Lyr Req/ADD: Pig in a Pen

06 Jun 98 - 10:49 AM (#30218)
Subject: need lyrics to pig in a pen
From:

hi there you all Could someone send me the words to pig in a pen send to [e-mail] Thanks

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14 Aug 98 - 12:07 PM (#34847)
Subject: Lyrics req: pig in a pen
From: brooke borner ([e-mail])

Seems like evryone would know the lyrics to Pig in a Pen, but don't. I've been having trouble finding good bluegrass lyrics on the web, especially for traditionals. Can anybody help me out? Thanks

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14 Aug 98 - 12:23 PM (#34849)
Subject: Lyr Add: PIG IN A PEN
From: Max

I got a pig home in a pen
Corn to feed him on
All I need's a pretty little girl
to feed him when I'm gone

Goin up on the mountain
to sow a little cane
Put that old Grey bonnet on
on little Liza Jane

Goin up on the mountain
to sow a little cane
Raise a barrel of sorghum
Sweet little Liza Jane

Dark clouds a' rising
Sure sign of rain
Get your old grey bonnet on
Sweet little Liza Jane

Yonder comes that gal of mine
How do you think I know?
Tell by that gingham gown
Hanging down so low

Bake them biscuits, baby
Bake 'em good and brown
When you get them biscuits baked
We're Alabama Bound

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16 Jan 03 - 04:38 PM (#868696)
Subject: Author Credit: Pig In A Pen
From: Genie

The liner notes for Old & In The Way's album "Breakdown" say that Pig In A Pen was "composed by Grand Ole Opry fiddler Arthur Smith, who recorded it with The Delmore Brothers in 1937." They go on to say that as the song "became a favorite with old-time musicians," it "garner[ed] added verses from the old mountain lyric song traditions."

In Old & In The Way's Version "Jerry [Garcia] sings the same verses as Carter Stanley, which are different from those sung by Smith."

Their verses, FWIW, are pretty much the same as those above, in a different order, with two omitted:

Chorus:
I got a pig home in a pen, Corn to feed him on.
All I need's a pretty little girl to feed him when I'm gone

Bake them biscuits, baby, Bake 'em good and brown.
When you get them biscuits baked We're Alabama Bound

Goin o'er the mountain to sow a little cane.
Put that old Grey bonnet on, little Liza Jane.

Dark clouds a' rising, Sure sign of rain.
Get your old grey bonnet on, Sweet little Liza Jane

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16 Jan 03 - 05:15 PM (#868720)
Subject: RE: Lyrics req: pig in a pen
From: GUEST,Q

Words are whatever old couplets that fit the meter. Several of those above come from old Negro and minstrel songs.
This reminds me of a similar "goin'" lyric:

Goin' to the race track
To see my pony run
If I win any money
Goin'-ta give that woman some.

If I had a jug of rum
And sugar by the pound
A silver spoon to stir it with
I'd treat them ladies 'round

I think these came from American Negro Folk Songs, Newman L. White.

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26 Dec 11 - 05:40 PM (#3280307)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: pig in a pen
From: GUEST,E P Dixon

Heard something like this on an old version:

Went to see my best girl
Asked her to be wed
Said she wouldn't marry me
'Till all the boys were dead.

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27 Dec 11 - 01:00 AM (#3280398)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: pig in a pen
From: GUEST,999

Google

Bluegrass Picker's Tune Book - Google Books Result

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27 Dec 11 - 07:47 AM (#3280470)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: pig in a pen
From: Charley Noble

I'm thinking there was also a chorus and maybe it will come back to me as I process long-buried brain files.

This ditty was part of a set of songs I first learned a party around 1960, along with "Bile That Cabbage Down."

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

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