The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #148973 Message #3502488
Posted By: GUEST,(Stevebury)
12-Apr-13 - 06:57 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Can't Nobody Fix It When It's Gone
Subject: RE: Origins: Can't Nobody Fix It When It's Gone
I tracked down Tony Hughes: he recently retired as an elementary science teacher at the Miquon School in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. He says he taught the song to Hedy West, so it may have spread from there.
I have to say I disagree about changing the colloquialism: I think that line is one of the strengths of the song. I'm a pretty picky editor when I'm writing standard English; but I have no problem with an "ungrammatical" colloquialism in other contexts.