Lyr Req: Leather Britches

Subject: LYRICS: Leather Britches?
From: rajah
Date: 26 Dec 98 - 01:05 PM

Hello all,

I was wondering if anyone knows the lyrics to the old time/bluegrass tune "Leather Britches" or could post a URL where I could search?

Thanks & happy holidays.

Subject: RE: LYRICS: Leather Britches?
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 03 Nov 05 - 08:26 PM

Allmusic.com lists 43 recordings of LEATHER BRITCHES. I listened to lots of sound samples, but they all seemed to be instrumentals except the one recorded by Spade Cooley. However, his song doesn't seem to be set to the same tune that everybody else is playing. It's attributed to Matty Holbrook while all the other recordings are called "traditional." Here are the words I was able to transcribe:

Watermelons, I used to steal 'em by the batch.
Then a farmer he caught me in his melon patch.
Leather britches, gun went off and I was gone.
Buckshot couldn't stop me 'cause I had no leather britches on.

Subject: RE: LYRICS: Leather Britches?
From: masato sakurai
Date: 03 Nov 05 - 11:19 PM

From The Fiddler's Companion:

Samuel Bayard suggests the rhyme sung to the melody by old‑time musicians is borrowed from an Irish air (song) called "The Britches On." "This (Bayard's 1944 set) is the best set of 'Leather Breeches' yet to turn up in western Pennsylvania. The tune is often accompanied by a rhyme that in Greene County (Pa.) tradition runs:

***

Leather breeches full of stitches,
Old shoes and stockings on‑‑
My wife she kicked me out of bed
Because I had my breeches on.

***

Bayard's source Mrs. Armstrong recalled only two lines:
***

Leather breeches, full of stitches,
Mammy sewed the buttons on.

***

Ford (1940) prints these words:
***

Leather Breeches full of stitches,
Leather Breeches, Leather Breeches;
Mammy cut 'em out an'
M'daddy sewed an' sewed the stitches. (Ford)

Subject: RE: Lyr req: Leather Britches?
From: nutty
Date: 04 Nov 05 - 02:02 AM

There are a number of sets of lyrics to the "Leather Breeches" tune, although I'm not sure if this is what you are after.

Old Leather Breeches

Maginnis's Raffle

Travelling Tinker

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Leather Britches
From: cnd
Date: 26 May 20 - 10:42 PM

There's been another thread here with the exact same title that could stand to be linked/combined. link

I heard the first stanza of these lyrics on Merle "Red" Taylor's Taylor Made, Hi Records HIC 24001 (1975). The rest are from Richie's BluegrassMessengers website.

Little boy, little boy,
Where’d you get your britches?
Daddy cut ‘em out
And Mommy sewed the stitches.

I went downtown
And I wore my leather britches,
I couldn’t see the people
For lookin’ at the peaches.

I went downtown,
And I got a pound of butter.
I came home drunk
And I throwed it in the gutter.

Leather britches, finger stitches,
Mammy sewed the stitches in.
Pappy kicked me out of bed,
I had my leather britches on.

Leather britches, full of stitches,
Old shoes and stockin’ on.
My wife kicked me out of bed,
Because I had my britches on.

Subject: Lyr Add: LUCKY LEATHER BREECHES
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 20 Jun 20 - 07:16 PM

My transcription from YouTube. The same recording appears on several Spade Cooley collections, but I suspect the vocalist is actually Roy Rogers, based on information at Discogs.com. (Click on the record label to see an enlargement.) It says: "Roy Rogers, calling, and Spade Cooley and His String Orchestra."


LUCKY LEATHER BREECHES
(Del Porter, Carl Hoefle)

I went a-huntin'; I saw a bear an' shot 'im dead.
I went to skin 'im; I found I'd shot the bull instead.
Leather britches! Pappy beat me all day long,
But he couldn't hurt me 'cause I had my leather britches on.

Watermelons, I used to steal 'em by the batch.
Then a farmer he caught me in his melon patch.
Leather britches! Gun went off and I was gone.
Buckshot couldn't stop me 'cause I had my leather britches on.

Stealin' honey, from a bee-tree on the hill,
Bees buzzed round me; they was mad enough to kill.
Leather britches! Bees was buzzin' here and yon,
But they couldn't sting me 'cause I had my leather britches on.

Subject: Leather Britches (instrumental)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 22 Jun 20 - 05:50 PM

Here's a great instrumental performance by John Hartford:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrQ6_to42ME

And Hot Rize:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hwq1ad406UI

And Sam Bush:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv6QDRrwPaQ