Lyrics & Knowledge Personal Pages Record Shop Auction Links Radio & Media Kids Membership Help
The Mudcat Cafesj



User Name Thread Name Subject Posted
Kiwi Lyr Req: Arkansas Traveler (42) Lyr Add: ARKANSAS TRAVELER 22 Oct 98


There's a medley that Ward Swingle did of a bunch of Americana folk songs meshed into the framework of the Arkansas Traveler. The three Arkansas Traveler verses, as I remember them, were:

Once upon a time in Arkansas
An old man sat in his little cabin door
And fiddled at the tunes that he loved to hear
Jolly little ditties that he only knew by ear
It was raining cats and doggies
But the fiddler didn't care
As he sawed away contentedly at each and every air
And though the roof was leaking bad
It sounded like a waterfall
It didn't really seem to bother the old fiddler-man at all

A traveler was walking by that day
And stopped to hear him a-practicin' away
The cabin was afloat and his feet were wet
But the little fiddler didn't really seem to fret
Then the stranger-man he said
"Man it really seems to me
That you'd better mend your roof a bit
Before you wash to sea.”
And then the fiddler-man replied
As he was practicin' away
"Y'know I couldn't mend it now
Because it's such a rainy day.”

The traveler replied "That's all quite true
But this I think is the thing for you to do
Get busy on a day that's fair and bright
And go and patch your roof up 'till it's really good and tight.”
But the fiddler-man was busy
He was practicin' a reel
He was tappin' out the rhythm
With a heavy leather heel
"Well you can get along," he said
"Because you really are a pain,
You know my cabin never leaks a drop
The day it doesn't rain!"

HTML line breaks added. --JoeClone, 29-Jan-02.


Post to this Thread -

Back to the Main Forum Page

By clicking on the User Name, you will requery the forum for that user. You will see everything that he or she has posted with that Mudcat name.

By clicking on the Thread Name, you will be sent to the Forum on that thread as if you selected it from the main Mudcat Forum page.

By clicking on the Subject, you will also go to the thread as if you selected it from the original Forum page, but also go directly to that particular message.

By clicking on the Date (Posted), you will dig out every message posted that day.

Try it all, you will see.