The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #163521 Message #3902953
Posted By: Joe Offer
31-Jan-18 - 01:30 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Catfish Floatin' Down the River
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Catfish Floatin' Down the River
We have a number of catfish songs in the Hook and Line thread. I suppose Robin's song is derived from this one:
Catfish swimming down the river, Nigger threw out his line. Catfish said to the nigger, "Aha, you didn't ketch me that time"
I gather from the thread that the song comes from the 1850s, when standards for polite speech were different.