CANDY MAN BLUES

(Words and music by Mississippi John Hurt) - Copyright 1963 by Wynwood Music Co. - Published in Something To Sing About, collected and arranged by Milton Okum, Macmillan Company, London, 1968 p 28-30.

Well, (D) all you ladies (D) gather around.
The good sweet candy man's in town.
It's the (A) candy man, (D) candy man. (D7)

He's got a stick of candy nine inch long.
He sells it fast as a hog can chew corn.
It's the candy man, candy man.

You all heard what Sister Jones has said:
Always takes a candy stick to bed.
It's the candy man, candy man.

Don't stand close to the candy man.
He'll leave a candy stick in your hand.
It's the candy man, candy man.

He sold some candy to Sister Bad.
The very next day, she took all he had.
It's the candy man, candy man.

If you try his candy, good friend of mine,
You sure will want it for a long, long time.
It's the candy man, candy man.

His stick candy don't melt away.
Just gets better, so the ladies say.
It's the candy man, candy man.

Note from the biography p 28: "John Hurt came from the Mississippi Delta, yet his music was unlike the hard biting blues of other Delta musicians. Rather it was a sort of folk chamber music, in which one man and his guitar could orchestrate a whole range of emotions. He compelled our attention by his understatement, by his playful with, his craftsmanship and his gentle voice.... The tragedy was that thirty-five years intervened between his first recordings and the fame that marked the last years of his life."

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

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