 12:34 AM
Wolfgang 08 Jan 98 - 03:39 AM
Elektra@gate.net 09 Jan 98 - 01:19 AM
Wolfgang 09 Jan 98 - 05:37 AM
Barry 12 Jan 98 - 10:51 AM
Bruce O. 12 Jan 98 - 04:14 PM
Jerry Friedman 12 Jan 98 - 06:36 PM
Jerry Friedman 12 Jan 98 - 06:37 PM
Bruce O. 12 Jan 98 - 09:22 PM
Bruce O. 12 Jan 98 - 09:57 PM
Bo 13 Jan 98 - 12:25 AM
Elektra@gate.net 13 Jan 98 - 09:11 PM
Wolfgang 14 Jan 98 - 04:43 AM
Denis 14 Jan 98 - 05:58 PM
dwditty 17 Jan 98 - 08:01 AM
Barry 17 Jan 98 - 10:41 PM
18 Jan 98 - 12:42 PM
Bruce O. 18 Jan 98 - 01:28 PM
Barry 18 Jan 98 - 04:40 PM
Tim Jaques tjaques@netcom.ca 18 Jan 98 - 10:07 PM
Joe Offer 01 Jun 98 - 04:27 AM
murray@mpce.mq.edu.au 01 Jun 98 - 08:29 AM
Roger Himler 01 Jun 98 - 12:02 PM
Bert 01 Jun 98 - 12:43 PM
Roger Himler 01 Jun 98 - 01:55 PM
Bud Savoie 28 Aug 00 - 06:59 AM
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Robby 29 Aug 00 - 08:30 AM
Robby 30 Aug 00 - 09:16 AM
Joe Offer 23 Dec 04 - 11:52 PM
Joe Offer 24 Dec 04 - 02:26 AM
Joe Offer 24 Dec 04 - 02:55 AM
The Fooles Troupe 24 Dec 04 - 05:47 AM
Joe Offer 26 Dec 04 - 10:39 PM
Joe Offer 27 Dec 04 - 01:30 AM
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Big Jim from Jackson 27 Dec 04 - 09:22 PM
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Subject: Lyr Add: I WAS BORN ABOUT 10,000 YEARS AGO
From:
Date: 30 Dec 97 - 01:34 PM

Here's one version/arrangement of Born 10,000 years ago. Elvis Presley also recorded the song.

I WAS BORN ABOUT 10,000 YEARS AGO (And That's No Lie)
Arr. by Albert Gamse

1. I was born about ten thousand years ago
There's a lot of famous folks I used to know
I was in the Ark with Noah, I was in the whale with Jonah
And there's no one who can prove it isn't so
And that's no lie, and that's no lie.

2. You can stop me if you've heard this one before
'Bout the apple too delicious to ignore
Adam said to Eve:
"We're cheating, if that apple we start eating!
I came by and I'm the guy what ate the core
And that's no lie, and that's no lie!

3. Old King Solomon was very wise, they claim
With a thousand wives, he knew them all by name
That's because I used to list 'em - With my alphabetic system
In my little book - each time he took a dame
And that's no lie, and that's no lie!

4. Isabella sent Columbus with a crew
On a little trip across the ocean blue
But to me she said:
"Hey, fella, you stay here with Isabella"
I'm the stowaway of fourteen ninety two
And that's no lie, and that's no lie!

5. I was on the shore with Washington, I swear
When he tossed a coin across the Delaware
But nobody has believed it, when I tell 'em I retrieved it
And I bought me boots, they cost a buck a pair
And that's no lie, and that's no lie!

6. Nowadays, I see a doll whose name is Pearl
And to tell the truth, I really love the girl
When I said:
"I love you, honey!", She said: "Quit your kidding, sonny
You're the biggest little liar in the world."
And that's no lie, and that's no lie!

7. I've been notified by wire.
I'm the champ
The winning liar
I'm the biggest little liar in the world.

SPOKEN: And that's no lie!


    This entry was added to the Digital Tradition.
    -Joe offer-


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Subject: RE: ADD LYR: BORN 10,000 YEARS AGO
From: Joe Offer
Date: 30 Dec 97 - 03:16 PM

Elvis sang this? I love it! Now, if you link it with The Man Who Mode the Mule Around the World, and then search the database under PASSTHRU, you come up with four fairly different versions of the same song. Any others?
-Joe Offer-


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Subject: RE: ADD LYR: BORN 10,000 YEARS AGO
From: Joe Offer
Date: 30 Dec 97 - 03:20 PM

Hmmmm. Sometimes, I wish there were a way I could edit my dumb mistakes out of this forum. Oh, well, at least the link works, and you can find the other songs if you search with the word "PASSTHRU."
-Joe Offer-


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Subject: RE: ADD LYR: BORN 10,000 YEARS AGO
From:
Date: 30 Dec 97 - 09:59 PM

I have it on vinyl by Oscar Brand. There are related songs.


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Subject: RE: ADD LYR: BORN 10,000 YEARS AGO
From: Bo
Date: 31 Dec 97 - 12:20 AM

I know two other versions of this song and one is 10 times better than yours :)

I Was Born a Hundred Thousand Years ago as sung by the New Christy Minstrels

Tommy Makem does a version called "the Liar"

bo

I'll find some time to post them after new years.


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Subject: RE: ADD LYR: BORN 10,000 YEARS AGO
From: Timothy Jaques tjaques@netcom.ca
Date: 02 Jan 98 - 08:01 PM

There should be put out a whole CD of folk songs in the liar genre.

I nominate I Was Born About 10,000 Years Ago; The Darby Ram (Chris Foster's new tape has a particularly good version); When I Was A Little Boy.


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Subject: RE: ADD LYR: BORN 10,000 YEARS AGO
From: Dale Rose
Date: 03 Jan 98 - 11:38 AM

It's tough to beat The Frozen Logger. "He never shaved a whisker/he just hammered in the bristles and bit them off inside" or how about the part about being made into axe blades because he could not be thawed out??


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Subject: RE: ADD LYR: BORN 10,000 YEARS AGO
From: Tim Jaques tjaques@netcom.ca
Date: 04 Jan 98 - 07:31 PM

Yes. I forgot Big Joe Mufferaw (may have spelled the last name wrong, it's been some time) by Stompin' Tom. Basically a liar's song about a Paul Bunionesque woodsman.


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Subject: RE: ADD LYR: BORN 10,000 YEARS AGO
From: Wolfgang Hell
Date: 06 Jan 98 - 06:43 AM

Bo, I do hope you'll find the time to post Tommy Makem's version.
Wolfgang


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Subject: ADD: The Liar ^^
From: Elektra@gate.net
Date: 08 Jan 98 - 12:34 AM

While I don't happen to have the particular album, I believe the version I learned is quite close, if not the very same as Tommy Makem's. (Please correct me if I'm wrong!)

The Liar

I was born 10,000 years ago
In ???, in the County of Mayo
It was me who chased the vermin
While St. Patrick preached his sermon
If I hear a bigger lie I'll let you know

(Chorus)
With your right foot toor-a-laddie toor-a-lee
[TOOR-A-LEE!]
There ain't no-one can tell a lie like me
[BULLSHIT!]
You may search until you're tired
And never find a bigger liar
I've been lying since the dawn of history.

I saw Eve picking apples off a tree
She turned around and offered one to me
I said "no thank you Madam,
You go try your luck with Adam --
I'm going home for fish and chips, and tea."

(Chorus)

I saw Delilah cutting Sampson's hair
She clipped and clipped until his head was bare.
When he couldn't run away
She married him, next day
And they opened up a barbershop in Clare.

(Chorus)

And during World War II I met them all
There was Roosevelt, Churchill and Degaulle.
By Christ, they almost fainted --
I was having my house painted
And there was Hitler, hanging paper in the hall.

(Chorus x 2) ^^


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Subject: RE: ADD LYR: BORN 10,000 YEARS AGO
From: Wolfgang
Date: 08 Jan 98 - 03:39 AM

Thanks, Elektra


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Subject: RE: ADD LYR: BORN 10,000 YEARS AGO
From: Elektra@gate.net
Date: 09 Jan 98 - 01:19 AM

Sheesh, I just read my posting... I SWEAR it didn't look like that when I typed it in -- it was all in nice, neat paragraphs.

Now I see *exactly* what Joe meant. Argh!


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Subject: RE: ADD LYR: BORN 10,000 YEARS AGO
From: Wolfgang
Date: 09 Jan 98 - 05:37 AM

Elktra, type <BR> at the end of a line and the editor will read this as "next line please"


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Subject: ADD: Lancashire Liar ^^
From: Barry
Date: 12 Jan 98 - 10:51 AM

The Lancashire Liar, Collected by Harry Boardman, from Folk Songs & Ballads Of Lancashire.

Lancashire Liar

In Manchester I saw a crow leave London in a crack,sir.
Flew as far as Saddle-worth wi' Ashton on it's back, sir.

Ch. Indeed, sir, it's true, sir, I've never been given to lie & if you go to Lancashire you'll see the same as I.

I saw a goose from Staleybridge, that caol from Hyde had taken,
It stole a bag from Liverpool filled with Irish bacon.

In Warrington I saw a pig kill near two hundred people,
In Lancaster I saw a dog dance on Leeds church steeple

In Huddersfield I met a bull selling Eccles cakes, sir
In Marsden I met a dead horse going to Oldham wakes,

In Delph I met a flock of sheep had been to rob York
church, sir They brought a hen from Tadcaster in a show to learn to work, sir

At Hurst I saw a peck of birds take Leigh church & shake it,
And drive a horse through Dukinfield with eggs to Rochda' market

In Haslingden I saw a mouse wheel muck through Royton town, sir
In Mossley I met a cat wearing a Knaresboro gown, sir

In Bacup I saw a monkey in Burnley teaching school, sir
In Blackburn it made Wangby cheese, in Colne it chased a fool, sir

At Tyldesley Bank I saw a lamb at Stockport cry a sale,
In Chowbent I saw a horse tried for stealing mutton

At Failworth I saw a turkey rob Prestwich church all over,
At Hull I saw a rabbit chase a hound at Dover

At Radcliff I saw a crow kill near 300 witches
At Bury I saw a tomcat at Bolton selling matches

At Chorey I saw two bullocks in Preston selling oil, sir
At Bath I saw a pigeon take a gaint to Carlisle, sir

At Whitehaven I saw a fly eat a flitch of bacon,
And stick a pig at Cockermouth, in lies I'm not mistaken.

I once saw two dead guinea pigs try which of them was stronger.
I've really told so many lies that I can sing no longer.

Now to conclude & end my song with heart & true goodwill,
sir. If you want a bigger lie than this you can sing it for yourself, sir


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Subject: Taliesin's autobiographical verses to the King ^^
From: Bruce O.
Date: 12 Jan 98 - 04:14 PM

Taliesin's autobiographical verses to the King (Maelgwyn).

I was with my lord in the heavens
When Lucifer fell into the depths of hell;
I carried a banner before Alexander;
I know the stars' names from the North to the South
I was in the fort of Gwdion in the Tetragamaton;
I was in the cannon when Absalon was killed;
I brought seed down to the vale of Hebron;
I was in the court of Don before the birth of Gwydion;
I was patriarch to Elijah and Enoch;
I was head keeper on the works of Nimrod's tower
I was atop the cross of the merciful son of God;
I was three times in the prison of Arianhod;
I was in the ark with Noah and Alpha;
I witnessed the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah;
I was in Africa before the building of Rome;
I came her to the survivors of Troy.

And I was with my lord in the manger of oxen and asses;
I upheld Moses through the water of Jordan;
I was in the sky with Mary Magdalen;
I got poetic inspiration from the cauldron of Ceriwen;
I was poet-harper to Lleon Llychlyn;
I was in Gwynfryn in the court of Cynfelyn;
In stocks and fetters a year and a day.
I was revealed in the land of the Trinity;
And I was moved through the entire universe;
And I shall remain till doomsday, upon the face of the earth.
And no one knows what my flesh is-whether meat or fish.

And I was nine months in the womb of the witch Ceridwen;
I was formerly Gwion Bach, but now I am Taliesen.

[Although the 4th to last line implies he is still around, I don't know how to reach him. Taliesin was Gwion Bach until reborn as Talesin about the time Arthur fought the Battle of Badon. About the time of Arthur's death, Maelgwyn (Maglocunos, one of Arthur's successors, and according to one account Arthur's nephew) became King of Gwynedd. Taliesin became bard to Maelgwyn, c 520 - 549 C.E. Taliesin later became the bard of Urien of Rheged. (Urien and his son Owein/ Yvain/ Uwanynes don't really belong in the tales of King Arthur.) A so-called transformational poem of Taliesin, the 'Cad Goddeu' is somewhat similar to the above.]

^^


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Subject: RE: ADD LYR: BORN 10,000 YEARS AGO
From: Jerry Friedman
Date: 12 Jan 98 - 06:36 PM

The best part is Gwydion's not knowing what "Teragrammaton" means.


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Subject: RE: ADD LYR: BORN 10,000 YEARS AGO
From: Jerry Friedman
Date: 12 Jan 98 - 06:37 PM

Let's see if I can type the whole word. Tetragrammaton. There!


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Subject: ADD: The Ram of Darby (early version)^^
From: Bruce O.
Date: 12 Jan 98 - 09:22 PM

The chorus of the "Lancashire Liar" above looks rather familiar. What is the tune for it? Here's an early version of a well known song with practically the same chorus.

The Ram of Darby

As I was going to Darby,
All on a Market Day,
I met the finest Ram Sir,
That e'er was fed on Hay.
Indeed Sir it's a truth Sir
I never was known to Lye,
And if you'll go to Darby Sir,
You may see it as well as I.

The Wool upon its' Back Sir,
Reach'd up unto the Sky,
The Birds they built their Nests there,
For I heard the Young Ones cry.
Indeed Sir it's a truth &c.

The space between the Horns Sir,
Was far as Man could reach,
And there they built a pulpit
But no one in it preach'd.
Indeed Sirs it's a truth &c.

It had a Tail as long Sir,
As six Yards and an Ell,
Of which they make a Rope Sir,
To toll the Market Bell.
Indeed Sir it's a truth &c.

The little Boys of Darby
They came to beg his Eyes,
To roll about the Streets Sir,
They being of Foot Balls size.
Indeed Sir it's a truth &c.

The Butcher that kill'd this Ram Sir,
Was drowned in the Blood,
And all the People of Darby,
Were carried away in the flood.
Indeed Sir it's a truth Sir,
For I was never taught to lye,
And if you go to Darby Sir,
You may eat a bit of the Pye.

The song above was printed as song #70 in 'British Melodies', n.d. (c1805-15), by The Polyhymnian Co. and sold by George Walker, 106 Great Portland Street, London, with the music below. (George Walker was the Polyhymnian Co.) The song was also given without music in 'Encyclopedia of Comic Songs', London, 1819.

X:1
T:The Ram of Darby
N:from 'British Melodies'
L:1/8
M:6/8
K:C
G|c2c c d e|c3G2G|A2G{A/2B/2}c2E|{E/2}D3z2G|~c2c cd e|c3G2G|\
A2G{A/2B2/2}c2E|{E/2}D3z2E|C3C D E|G3 G E D|C C C CD E|\
G3z2E|C2C CD E|G2G G A B|c d e fd B|c2z3|]
^^


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Subject: ADD: A Whetstone for Lyers^^
From: Bruce O.
Date: 12 Jan 98 - 09:57 PM

[A couple more old liars. The second song below is unusual, in that the liar doesn't swear that he is telling us truth.

A Whetstone for Lyers.

A Song of strange wonders. beleeve them if you wil,
As true as some stories that Travelers tell.
To the tune of With a trick that I have.

From Barwick to Dover,
Ten thousand times over,
I truely have traveled
ten times in a day:
From the top of Pauls steeple,
In the sight of all people,
To throw myselfe headlong
I hold but a toy.
From the top of Westminster,
To the middest at Cheape, [Cheapside
I skipt or'e the houses
at one standing Leape:
From thence unto Greenwitch,
In the fight of many,
I bouust o're the barges,
yet never toucht any.

From off Richmond Castle,
Nine miles into Scotland,
Ile run in a morning
at one breathing course:
Ile march in a minute
From Norway to Gothland,
And ne'r be beholding
to th' helpe of a horse:
Ile dine at Duke Humphreyes [meaning 'to go hungry'
To day at high noone,
And the nest night at supper
Ile meete you at Roome: [Rome
Ile travel the world,
To what place you can name,
And never crosse river
till I come at the same.

Ile walk upon Thames
As well as on dry land,
Without being carry'd
in barge, ship, or boat:
Ile goe at a high tide
"Twixt London and Gravesend;
As swift as a wherry
I finely can flote:
And then without danger
Ile pass Yarmouth sand,
And bravely and safely
at Plimouth Ile land:
Ile goe on a Message
Unto the great Turke,

Ith' morne; and at night
Ile be heere hard at worke.

All naked in winter,
Ile swim hence to Green-land,
To Russia, Polony, to Denmark or Freeze [Friesland
And oft in a humour
To Holland that fine Land.
I run, and came backe,
yet no man me sees.
I have on a sudden
Swum over to Spaine,
At midnight, and heere,
in the morning againe.
All this have I done
As for truth may appeare,
And more then all this
as you after shall heare.

I likewise have studied
The learned vocaiton, [sic]
To see how the starres
and the planets doe move:
I know in a minute
What's sone in all nations,
And for weven yeeres after,
what events still shall prove.
If French, Turke or Spaniard
Against us conspire,
Ile burne their whole armies
with balls of wild-fire: [Greek fire?
The shot of a cannon
I hold but a toy:
I kill'd thirty thousand
when I was but a boy.

The victuals that would
Gargantua sustaine
The space of a yeere
I doe hold but a bit:
For bring the ten thousands
Of Waynes strongly laden,
And I in a day
will devour every whit.
Of hogsheads the biggest
That's in any house,
Ile drink off twice twenty
at a mornings Carowse;
And blow thorow my nostrils
Such a blusterous gale,
'Twill make thirty thousand
tall ships for to sayle.

Although I have travel'd

Through sword and through fire,
And past adventures
as never did wane,
Of all sorts of people,
I hate a base Lyer,
What talkes of adventures,
yet never saw none;
If you meete with a fellow
That will prate, brag and lye,
Tell him of my Travels,
he'l cease by and by.
Thus wishing true Souldiers
Thus honours increase,
A fig for base Lyers,
and so I will cease.
Finis

Printed for F. Grove, dwelling on Snow-hill.

The original of this is probably "From Berwick to Dover, ten thousand times over" in BL MS Sloane 1489, f. 26, and is probably by George Whetstone.


A few years later we find:

The Joviall Broome man: Or,
A Rent Street Souldier's exact relation
Of all his Travels in Every Nation.
His famous acts are all shewne here,
As in this story doth appeare.

To the tune of Slow men of London.

Roome for a lad that's come from seas,
Hey jolly Broome-man,
That gladly now would take his ease,
And therefore make me roome, man.

To France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Spaine,
I crost the seas, and backe againe.

Yet in these countries lived I,
Saw many a valiant souldier dye.

Ah hundred gallants there I kill'd,
And beside, a world of blood I spild.

In Germany I tooke a towne,
I threw the walls there upside downe.

And when that I the same had done,
I made the people all to run.

And when the people all ere gone,
I held the towne myselfe alone.

When valiant Ajax fought with Hector,
I made them friends with a bowle of Nectar.

The Second Part. To the same tune.

When Saturn warr'd against the Sun,
Then through my helpe the field was won.

With Hercules I tost the Club,
I rol'd Diogenes in a tub.

When Tamerlaine overcame the Turk,
I blew up thousands in a worke.

When Caesar's pompe I overthrew,
Then many a Roman lord I slew.

When the Ammorites beseig'd Rome's wals,
I drove them backe with fiery balls.

And when the Greeks beseig'd Troy,
I rescued off dame Hellen's joy.

And when that I had won this fame,
I was honor'd of all men for the same.

At Tilbury Campe with Captain Drake,
I made the Spanish Fleet to quake.

At Holland's Leaguer there I fought,
But there the service prov'd too hot. *

Then from the League returned I,
Naked, hungry, cold, and dry.

But here I have now compast the Globe,
I am backe return'd, as poore as Job.

And now I am safe returned backe.
Here's to you a cup of Canary Sacke.

And now I am safe returned here,
Here's to you in a cup of English Beere.

And if my travels you desire to see,
Hey jolly Broome-man,
You may buy't for a peny heere of mee.
And therefore make me roome, man.
Finis. R. C.

London, Printed for Richard Harper, in Smithfield.

[Not entered. Harper first appears in 1643 and Richard Climsell seems to have disappeared by 1640.]

* 'Hollanders' League' was not 'Holland's Leaguer'. The latter was a slang term for Mrs. Holland's brothel, c 1625-32. For Lawrence Price's 'tongue in cheek' description of it, see his "News from Holland's Leaguer' in Vol. I of 'The Pepys Ballads' (with a woodcut of the brothel). Elizabeth Holland was carted in Feb. 1598, and put in Newgate until her fine of 40 pounds was paid, for keeping a brothel at Pickthatch.

Tune is from song, "Slow Men of London", in Beaumont and Fletcher's play 'With Without Money', but tune seems not to have been printed until the 18th century. Song and tune in 'The Musical Miscellany', II, p. 74, 1729. Tune in Vol. III of 'Dancing Master' and in John Gay's 'Polly', 1729, as "The Disappointed Widow". Song with wrong tune, "Jamaica", is 'Pills'.

^^


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Subject: ADD: The Liar (Makem Recording)^^
From: Bo
Date: 13 Jan 98 - 12:25 AM

Thank you Elektra, I cant find the album and my memory couldnt find a hook for the song. It's basically just as you posted it.

Bo

The Liar
Rec. by Tommy Makem

Yi di di, diddlee di di di
(Chorus) With your right foot toor-a-laddie toor-a-lee [TOOR-A-LEE!]
There ain't no-one can tell a lie like me [BULLSHIT!]
You may search until you tire
You wont find a bigger liar
I've been lying since the dawn of history.

I was born about 10,000 years ago In Ballmollet, in the County of Mayo
It was me who chased the vermin While St. Patrick preached his sermon
If I hear a bigger lie I'll let you know

I saw Eve go picking apples off a tree
She turned around and offered one to me
I said "no thank you Madam, You go try your luck with Adam
And went home to have some fish and chips, and tea."

(Chorus)

I saw Delilah cutting Sampson's hair
She clipped away until his head was bare.
When he couldn't run away She married him, next day
And they opened up a barbershop in Clare.

(Chorus)

It was during World War II I met them all
There was Roosevelt, Churchill and Degaulle.
By Christ, they almost fainted -- I was having my house painted
There was Hitler, hanging paper in the hall.

(Chorus x 2)
^^


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Subject: RE: LYR REQ - Galway Races
From: Elektra@gate.net
Date: 13 Jan 98 - 09:11 PM

Typing of Tommy sets me in mind of the Clancys as well. One or t'other (and quite possibly both) recorded a(t least one) version of 'Galway Races'. Lyrics, anyone?

Here's a memory jog -- it goes something like this:

Well I went down to Galway for to seek some recreation
On the twenty-third of August my mind had been elevated
To the multitude assembled with their tickets at the station
My eyes began to dazzle I was going to see the races.

(Chorus x 2)
C G
With a wack fol-de-ra

Am
Fol-rol-diddly-idle-day

etc.

Anyway -- picked up second hand from a local performer and haven't been able to make out all the words yet. Frustrating 'cause I love the song -- and I was surprised enough when it wasn't on the original DT at PARC. I can hardly believe no one has asked for it even up till NOW!

As always, assistance greatly appreciated!

9=^) <-- Say...is it just me, or does that kinda look like Little Lulu in this font?


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Subject: RE: ADD LYR: BORN 10,000 YEARS AGO
From: Wolfgang
Date: 14 Jan 98 - 04:43 AM

Elektra, see an extra thread for the Galway Races


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Subject: RE: ADD LYR: BORN 10,000 YEARS AGO
From: Denis
Date: 14 Jan 98 - 05:58 PM

I have the same version as the Tommy Makem one except the first verse I learned as: I was born about 10,000 years ago in Balmullach (sic)in the County of Mayo. It was me who chased the vermin while St. Patrick preached his sermon and I'll fight the man who says it isn't so.


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Subject: RE: ADD LYR: BORN 10,000 YEARS AGO
From: dwditty
Date: 17 Jan 98 - 08:01 AM

Another version appears at:

http://acrnet.net/~robokopp/usa/iwasborn.htm

Melody, also.
DW


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Subject: Lyr Add: THE WONDERFUL CROCODILE^^^
From: Barry
Date: 17 Jan 98 - 10:41 PM

Another liar in the form of "The Wonderful Crocodile", J. Lomax got it from H. E. Greenough of Nova Scotia in 1921, who remembers hearing it forty years earlier in the back rooms of the taverns frequented by seaman.

THE WONDERFUL CROCODILE

{Come list ye landsmen all to me
To tell the truth I'm bound
What happened to me by going to sea
And the wonders that I found
Shipwrecked I was one sappy rouse
And cast all on the shore
So resolved to take a cruise
The country to explore}

{ch. To my ri tol looral loralido, Ritol looral lay,
To my ri tol fol liddle lolde fol, To my tol looral lay

{Oh I had not long scurried out
When close alongside the ocean
'Twas there that I saw something move
Like all the earth in motion
While steering close up alongside
I saw it was a crocodile
From the end of his nose to the tip of his tail
It measured 500 mile}

{This crocodile I could plainly see
Was none of the common race
For I had to climb a very high tree
Before I could see his face
And when he lifted up his jaw
Perhaps you may think it a lie
But his back was 3 miles through the clouds
And his nose near touched the sky}

{Oh up aloft the wind was high
It blew a hard gale from the south
I lost my hold & away I flew
Right into the crocodile's mouth
He quickly closed his jaws on me
He thought to nab a victim
But I slipped down his throat d'ye see
And that's the way I tricked 'im}

{I traveled on for a year or two
Till I got into his maw
And there were rum kegs not a few
And a 1000 bullocks in store
Through life I banished al my care
For on grub I was not stinted
And in this crocodile lived 10 years
Very well contented}

{This crocodile being very old
One day at last he died
He was 3 years in catching cold
He was so long & wide
His skin was 3 miles thick I'm sure
Or very near about
For I was full 6 months or more
In making a hole to get out}

{So now I'm safe on earth once more
Resolved no more to roam
In a ship that passed I got a berth
So now I'm safe at home
But if my story you should doubt
Did you ever cross the Nile
'Twas there he fell, you'll find his shell
Of this wonderful crocodile}

From American Songs & Ballads, J & A Lomax. Barry^^^


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Subject: RE: ADD LYR: BORN 10,000 YEARS AGO
From:
Date: 18 Jan 98 - 12:42 PM

That above is the "Wonderful Crocodile" in DT.


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Subject: RE: ADD LYR: BORN 10,000 YEARS AGO
From: Bruce O.
Date: 18 Jan 98 - 01:28 PM

I started a new thread, Lies, Brags, Marvelous adventures of sights.


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Subject: RE: ADD LYR: BORN 10,000 YEARS AGO
From: Barry
Date: 18 Jan 98 - 04:40 PM

Sorry I looked but probaly misspelled, could've saved some fingering, don't usually like to re or overpost. Barry


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Subject: RE: ADD LYR: BORN 10,000 YEARS AGO
From: Tim Jaques tjaques@netcom.ca
Date: 18 Jan 98 - 10:07 PM

I suppose that The Irish Rover could count as a liar's song too.


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Subject: RE: ADD LYR: BORN 10,000 YEARS AGO
From: Joe Offer
Date: 01 Jun 98 - 04:27 AM

I still can't picture Elvis singing this song. He did a lot of good stuff, but I don't recall much with humor in it.
-Joe Offer-


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Subject: RE: ADD LYR: BORN 10,000 YEARS AGO
From: murray@mpce.mq.edu.au
Date: 01 Jun 98 - 08:29 AM

Fidlin' John Carson does a version of the 10,000 year old man called "When Abraham and Issac Rushed the Can". I have trouble making out the words, and I'm not sure what the title means (Dale???).

I have seen a quote from Jelly Roll Morton complaining about the blues singers in the South and saying he will have to "rush the can and go to Chicago".

Doc Watson does a nice version with finger picking accompanyment on the Guitar. He modestly claims to only be "Born about six thousand years ago." The lyrics are very similar to those given above.

Murray


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Subject: RE: ADD LYR: BORN 10,000 YEARS AGO
From: Roger Himler
Date: 01 Jun 98 - 12:02 PM

Murray,

One definition of "can" in the USA is "the bathroom." That doesn't seem to fit in these lines.

A guess I would make is it may be a reference to how beer was once served. They didn't have cans of bottles in six packs, so "take out" was usually in the form of a bucket or can that was filled at the tap or barrel.

Some taverns had a take out window referred to as "the growler." I guess they didn't have microphones to place your "take out" beer order.

Maybe someone really "knows" the answer. Good luck.

Roger in Baltimore


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Subject: RE: ADD LYR: BORN 10,000 YEARS AGO
From: Bert
Date: 01 Jun 98 - 12:43 PM

There was a little man who had a little can
He used to rush the growler
He went in a saloon on a Sunday afternoon
You oughta hear the bar tender holler
"No more booze, no more booze, no moore booze on Sunday;
No more booze, no more booze, gotta take a can 'till Monday."

Frm an old LP I used to own titled "Blood, Booze and Bones" Can't remember the singer.

Bert


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Subject: RE: ADD LYR: BORN 10,000 YEARS AGO
From: Roger Himler
Date: 01 Jun 98 - 01:55 PM

Bert,

It's Ed Mc Curdy who recorded that album. He and Oscar Brand had a memorable series of lewd songs on records. As a teenage, I thought they were awfully naughty for the early 60's. I heard Oscar Brand a year or two back and he said they had cleaned them up to get them recorded. He did one song in the original. My mind was blanking on the tune, but still held some of the information. If this keeps up with old age, I have a wonderful collection of records, tapes, and LP's that I will listen to for the first time, again.

She's the only girl I ever did have,
With a face like a horse and buggy,
Standing up against the wall,
Fireman, save my child!
But the child was bigger than the fireman.

That's the only verse I remember.

Roger in Baltimore.


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Subject: RE: ADD LYR: BORN 10,000 YEARS AGO
From: Bud Savoie
Date: 28 Aug 00 - 06:59 AM

I suppose it figures that a guy from Baltimore would remember the verse about a fire.


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Subject: RE: ADD LYR: BORN 10,000 YEARS AGO
From: paddymac
Date: 28 Aug 00 - 11:50 AM

I had forgotten all about this thread. Glad to see it revived. BTW, the town referenced in TM's version of this song is "Bellmullet", a small fishing village on the coast, about as far northwest as you can go in County Mayo.


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Subject: RE: ADD LYR: BORN 10,000 YEARS AGO
From: Robby
Date: 29 Aug 00 - 08:30 AM

In addition to Tommy Makem's version of The Liar previously posted, he and Liam Clancy have a slightly different version, which adds the following verses:
    Now, when Cromwell came to Ireland long ago,
    He didn't shed a drop of blood, ye know.
    All the people started grievin',
    When they heard that he was leavin'.
    If I knew a bigger lie, I'd tell ye so.

    With King Billy at the Boyne, I heard him call
    On his followers to follow till they'd fall.
    Then he said: We've donw quite ably,
    And we'll cannonize young Paisley;
    Then he upped and sang a verse on Derry's wall.

By the way, The Chad Mitchell Trio (remember them) have a different version titled The Great Historical Bum. There is about nine verses to it, but no chorus. Maybe some day, if it isn't already in the data base, I'll find the time to post the lyrics.


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Subject: RE: ADD LYR: BORN 10,000 YEARS AGO
From: Robby
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 09:16 AM

Before anyone replies about the Great Historical Bum, it is in the DT under the title Just The Facts, Ma'am.


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Subject: RE: Origin of '10,000 Years Ago'
From: Joe Offer
Date: 23 Dec 04 - 11:52 PM

This was posted in another thread, but maybe it's better to continue the discussion here. Here's Mike's message:
    Thread #76812   Message #1364629
    Posted By: musicmic
    23-Dec-04 - 11:26 PM
    Thread Name: Origin of '10,000 Years Ago'
    Subject: Origins: Origin of '10,000 Years Ago'

    Hello, I am starting my new CD and I'd like to include "I Was Born About 10,000 Years Ago". Carl Sandburg's Songbag has the words and the melody but it doesn't say anything about where it's from. I sand this song back in the late fifties and I always liked its swaggering chutzpah and papar thin lies. I'm pretty sure that Oscar Brand sang it in live performance. He may have recorded it. God knows, he recorded everything else.
    I'm also planning on including "Way Out West in Kansas" (Click for Kansas), about which I know even less than the other one. Ha, some folksinger I am.

                      Mike Miller


I always get this song confused with Great Historical Bum, and some people (Cisco Houston??) have sung the two as a medley - and in Just the Facts, Ma'am in the Digital Tradition. I thought we had threads on this song, but I couldn't find any. You'll note that we have two versions in the Digital Tradition - I added them to the crosslinks at the top of this page. Here's the entry from the Traditional Ballad Index:

I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago (Bragging Song)

DESCRIPTION: "I was born about ten thousand years ago, And there's nothing in this world that I don't know." The singer boasts of his past accomplishments, e.g. watching Adam and Eve eat the apple (and eating the core); teaching Solomon to read....
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1913
KEYWORDS: humorous bragging lie Bible
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,Ro,SE,So)
REFERENCES (13 citations):
Randolph 410, "I Was Born About Four Thousand Years Ago" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
BrownIII 426, "I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago" (2 texts plus a fragment and mention of 2 more)
BrownSchinhanV 426, "I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago" (1 tune plus a text ringing)
Gardner/Chickering 187, "The Historian" (1 text, 1 tune)
Richardson, p. 101, "Four Thousand Years Ago" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, pp. 330-331, "I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hubbard, #180, "I Was Born ABout Six Thousand Years Ago" (1 text)
Lomax-FSUSA 10, "I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 346-350, "The Highly Educated Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
Rorrer, p. 69, "I'm the Man That Rode the Mule 'Round the World" (1 text, with a a final verse, and probably an extended introductory verse, by Charlie Poole)
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 170, "I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 26, "I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago" (1 text)
DT, (JUSTFACT) (BORN10K)

Roud #3127
RECORDINGS:
Clarence Ashley & Tex Isley, "I'm The Man That Rode the Mule Around the World" (on Ashley01)
Dwight Butcher, "The Man That Rode a Mule Around the World" (Victor 23810, 1933)
Fiddlin' John Carson, "When Abraham and Isaac Rushed the Can" (OKeh 40181, 1924)
Cramer Brothers, "I Was Born Four Thousand Years Ago" (Broadway 757, c. 1927 [as "I Was Born 4000 Years Ago"]; Broadway 8059, c. 1932; rec. 1927)
Crockett's Kentucky Mountaineers "I Was Born 10,000 Years Ago" (Crown 3101/Homestead 23040/0Montgomery Ward M-3024 [as Harlan Miners Fiddlers]/Joe Davis 3506 [as Kentucky Mountaineers]/Varsity 5088 [as Hale's Kentucky Mountaineers], all c.1931)
Vernon Dalhart, "I'm the Man That Rode the Mule Around the World" (CYL: Edison 5278, n.d.)
Otto Gray & his Oklahoma Cowboys, "4000 Years Ago" (Vocalion 5479, rec. 1931)
Georgia Organ Grinders, "Four Thousand Years Ago" (Columbia 15445-D, 1929)
Kelly Harrell, "I Was Born About 10,000 Years Ago" (OKeh 40486, 1925; on KHarrell01)
Bradley Kincaid, "Four Thousand Years Ago" (Gennett 6761/Champion 15687 [as Dan Hughey]/Supertone 9362, 1929; Superior 2656, 1931; Champion 45057 [as Dan Hughey], c. 1935)
Uncle Dave Macon, "Man That Rode the Mule Around the World" (Vocalion 5356, 1929)
Lester McFarland & Robert Gardner, "I Was Born Four Thousand Years Ago" (Brunswick 110/Vocalion 5028, 1927; Supertone S-2033, 1930)
Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, "I'm the Man That Rode the Mule 'Round the World" (Columbia 15043-D, 1925, with an extended introductory verse by Poole; on CPoole04)
Pete Seeger, "I Was Born 10,000 Years Ago" (on PeteSeeger11)
Smoky Mountain Twins, "I Was Born 4000 Years Ago" (Conqueror 7065, 1928)
Dock Walsh, "Educated Man" (Columbia 15057-D, 1925)

CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Day Columbus Landed Here"
cf. "Sara Jane" (lyrics of some versions)
NOTES [163 words]: It need hardly be stated that there is very little truth in this song (even if one accepts the Bible as literally true). I won't state examples; they would just bore you.
I do suspect that the "Ten Thousand Years" title is original, and "four thousand years" is a later correction by those who thought the braggart couldn't have been born before 4004 BCE. And "six thousand years ago" may be an adjustment by someone who knew Archbishop Ussher's 4004 date and did some subtraction. - RBW
Not to be confused with the bawdy "Three Thousand Years Ago". -PJS
The verse "She's my darling, she's my daisy, She's humpbacked and she's crazy... She's my freckled-faced consumptive Mary Ann" (sung as part of this song, e.g., by Charlie Poole) is also associated with "Hungry Hash House," and that's where I've listed it when it occurs on its own. It's not clear that Poole's piece belongs there, but for the moment I'm listing that song with this one because it fits better metrically. - RBW
Last updated in version 5.0
File: R410

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography

The Ballad Index Copyright 2020 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.


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Subject: Lyr Add: I Was Born Almost Ten Thousand Years Ago
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 Dec 04 - 02:26 AM

I haven't figured out where the version in the Digital Tradition comes from. Can anybody identify it? It's taken directly from the first message in this thread, which says only "Arr. by Albert Gamse." Can anybody identify it further?
Note that we also have Charlie Poole's I'm the man who rode the mule around the world.

Here's the version from Carl Sandburg's American Songbag (1927)

I WAS BORN ALMOST TEN THOUSAND YEARS AGO

I was born almost ten thousand years ago,
And there's nothing in the world that I don't know;
I saw Peter, Paul and Moses,
Playing ring-around-the-roses
And I'm here to lick the guy what says 'taint so.

I saw Satan when he looked the garden o'er,
Saw Adam and Eve driven from the door,
And behind the bushes peeping,
Saw the apple they were eating,
And I'll swear that I'm the guy what ate the core.

I saw Jonah when he embarked within the whale,
And thought he'd never live to tell the tale.
But old Jonah had eaten garlic
And he gave the whale a colic,
So he coughed up and let him out o' jail.

I saw Samson when he laid the village cold,
Saw Daniel tame the lions in the hold,
And helped build the Tower of Babel,
Up as high as they were able,
And there's lots of other things I haven't told.

I taught Solomon his little A-B-C's,
I helped Brigham Young to make Limburger cheese,
And while sailing down the bay With Methusaleh one day,
I saved his flowing whiskers from the breeze.

Queen Elizabeth she fell in love with me
We were married in Milwaukee secretly,
But I schemed around and shook her,
And I went with General Hooker
To shoot mosquitoes down in Tennessee.

I remember when the country had a king,
I saw Cleopatra pawn her wedding ring,
And I saw the flags a-flying
When George Washington stopped lying,
On the night when Patti first began to sing.


As usual, Sandburg's notes don't say much. I wonder who Patti is - CleoPatti??

-Joe Offer-


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Subject: ADD Version: The Historian
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 Dec 04 - 02:55 AM

Here's the version from Emelyn Elizabeth Gardner and Geraldine Jencks Chickering, Ballads and Songs of Southern Michigan (1939).

The Historian

I was born a hundred thousand years ago,
And there's not a thing in hist'ry I don't know.
I saw Peter, Paul, and Moses playing "Ring Around the Roses,"
And I'll shoot the guy who says it isn't so.

I saw Absalom hanging by his hair;
When they built the wall of China, I was there.
I saved King Solomon's life; so he offered me a wife.
I said, "Now you're talking business, have a chair."

I saw Adam and Eve a-driven from their door;
I'm the guy that picked the fig leaves that they wore.
While the apple they were eating, I was 'round the corner peeking;
I can prove that I'm the guy that ate the core.

If you don't believe that what I say is true,
What difference does it really make to you?
I'm just shooting you this line for to pass away the time,
And now I'm going to quit because I'm through.


Notes from Gardner/Chickering:
    This is a version of what Sandburg, pp. 330—331, calls "a vest pocket encyclopedia." It is slightly suggestive of "Darky Sunday School," Lomax and Lomax,:pp. 351—354.
    The present version was obtained by Mrs. Lillian Ammerman, Detroit, from a Negro boy of fifteen in the Detention Home, Detroit. He had learned this song from hearing it sung in "jungles" where he had stayed.


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Subject: RE: Origins: BORN 10,000 YEARS AGO
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 24 Dec 04 - 05:47 AM

While we're mentioning the 10,000 year folkloric meme, there was a US comedian who used to do a routine (I had an LP in the 1970s) about the 10,000 year old man with another - one of them was Mel Brooks, I think.


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Subject: RE: Origins: BORN 10,000 YEARS AGO
From: Joe Offer
Date: 26 Dec 04 - 10:39 PM

refresh


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Subject: ADD Version: Born About 4,000 Years Ago
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 01:30 AM

Randolph's Ozark Folksongs has three versions of the lyrics and two tunes. Here's #410A

I Was Born About Four Thousand Years Ago

I was born about four thousand years ago,
There ain't nothin' in this world that I don't know,
I see King Pharaoh's daughter Fishin' Moses out o' the water
I can lick the man that says that it ain't so!

I was there when Satan looked the Garden o'er,
I seen Eve an' Adam comin' out the door,
In the bushes I was peepin'
At the apple they was eatin',
I can prove that I'm the man what et the core!

I taught Solomon his little A-B-C's,
I showed Noah how to make Limberger cheese,
I was sailin' down the bay
With Methusalem one day,
An' I saved his long white whiskers from the fleas.

I remember when the country had a king,
I seen Cleopatra pawn her weddin'-ring,
I played ring-around-a-roses
With Abendigo an' Moses,
An' I'll fight the man what says that I caint sing!


Sung by Mrs. Jasper Armstrong, Pineville, Missouri, July 11, 1928


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Subject: ADD Version: Born 4,000 Years Ago
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 01:37 AM

Here's Randolph's #410B

I Was born About Four Thousand Years Ago

I was borned about four thousand years ago,
I'm sure there's nothing in this world I do not know,
I saw David and his daughter, I saw Moses on the water,
And I can whip the man that says it isn't so.

Chorus:
I'm a very highly educated man,
Keep my brains up in my aeroplane,
I've been in this world so long
That I sued to sing a song
'Bout old Abraham and Isaac in the can.


I saw Adam and Eve driven from the Garden of Eden
Where they'd eat the forbidden fruit,
Behind some bushes I was peeping,
And can prove that I'm the man that eat the core.

I saw Cain slaying Abel on the glade,
I'm sure 'twas a game of poker that they played,
It was there in the rub he killed him with a club,
I am sure it wasn't a diamond or a spade.

I saw Noah build his famous Ark,
I slipped in just shortly after dark,
I saw Jonah and the whale and I grabbed it by the tail
And I rambled round this world once more.


Sung by Mr. Fred Woodruff, Lincoln, Arkansas; Dec 12, 1941


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Subject: ADD Version: Born 100,000 Years Ago
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 01:44 AM

Here's Randolph's #410C


I Was Born a Hundred Thousand Years Ago

I was born a hundred thousand years ago,
Oh there's not a thing in history that I don't know,
I saw Peter, Paul and Moses playing ring around the roses
And I'll shoot the guy that says it isn't so.

I saw Caesar when he crossed the Rubicon,
It's a fact I built the raft that he crossed on,
I saw Hannibal at home, and Nero burning Rome,
I even saw the fall of Babylon.

I saw Adam and Eve driven from the door,
I'm the guy that picked the fig leaves that they wore,
When the apple they were eating, I was round the corner peeking,
I can prove that I'm the guy that ate the core.

I saw Washington afloat a cake of ice,
I saw Grant and Billy Sherman shooting dice,
I saw Roosevelt's big laugh that split his face in half,
And Pershing set the trap for German mice.

I saw Absolom a-hanging by the hair,
When they built the wall of China I was there,
I saved King Solomon's life, and he offered me his wife,
I said now you're talking business, have a chair.

The Queen of Sheba fell in love with me,
We were married in Milwaukee secretly,
In Washington I took her, just to join with General Hooker,
Chasing squatters out of lazy Tennessee.

In the Moulin Rouge one evening I was sitting,
Sipping cocktails with the Empress Josephine,
When along the Great White Way, Napoleon chanced to stray
And I shot him in the belly with a bean.

I was present at the Battle of the Nile,
Were the bullets flying there? Well I should smile,
I saw David with his sling put Goliath in the ring,
He was doing forty seconds to the mile.

Now you may believe that what I say is not true,
But what difference can that really make to you?
I'm just shooting you this line for to pass away the time,
And now I'm quittin 'cause I'm through.

manuscript copy from Dr. George E. Hastings, University of Arkansas, Januuary 6, 1942. He had it from Miss Mary Carolyn Barnard, Fayetteville, Arkansas.


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Subject: RE: Origins: Born 10,000 Years Ago
From: Flash Company
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 11:08 AM

Interesting old thread, some verses to 10,000 Years ago that I hadn't encountered before.
Interesting to see Bruce o's Derby Ram Whic is similar to one I used to dd if I could find a co-operative audience:-

Well as I went down to Derby
All on a Market Day
I spied the biggest tup, me lads
That ever fed on hay
(Audience) It's a lie, it's a lie
(Me) Well indeed it is no lie
And had you a' been in Derby you'd have seen the same as I

The last verse was

And if you don't believe me sir
Or if you think I lie,
Go ask the folk in Derby, sir
They're bigger liars than I

Never remember where I got it from!

FC


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Subject: RE: Origins: Born 10,000 Years Ago
From: PoppaGator
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 11:47 AM

Mel Brooks indeed portrayed the 10,000 year-old-man. I *think* that the guy who worked with Brooks at the time as his straight-man was Carl Reiner (father of Rob, for you youngsters), who had been one of his writing partners on the all-future-stars writing staff of the Sid Caesar "Show of Shows" earlier in the Golden Age of TV. Other members of that staff included Larry Gelbart (future creator of the M*A*S*H TV series) and future Broadway auteur Neil Simon.


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Subject: RE: Origins: Born 10,000 Years Ago
From: Mark Ross
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 12:00 PM

Patti was a famous opera singer of the early 20th century. Adelina(?), anyway it would be great to see this updated.

Mark Ross


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Subject: RE: Origins: Born 10,000 Years Ago
From: Big Jim from Jackson
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 09:22 PM

Odetta, on her first Vanguard album sang a duet of I Was Born About Tenthousand Years ago/Great Historical Bum with a banjo player whose name escapes me at the moment. It is a nice treatment of the two and fun to listen to.


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Subject: RE: Origins: Born 10,000 Years Ago
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 28 Dec 04 - 12:59 AM

Yes, it was Brooks & Reiner, as you say.

Slightly off topic, you should catch up with the music and songs for Mel's new Broadway Musical 'The Producers' built up from his original Movie.


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Subject: RE: Origins: Born 10,000 Years Ago
From: PoppaGator
Date: 28 Dec 04 - 05:15 PM

Ah, yes, The Producers! At the risk of further thread drift, I understand that Mel's next project is to make a new movie based on this musical stage play, which of course was based upon a movie to begin with.


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Subject: RE: Origins: Born 10,000 Years Ago
From: GUEST,bcoltman@mdc.net
Date: 28 Dec 04 - 06:31 PM

As I recall (make way for a really obscure note in folk history) the banjo guy with Odetta was Larry Mohr. They began as a duo in San Francisco I think, made one LP together. Then Odetta took off and Mohr dropped from sight, never(?) to be heard of again. They did stuff like "Old Cotton Fields at Home" together, and Mohr had evidently heard Uncle Dave Macon, as he did a fairly decent if manic "I'll Tickle Nancy." More deponent knoweth not.
Happy New Year. —Bob Coltman


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Subject: RE: Origins: Born 10,000 Years Ago
From: Max
Date: 30 Mar 11 - 08:56 PM

I'm having trouble finding a recording of the (And That's No Lie) version. Any hints?


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Subject: RE: Origins: Born 10,000 Years Ago
From: GUEST,Mark Mandel
Date: 30 Mar 11 - 09:15 PM

OK, now this is just too good a piece of synchronicity.

I came across an old cassette tape my uncle must have made from a 2-LP set, "Songs of the South African Veldt -- José Marais". I learned many Marais and Miranda songs from my mother's LPs, and as soon as I saw #4 in the handwritten list of titles, "Johnny With the Wooden Leg", I remembered "Johnny with the Bandy Legs" from M&M. It's the same tune but somewhat different words, as the title reflects, and the tape has only the refrain sung twice with no verse. (Also, this was a men's chorus with no Miranda.)

For the words of "Johnny", I could remember only the chorus and snatches of lines from the verses. But I realized that the verse tune as I remembered it seemed VERY familiar, but from a different song... but I couldn't place it. I hummed the verse tune to my wife, who ID'ed it immediately as "I was born about a thousand years ago"!

So I checked this site for "Johnny with the Bandy Legs", found it, and listened to the MP3. Not quite the same tune as The Liar Song (as I know it, and which I was pretty much humming), especially in the last two lines of the verse, but IMHO pretty close.

Here's the synchronicity, unless there was a search hit I didn't notice: When I paged back, I hit this thread, "Origins: Born 10,000 Years Ago". But I hadn't typed in anything about that, and I don't see any other mention here of the song I was looking for, by either of its titles!


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Subject: RE: Origins: Born 10,000 Years Ago
From: Max
Date: 30 Mar 11 - 09:28 PM

I just installed the synchronicity generator this evening. I guess it's working. :)


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Subject: RE: Origins: Born 10,000 Years Ago
From: banjoman
Date: 31 Mar 11 - 05:25 AM

Just saw this thread and it reminded me that somewhere I have a 45 of Roy Guest singing this song. On the flip side is Streets of Laredo.
Roy Guest was something of an enigma in UK as he sang a bit but was also a booking agent. Problem was that when we booked guests for the club they often didn't turn up. I remember seeing a full house waiting to see Louis Killen (circa 1968 ish) and having to refund entrance fees when he did not show up.


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Subject: RE: Origins: Born 10,000 Years Ago
From: Bo
Date: 31 Mar 11 - 06:12 AM

I too have just seen this thread, strangely I see that I have already posted here. There are some great entries including some from me !   As far as I can remember, I hadn't even discovered Mudcat in 1997.
Is there another "Bo" out there or was there one in '97. And I don't recognise any of the info I appear to have posted ??

Any ideas? Or am I in the home for the bewildered?
Bo, "the 'real' one"


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Subject: RE: Origins: Born 10,000 Years Ago
From: fat B****rd
Date: 31 Mar 11 - 06:28 AM

I seem to recall having a scratched 78 of this by The Vipers.


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Subject: RE: Origins: Born 10,000 Years Ago
From: GUEST,kendall
Date: 31 Mar 11 - 07:28 AM

Tommy claimed he wrote the last verse to the Liar.


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Subject: RE: Origins: Born 10,000 Years Ago: Found!!!
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 02 May 13 - 06:39 PM

I have located the original of the songs "I Was Born 10,000 Years Ago," "The Highly Educated Man," and "Man Who Rode the Mule Around the World."

My reference is the late Gus Meade, who in his excellent book Country Music Sources credits the song as follows:

"I Am a Highly Educated Man"
Words: H. C. Verner, music: Harry M. Clyde, published 1894.

Other comments:

"Can" in those days was emphatically not the bathroom (it was more often called "the jakes" in those days.

I prevalent use of "can" at the end of the 19th century meant the metal mug you got your beer in at the local dispenser of alcohol. It seems some bars in those days did not furnish mugs for beer, but expected you to bring your own, which ws "charged" from the keg. To "rush the can" (as Abraham and Isaac do in that version) meant to go for beer; it may have been a rowdy process.

A cross-reference is the song "No More Booze," which has the line "Got to get your can filled Monday" (because beer is not sold on Sunday).


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Subject: RE: Origins: Born 10,000 Years Ago
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 02 May 13 - 06:47 PM

Note also the common melody to "I Was Born 10,000 Years Ago."

It is not quite the same as, but clearly related to, the first two lines of "Drunk Last Night" aka "The Souse Family" or "The Goddamned Dutch":

Drunk last night, drunk the night before,
Gonna get drunk tonight like I never been drunk no more"

—and the last two lines of the chorus:

"Glory be to God that there are no more of us,
For one of us could drink it all along, damn quick!

"Drunk Last Night" has no known references previous to its appearance in the 1927 book of drinking songs, Gentlemen About Town, Immortalia. (per Wikipedia, and I believe them to be correct in this case; I know of no earlier occurrence.)

However, it its melody has the "pom-pon" sound of a German band march, and the "Damn quick!" flourish at the end sounds like a band flourish. My bet is that this melody dates back into the 19th century, perhaps even predates the Verner-Clyde "I Am a Highly Educated Man."

Anyone conversant with old European band music who van take this farther back?

Bob


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Subject: RE: Origins: Born 10,000 Years Ago
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 May 13 - 02:37 AM

Country Music Sources, eh? Gee, Bob, that's another book I have to put on my "buy" list. Amazon wants $127 for it, as does the publisher University of North Carolina Press.

Aaaaargh! But hey, I can't see how I can live without it....

...and in the process of all this, I found a recording of this song by Elvis Presley on Spotify. Life is good.

Nice to see you 'round these parts again, Bob.


-Joe-


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Subject: RE: Origins: Born 10,000 Years Ago
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 03 May 13 - 11:25 PM

My thanks, Joe, and good to hear from you, too.

Nice to be here. I lurk always, but rarely find an opportunity to jump in and help—mudcatters are quick, and they know nearly everything! Kudos to all.

My chagrin, of course, over the several typos in what I wrote. Testifies to 1) hamhandedness, 2) haste, 3) aging brain, 4) chronic failure to proofread.

I have proofread this message xxtwicexx make that _thrice_. And even so, some typo probably leaked through.

Alas! But wotthehell wotthehell, as Don Marquis's Archy said to Mehitabel. (And there really should be a song about those two!)

Best wishes, Bob C.


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Subject: Lyr Add: I Was Born About a Thousand Years Ago
From: Haruo
Date: 05 May 13 - 11:46 AM

I was raised on the hybrid version (which I don't see mentioned above) combining a version of this with "The Great Historical Bum". To wit:

I was born about a thousand years ago,
An' there ain't nothing in this world that I don't know.
I seen Peter, Paul and Moses playin' Ring Around the Roses,
And I'll whup the guy what says it isn't so.

Well, I'm just a lonesome traveler, the great historical bum;
Highly educated, through history I've come.
I built the Rock of Ages, it was in the year of One,
And that's about the biggest thing a man has ever done.

I saw Adam aand Eve look the garden o'er,
I'm the guy that picked the fig leaves that they wore,
And from behind the bushes peepin' saw the apple they was eatin'
And I swear that I'm the one what et the core.

Well, I'm just a lonesome traveler, the great historical bum;
Highly educated, through history I've come.
I built the Tower of Babel, it was in the year of Two,
And that's about the biggest thing a man could ever do.

I taught Solomon his little ABCs,
I'm the first one who made Limburger cheese,
And while floating down the bay with Methuselah one day,
I saw his whiskers floatin' in the breeze.

Well, I'm just a lonesome traveler, the great historical bum;
Highly educated, through history I've come.
I built King Cheops' pyramid, 'twas in the year of Three,
The grandest public works job in all human history.

The last four lines I think I came up with myself at some point in my life, but everything before that is as it was handed down to me by the saints of yore. And it was always definitely about 1,000 years ago, never 4,000 or 10,000 or 100,000.


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Subject: Lyr Add: I AM A HIGHLY EDUCATED MAN (Clyde/Verner)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 14 May 13 - 09:03 AM

Lyrics copied from http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/songster/44-i-am-a-highly-educated-man.htm#.UZIq_aLCaSo:

[There were a few obvious errors that I corrected; the source shows signs of having been scanned and digitized. I was unable to find actual images of the sheet music.]


I AM A HIGHLY EDUCATED MAN.
Words by Harry C. Clyde. Music by H. C. Verner.
S. Brainard's Sons Co., ©1894.

1. I was born about four thousand years ago,
And there's nothing ever happened I don't know.
    I saw old King Pharaoh's daughter
    Finding Moses in the water,
And I'll whip the man that says it isn't so.
I saw Noah when he built the famous ark.
I sneaked into it one night when it was dark.
    I saw Jonah eat the whale,
    And I pulled the lion's tail,
And I crossed the land of Canaan on a lark.

CHORUS: I am a highly educated man.
To keep my brains within my hat I plan.
    I have been on earth so long
    That I used to sing this song
While Abraham and Isaac rushed the can.

2. I saw Satan when he searched the garden o'er.
I saw Eve and Adam driven from the door.
    While the apple they were eating,
    'Round the bushes I was beating.
I can prove that I'm the man that ate the core.
I was there when Cain slew Abel in the glade,
And I know the game was poker that they played;
    So right there is the rub:
    Did he kill him with a club?
I am sure it was a diamond or a spade.

3. Queen Elizabeth was dead in love with me.
We were married in Milwaukee secretly;
    But I schemed around and shook her,
    And I went with General Hooker
To fight mosquitoes down in Tennessee.
I've sat with kings and queens on either hand,
And jacks and aces too, you understand.
    I've seen an auction "sale"
    On the water in the gale,
And I've seen a schooner drunk upon dry land.

4. I remember when this country had a king.
I've seen Cleopatra pawn her wedding ring.
    I saw Ireland's colors flying
    When George Washington stopped lying
On the day when Putti first began to sing.
I taught Solomon his little A, B, C's.
I helped Brigham Young invent Limburger cheese.
    I was sailing on the bay
    With Methuselah one day,
And I saved his flowing whiskers from the breeze.


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Subject: RE: Origins: Born 10,000 Years Ago
From: Moe Hirsch
Date: 19 Apr 20 - 06:46 PM

The Traditional Ballad Index gives the earliest date for "I was born about 10,000 years ago" as 1913, without explanation. It appears in Sandburg's "American Songbag". Does anyone know of an earlier publication?


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