Alternate Lyrics by Bobby Darin & Johnny Mercer (1961)


DARIN: Hey, John, you ever been to Mississippi?
MERCER: No, man, but I sure would like to visit down there.
DARIN: You would?
MERCER: Yeah
DARIN: Well, I'll tell you what then, let us hop on a plane and went.
MERCER: OK, I hear it's very nice.
DARIN: It is, it is.

MERCER: When the sun goes down, the tide goes out
The people gather 'round and they all begin to shout
DARIN: What?
MERCER: "Hey, hey, Uncle Dud,
It's a treat to beat your feet on the Mississippi mud
It's a treat to beat your feet on the Mississippi mud."

DARIN: And what a dance do they do!
Lordy how I'm telling you
Why they don't need no band
They keep time by clapping their hands
BOTH: Just as happy as a cow chewing on a cud
When the people beat their feet on the Mississippi mud.

(Instrumental Break)

DARIN: Lordy how they play it, goodness how they sway it
There's Uncle George and Cousin Jack,
Look at those fools peckin' on their back.
MERCER: What joy that music thrills me,
DARIN: It do?
MERCER: Boy, it nearly kills me.
Sister Kate hollers, "Son,
You sure get muddy, but it's mighty good fun"

BOTH:When the sun goes down, the tide goes out
The people gather round and they all begin to shout
"Hey, hey, Uncle Dud,
It's a treat to beat your feet on the Mississippi mud
It's a treat to beat your feet on the Mississippi mud."

DARIN: What a dance do they do!
BOTH: Lordy, how I'm telling you
MERCER: They don't need no band.
DARIN: They don't?
MERCER: They keep time by clapping their hands
DARIN: I see
MERCER: Just as happy as a cow chewing on a cud
When the people beat their feet
DARIN: Yeah, yeah
MERCER: And the people clap their hands
On the M I double S I double S I double P I mud!
DARIN: An 'A' for spelling!