The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #9179   Message #1513301
Posted By: GUEST,Cindy P.
30-Jun-05 - 09:57 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: One Meat Ball (Burl Ives)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Meat Ball - Burl Ives
My uncle sang this song when I was a child...I didn't remember all the lyrics, but I strongly remember the last lines of his version, which aren't quoted above:

The little man then went outside,
And shot himself, and so he died
[something something something something]
You get no bread with one meatball.

As you might guess, waiter-humiliation-enduced suicide was very striking to a young child, and thus this stanza stuck in my head! Does anyone know the source of that version? Or maybe my uncle just made it up...