The following request was posted on the Friends of FLorida Folk list today...I figured someone here might be able to help....

Can anyone tell me the story behind this song or its author? I am trying to determine if the song is taking a shot at Leadbelly, Lomax, Pete Seeger and Burl Ives in the chorus or trying to defend them.

Inquiring minds want to know.

Jerry Carris
Gail & Jerry: South By Northwest

The Man with the Microphone by Sidney Cartar

As (Dm) I went out one morning,
I was (F) singing a (Gm) Country (Dm) song (A7)
I (Dm) met a man with a mic-ro-phone and,
(A7) oh, he did me (Dm) wrong.
He sat me (A7) on a (Dm) grassy (A7) bank
and (Bb) whip-ping (C7) out a (F) tape,
(A7)He (Dm) took my country ditty down
Be-(A7) - fore I could es - (Dm) -cape.

Chorus
With a whack for (Gm) Leadbelly, (F) Lomax and (A7) Seeger
and (Dm) Burlie old (A7) Ivey and (Dm) all.

To Tin Pan Alley he took my song
And there he chanced to meet
A publisher who cleaned it up
And gave the tune a beat.
And now they rock and now they roll,
And now they pay a fee
To that false young man with the microphone,
And nobody thinks of me. (Chorus)

I'll sell my rack, I'll sell my reel,
And buy a steel guitar,
I'll take a ticket to London Town
And sing in a coffee bar,
I'll sing until I'm famous
And when I'm on T.V.
I'll tell the world of the false young man,
And what he did to me. (Chorus)

Never trust a collector, girls,
Whoever he may be,
When his hands upon his microphone,
And not above your knee.
He's thinking about your melody,
And not about your shape -
And he'll rob you of your copyright
With a reel of recording tape. (Chorus)