Wainwright doesn't sing exactly the same words as Charlie Poole, but his words are quite acceptable and they're much easier to understand.


I'M THE MAN WHO RODE THE MULE AROUND THE WORLD
As recorded by Loudon Wainwright III on "High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project" (2009)

I promised to meet her when the clock struck twenty-three
Down in the village just four miles out of town.
She runs the local tavern and the liquor's always free,
But the pickles sell for nineteen cents a pound.

Oh, she's my daisy; she's black-eyed and she's crazy,
Prettiest girl I thought I ever saw.
Now her breath smells sweet, but I'd rather smell her feet,
For she's my freckle-faced consumptive Sarah Jane.

(He's the man who rode the mule around the world.
He's the man who rode the mule around the world.)
I rode in Noah's ark and I'm as happy as a lark.
I'm the man who rode the mule around the world.

I was born about ten thousand years ago,
And there's nothin' on this earth that I don't know.
I saw Peter, Paul and Moses playin' ring-around-the-roses,
And I can whup the man that says it isn't so.

(He's the man who rode the mule around the world.
He's the man who rode the mule around the world.)
And for pharaoh's little kiddies, I built all the pyramiddies.
I'm the man who rode the mule around the world.

Queen Elizabeth she fell in love with me.
We were married in Milwaukee secretly,
But I rose up and I shook 'er and went off with General Hooker
To shoot mosquitoes down in Memphis, Tennessee.

(He's the man who rode the mule around the world.
He's the man who rode the mule around the world.)
I set the flags a-flyin' when George Washington quit lyin'.
I'm the man who rode the mule around the world.

I'm a very highly educated man.
There's not a thing that I don't understand.
I've been around so long that I used to sing this song
When Abraham and Isaac rushed the can.

(He's the man who rode the mule around the world.
He's the man who rode the mule around the world.)
Oh, I rode in Noah's ark; I'm as happy as a lark.
I'm the man who rode the mule around the world.

I promised to meet her when the clock struck twenty-three,
Down in the village just four miles out of town.
She runs the local tavern and the liquor's always free,
But the pickles sell for nineteen cents a pound.