Here are notes from somebody named Luke Sinden:

Published on Jun 20, 2015
Chords to Leadbelly's "If It Wasn't For Dicky".

If you tune a guitar down two and a half steps so the low E string is a C, this rendition of the chords will go along with the recordings of Leadbelly.

There are a few sites that provide some guidance on the lyrics, but I've come up with my own rendition that tries to find a balance between acknowledging the original song "Drimmin Down", and to faithfully reflect the words Leadbelly sang. Any errors are my own.

Oh, oh, musha sweeter than dow

And that if it weren’t for Dicky
I will tell you right now
But his old man
He had but one cow

He would send her to the fields
To be fed
And the way they beat ole Drimmer drop dead

Oh, oh, musha sweeter than dow

When the old man heard that his cow she was dead
Over hedges and ditches and field he had fled
Over hedges and ditches and field that was plowed
Never privy to his wife till he came to his cow

Oh, oh, musha sweeter than dow

When he first saw Drimmer she was in the green grass
No carter man past that Drimmer so fast
She gave her milk freely without any bale
But the blood of her life spilled out of a pail

Oh, Oh, musha sweeter than dow

So now I sit down and eat my dry meal
But I have no butter to put in my tea
I have no milk to sop up my bread
But the way they beat old Drimmer drop dead


NOTES:

Leadbelly apparently heard the Irish tune “Drimmin Down”, and redrafted the song as “If It Wasn’t For Dicky”. Later, Pete Seeger heard Leadbelly sing it, and redrafted it again as “Kisses Sweeter Than Wine.”

“dow” comes from Old Irish “dam” (“ox, stag”)
“musha” comes from Irish also, an expression of surprise

My interpretation of the chorus, “oh, musha sweeter than dow,” is that he’d rather have milk and butter and work hard, than to have an ox to plow his fields.




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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2UHhG_lb4g