My favorite Paxton songs include two that he wrote and two that he didn't. When i met Tom, he was still doing some traditional songs in his set. He was a lover of cowboy songs, and his favorites were "Tyin' a Knot on the Devil's Tail" and a recitation called "Sully's Bucket". He was a wonderful cowboy singer. Some time later, he entertained the idea of writing a Broadway show about Ben Franklin's adventures in Paris. The only song I remember from that project was "You Cant Do the Monkey Like Me".

Tom was a regular at the all night poker games at the Gaslight. When he played in Philadelphia, we made up a game at Leon Aaron's house. The game started around eleven and Tom usually showed up about an hour later, after his last set. He would walk into Leon's diningroom where the other players, who were all Jewish, serenaded him with, "...And here's to you, my gamblin' goy."

Mike Miller