The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #107966 Message #2245061
Posted By: Jim Dixon
25-Jan-08 - 08:10 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Prohibition Blues (Clayton McMichen)
Subject: Lyr Add: PROHIBITION BLUES (from Jorma Kaukonen)
There is a video of Jorma Kaukonen performing PROHIBITION BLUES at YouTube, from which I transcribed this:
PROHIBITION BLUES
As sung by Jorma Kaukonen
1. Well, walking(?) liquor has done me wrong. I can't sleep night or day.
A terrible feelin' that comes along when the kick it begins to get away.
…poison and a mixture or two. They call it sugar of lead.
If you drink bootleg 'shine, you'll sure have an achin' head.
2. Did you ever wake up on a Sunday morn with snakes all around your bed?
I know you have. I have, too. I know I'd rather be dead.
The preacher comes around and gives advice, and then you have to stall.
But if he gets to the bottle first, you know, he'll never leave you none at all.
3. I tell you, brother, and I won't lie, what's the matter in this land:
They drink it wet and vote it dry and hide it if they can.
They'll pitch a party and they'll all get drunk, and call it society,
But if they catch you with a pint, good mornin' penitentiary.
4. Well, prohibition* has killed more folks than Sherman ever seen.
If they don't get whiskey, they'll take to dope, cocaine, and morphine.
This ol' country it sure ain't dry, and dry will never be seen.
Prohibition* is just a scheme, a fine money-makin' machine.
5. Carbolic acid and creosote ought to kill any man.
Some get paralyzed, some get well, some hit the Golden Land.
The undertaker has got to live. Beat him if you can.
Prohibition*, say it again, is a money-makin' fine machine.
[*pronounced "pro-high-bition"]
I found this interesting quote in Creating Country Music: Fabricating Authenticity by Richard A. Peterson, 1997, page 246:It would be interesting to know who decided not to release Jimmie Rodgers's one recorded social protest song, "Prohibition Has Done Me Wrong." Of all the songs he ever cut, it is the only one never released, and, in fact, the master was lost. The song says that many people vote dry and drink wet and that preachers too are hypocrites. It cautions that when people can't get alcohol, they turn to "dope, cocaine, and morphine" so that "prohibition has killed more folks than Sherman ever seen." The song concludes that Prohibition is just a scheme, a money-making machine. Ironically, the song is known today only because it was earlier recorded by Clayton McMichen, its author (as Bob Nichols) (Wolfe 1993). In that rendition McMichen sings and yodels in a way very reminiscent of Jimmie Rodgers.