ADD: Pete the Best Coon Dog / Run Pete, Run

23 Aug 00 - 11:33 AM (#283248)
Subject: Jimmy Martin's Ol' Pete
From: GUEST,Frank

Hey, All You Coon Hunters Out There,

I am trying to decipher a couple of lines from Jimmy Martin's Bluegrass tune "Pete, The Best Coon Dog in Tennessee". The first lyric is "He's half black and tan and half ????, I say". The second lyric I am having trouble with comes just after "Now boys get the dogs and hold 'em in the truck". Can't make heads or tails out of the next couple of lines.

TIA,

Frank

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23 Aug 00 - 12:00 PM (#283276)
Subject: RE: Jimmy Martin's Ol' Pete
From: Biskit

Whoops sorry I thought this was a thread about trucks. -Biskit-

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05 Nov 09 - 10:03 PM (#2760555)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pete the Best Coon Dog ... (Jimmy Martin)
From: Jim Dixon

I transcribed this from a few sound samples:

PETE THE BEST COON DOG IN THE STATE OF TENNESSEE - Excerpt
Tom T. Hall

Now boys, get the skillet, some flour and wheat(?).
We're gonna have a big coon to eat.
Old Pete's got 'im a-runnin' and he'll tree 'im, I say.
He's the fastest coon dog in the state of Tennessee today.

CHORUS: Run, Pete, run. Buddy(?), you get the gun.
Listen to what I say.
Run, Pete, run. Buddy(?), you get the gun.
Pete's the best coon dog in the state of Tennessee today.

Now boys, get the dogs, load 'em in....

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06 Nov 09 - 01:33 PM (#2760991)
Subject: Lyr Add: THE DEATH OF JIMMY MARTIN (Tom Russell)
From: GUEST

Drifting off the topic, but not really...

THE DEATH OF JIMMY MARTIN
(Words and Music, Tom Russell)

There's a hound dog running all alone through the piney woods
The howlin' tears the soul out of me
There's a jay bird calling up a funeral dirge
In ragtime harmony.
Barb'ry Allen rolled over in her grave all morning
There were roses growing out of her head
Hey, God's gonna burn down Nashville tonight
Jimmy Martin's dead
Ah, the great Jimmy Martin's gone dead

You got twenty twenty vision but you're walkin' 'round blind
You Grand Ole Opry fools
With your hypocritic judgments and your self righteous snobbery
And your God Damned false hearted rules.
You scorned Hank Williams and you shunned Jimmy Martin,
Boys who sang with tongues of fire.
Hey god's gonna burn down your Grand Ole Opry
Hear the screaming of the hypocrites and liars
They feel safer now that Jimmy has expired.

Run, Pete, run, your master's callin' you,
He's waiting on up ahead
Hey, don't look back, 'cause Nashville's burnin' down
Pete, Jimmy Martin's gone dead
The great Jimmy Martin's gone dead.

Well, don't call me no country singer
Those are poison words to me
'Cause I ain't heard a good country song
Since 1973.
The King of Bluegrass has died for your sins,
The Whore of Babylon's sleepin' in your bed.
And God's gonna burn down Nashville tonight, boys,
Jimmy Martin's dead
The great Jimmy Martin's gone dead.

Run, Pete, run, your master's callin' you,
He's waiting on up ahead
Don't look back, Nashville's burnin' down
Jimmy Martin's gone dead
The great Jimmy Martin's gone dead.

There's a hound dog runnin' all alone through the piney woods
The howling tears the soul out of me...

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07 Nov 09 - 09:37 AM (#2761490)
Subject: Lyr Add: PETE THE BEST COON DOG IN THE STATE OF...
From: Mark Clark

PETE THE BEST COON DOG IN THE STATE OF TENNESSEE

Boys get your skillet, flour and grease,
We’re gonna have a big country eat,
Ol’ Pete’s got him a runnin’ and he’ll tree him I say,
The best coon dog in the state of Tennessee today.

    Refrain:
    Run Pete run, Buddy Lee get your gun,
    Listen to what I say,
    Run Pete run, Buddy Lee get your gun,
    Pete’s the best coon dog in the state of Tennessee today.

The dogs in Tennessee can’t hold ol’ Pete in line,
He’ll run a big ol’ coon, Lord, all day and night,
He’s half Black and Tan, half Walker I say,
Pete’s the best coon dog in the state of Tennessee today.

(refrain)

Now boys get your dogs and load ’em in the truck,
Get Tige, Pete Junior, Tom T. and ol’ Pete,
Well let’s get down, he’ll prove what I say,
Pete’s the best coon dog in the state of Tennessee today.

(refrain)

I've thoroughly searched the Internet in every way I can think to search, including sites known for having bluegrass lyrics. The only place I can even find a reference to the song is in an archived thread at banjohangout.com.

But I maintain a subscription on Rhapsody that lets me listen to pretty much any song there is as many times as I'd like so I went there and found the recording. Jimmy introduces the song in a way that makes me think he wrote it with members of his band. I can't find any reference to suggest that Tom T. Hall had anything to do with the song. And the song doesn't seem to bear the tool marks of a seasoned professional like Hall. The reference to "Tom T." in the lyrics is just the name of one of the coon dogs.

I've listened over and over to the recording; stopping, starting and replaying sections trying to catch all the lyrics accurately. There is one line I just can't get, to my satisfaction, from the recording. It's the third line of the last verse. I'm sure of "... down, he'll prove what I say" but repeated listenings at various volumes have failed to clarify the words for me. As a working bluegrass musician, I'm quite accustomed to understanding the words of southern bluegrass singers. It sounds like what I've written above but I can't get that line so that I'm certain of it. The rest is accurate with the possible exception of the first dog name in the second line of the last verse. I've written "Tige," a common dog name and one that appears in a lot of old country songs but it could be "Tag" or some similar sounding name.

Hope this helps. I think this is now the only occurrence of these lyrics on the Net.

      - Mark

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09 Nov 09 - 09:23 AM (#2762724)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pete the Best Coon Dog ... (Jimmy Martin)
From: Jim Dixon

BMI.com lists Tom T. Hall as the Songwriter/Composer of PETE THE BEST COON DOG IN THE... (it truncates the title). It also gives the publisher: Sony/ATV Acuff Rose Music.

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03 May 10 - 01:13 PM (#2899213)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pete the Best Coon Dog ... (Jimmy Martin)
From: GUEST,Morten Jonsson

Mark, the line you're having trouble with is "We'll let the tailgate down and Pete'll prove what I say."

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26 Jul 10 - 04:00 PM (#2952674)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pete the Best Coon Dog ... (Jimmy Martin)
From: GUEST

What about "Run Pete,Run" ? I can't find any lyrics for that either.

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26 Jul 10 - 06:05 PM (#2952749)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pete the Best Coon Dog ... (Jimmy Martin)
From: Midchuck

Run, Pete, run, your master's callin' you.
He's waitin' on up ahead.
But don't look back, 'cause Nashville's burnin' down.
Pete, Jimmy Martin's dead.
The great Jimmy Martin's gone dead.

- Tom Russell, The Death of Jimmy Martin c. 2007

...but I realize that wasn't what you meant.

Peter

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27 Jul 10 - 04:58 AM (#2953007)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pete the Best Coon Dog ... (Jimmy Martin)
From: GUEST

Name your dog right:
http://www.braquedubourbonnais.info/en/dog-name.htm

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30 May 11 - 01:12 PM (#3162685)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pete the Best Coon Dog ... (Jimmy Martin)
From: GUEST

The line in your last verse where you say, "Let's get down," I believe the third line of the last verse should be

"When I let the tailgate down, Pete will prove what I say.
He's the best coon dog in the state of Tennessee today."

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30 May 11 - 01:17 PM (#3162687)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pete the Best Coon Dog ... (Jimmy Martin)
From: GUEST

Also the first verse...

"Boys, get the skillet, some flour and grease.
We gonna have a big coon to eat.
Old Pete's got 'em runnin' and he'll tree 'em, I say.
He's the best coon dog in the state of Tennessee today."

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05 Jul 11 - 10:26 PM (#3182156)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pete the Best Coon Dog ... (Jimmy Martin)
From: GUEST

Run petecrun as fast as u can u gotta cach a coon for the preacher man

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12 Feb 13 - 02:38 AM (#3478512)
Subject: ADD: Run Pete Run (Jimmy Martin)
From: Joe Offer

This isn't a very good transcription, but it's a start. Can others listen and add corrections?
-Joe-

RUN PETE RUN
(Jimmy Martin)

[spoken] Hey, all you coon hunters,
Speak to 'em, Pete. (barking)
Man, just listen to what a jaw on a dog.

Well the dog's out running on a Saturday night
The boss man's yellin', everything's all right.
We're gonna catch a coon and we're gonna skin 'er
The preacher man's a-comin' for a Sunday dinner.

Run Pete run, fast as you can
Gotta catch a coon for the preacher man
Run Pete run, fast as you can
Gotta catch a coon for the preacher man

Sister, get the broom and scrub the walls
Gotta have 'em clean before the preacher calls
Granny's in the kitchen, rolling the dough
Mama's in the living room, scrubbing the floor.

Run Pete run, fast as you can
Gotta catch a coon for the preacher man
Run Pete run, fast as you can
Gotta catch a coon for the preacher man

Buddy Lee's in the 'tater (patch?), a-diggin' up 'taters
Lisa Ferrel's (?) in the garden, pullin' off 'maters.
Well, Jimmy's on the back porch, shucking the corn,
Waitin' for the preacher man to toot his horn.


Run Pete run, fast as you can
Gotta catch a coon for the preacher man
Run Pete run, fast as you can
Gotta catch a coon for the preacher man

[and then another spoken part that I didn't transcribe]

Transcribed from this YouTube video. I had problems understanding a number of the words. Can anyone help?

This video is better. Why didn't I find it first? This one, too.

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13 Feb 13 - 02:22 AM (#3478898)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pete the Best Coon Dog ... (Jimmy Martin)
From: Joe Offer

Can anybody take a listen to "Run Pete Run" and offer corrections to my transcription?
-Joe-

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13 Feb 13 - 11:47 AM (#3479066)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pete the Best Coon Dog ... (Jimmy Martin)
From: Mark Clark

Joe, I listened to the second link you posted and you seem to have the lyrics exactly right. I would guess that Lisa's name is spelled Ferrell only because that is the usual spelling for the name. Buddy Lee and Lisa are among Jimmy's children. Lisa's surname as listed in Jimmy's obituary is not Ferrell so it may be a middle name.

      - Mark

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