The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #7018   Message #41671
Posted By: Joe Offer
14-Oct-98 - 02:04 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Arkansas Traveler
Subject: RE: Arkansas Traveler
Hi, Joe - we had an interesting discussion on Turkey in the Straw (click here) that you might want to look at, and one called Songs for Scouts. Not Arkansas Traveler (click here for lyrics), but I thought you might like them.
Michelle Shocked had an album called "Arkansas Traveler." No singing on the title cut, just jokes and music. Here's what I can make out from it:

Arkansas Traveler

Hey, farmer, you been livin’ here all your life?
Not yet.

Hey, farmer, where does this road go?
Been livin’ here all my life, and it ain’t gone nowhere yet.

Hey, farmer, how do you get to Little Rock?
Well, stranger, you can’t get there from here.

Hey, farmer, I thought you said that mud hole weren’t very deep.
Only comes up to here on my ducks.

Hey, farmer, when you gonna fix that leakin’ roof?
Well, stranger, when it’s a-rainin’, it’s too wet to fix it; and when it’s dry, it’s just as good as any man’s house.

Hey, farmer, you’re not too far from a fool, are you?
Just a barbed-wire fence between us.

Hey, farmer, you don’t know very much, do you?
No, but I ain’t lost.
(from the Michelle Shocked album, "Arkansas Traveler." One voice on the cut is identified as Jimmy Driftwood. The other male voice isn’t identified. Maybe Driftwood did both voices. Whatever the case, the album is a great piece of work.)
-Joe Offer-