ROOT HOG OR DIE D
Jimmy Denoon, singer.

Well, I went to California in the year of Seventy-six [sic],
When I landed there, I was in a terrible fix,
Didn't have no money for vittles for to buy.
And the only thing for me was to- Root hog or die.

Well, I went from there down to Berloo, [sic]
I met with a feller who said he'd put me through,
'Twas in a game of poker that he gave the cards a sly,
And he took all my money, saying- Root hog or die.

Well, I got mad, and I begin to swear,
Poured down the corn juice till I got on a tear,
Marshall of the city he was standing there near by,
Took me to the calaboose to- Root hog or die.

Well, they took me to court next morning just at ten,
There stood the judge and a dozen other men,
They fined me twenty dollars, that I thought was rather high,
But there's no use a-whining, it was- Root hog or die.

Now come, young fellers, and take my advice,
Don't go to shooting poker, go to playing any dice,
For if you do, you'll get too much of rye,
And you land in the calaboose to- Root hog or die.

Recorded from the singing with guitar of Jimmy Denoon, Missouri, 1941, by Vance Randolph.
P. 572, no musical score.
Duncan Emrich, 1974, "American Folk Poetry, An Anthology," Little, Brown and Company.

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Note from Joe Offer: in Ozark Folksongs, Vance Randolph listed this as #422 D, but included only the first verse from the singing of Jimmy Denoon. In Randolph, the first verse is:

"Well I went to California in the month of seventy-six.
When I landed there I was in a terr'ble fix.
Didn't have no money my victuals for to buy
And only one thing for me was to root hog or die.

Emrich apparently corrected the word "month" in his text, because it's clear on the recording that Denoon sang "month." The Denoon recording is on Songs of the Mormons and Songs of the West, a CD from the Library of Congress.