paducah brown, shot for selling liquor

Subject: paducah brown, shot for selling liquor
From: GUEST,walter reitman
Date: 12 Dec 25 - 09:36 AM

Hello friends,

I’m searching for a great prohibition era ballad I heard in the late 1940s or early 1950s, and I'm afraid of it being lost. It told the story of a man named Paducah Brown, who was “shot for selling likka.” (or maybe liquor)

The verses were brisk and descriptive, and the chorus began with his name, stated his fate, repeated his name, and ended on a low final note. The melody rose sharply at the start of the chorus and walked down stepwise at the end.

I remember the first and second stanzas, and the repeating chorus, clearly, and I can describe the melodic contour in detail. If anyone has ever heard a version of this song, or knows of a field recording, broadside, regional variant, or just a written record of some or all of the words, I would be deeply grateful to know about it.

Thank you for helping keep a wonderful piece of American memory alive.

—Walter Reitman

Subject: RE: paducah brown, shot for selling liquor
From: GerryM
Date: 12 Dec 25 - 03:42 PM

"I remember the first and second stanzas...." If you remember those lyrics, it would help if you would post them.

Subject: RE: paducah brown, shot for selling liquor
From: Joe Offer
Date: 12 Dec 25 - 05:04 PM

Google AI gives an interesting answer:

The person you're likely thinking of is Albert L. Brown, a Prohibition Agent shot and killed in 1930 in Kentucky while trying to arrest bootlegger Rodney Selby for selling liquor (or "likka") to agents, with Selby getting the fatal shot after selling them "four shots of liquor". "Paducah Brown" isn't the name, but Paducah is a major city in Kentucky where the ATF has a strong presence, and Albert Brown died in the line of duty in that state, fitting the description of being shot over moonshine/liquor.

Adding the word "song," I got this:

The song you're likely thinking of is "Paducah" by The Handsome Family, which tells a dark, folk-story about a man named Paducah Brown who gets shot after selling "likker" (liquor) in a tough town, capturing that classic eerie, narrative country/Americana feel. It's a well-known song in that genre, fitting your description perfectly.

I looked through stuff on "The Handsome Family," and I couldn't find anything that fits the description. Please post what you have so far, and maybe we can help ou find the rest.

Joe Offer, Mudcat Music Editor

Subject: RE: paducah brown, shot for selling liquor
From: pattyClink
Date: 12 Dec 25 - 07:39 PM

Oh dear, hate to see anything posted that AI cooked up, unless it's been verified by real sources.

If it happens to be a hallucination/made up story, posting it here will give it creedence and next thing you know it's accepted fact.

Mindat.org's founder did an experiment and discovered AI literally made up a mineral name and references.

Subject: RE: paducah brown, shot for selling liquor
From: Joe Offer
Date: 13 Dec 25 - 02:31 AM

Well, Patty, we use any tool we can find when we don't have an answer. The AI gave us lots of leads to follow, but not any final information.
I worked for 25 years as a federal investigator and 35 years as a song investigator. Leads is good.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: paducah brown, shot for selling liquor
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 13 Dec 25 - 05:37 PM

I have kinfolk in Paducah, KY. They've never heard of song or story. The one search result I get for "Paducah Brown" is this thread.

Oddly enough otoh, now that it's mentioned, the "Walter Reitman" is a familiar American name from the earliest days of AI.

Subject: RE: paducah brown, shot for selling liquor
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 13 Dec 25 - 07:01 PM

Original SOURCE.!!!

This has always been a touch-stone of MC.

Lighter and others know to dig-deep.

A "line in the sand" must be drawn.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Gen xxx appears to be "taking up the torch."

Subject: RE: paducah brown, shot for selling liquor
From: GUEST,walter reitman
Date: 15 Dec 25 - 04:05 PM

Subject: RE: paducah brown, shot for selling liquor
From: GUEST,walter reitman

Thank you all for the thoughtful replies — I really appreciate your interest and attention.

As requested, here are the chorus and the two stanzas I remember. These are from hearing the song, probably in the late 1940s or in the 1950s. All that's missing are the first few words of the first line of the first stanza.

Stanza 1:

… of a one way street
just beyond the limits of the flatfoot’s beat
in the whoopee section of a one horse town
stood the tin-roofed tavern of Paducah Brown

Refrain:
Paducah Brown, shot for selling liquor (or “likka”)
shot for selling likka like he’d always done
Paducah Brown, shot for selling liquor
shot for selling likka in a one horse town


Stanza 2:
The gang started coming in at half past eight
Paducah met the dry cop at the tavern gate
He handed him a fifty like he’d always done
so he wouldn’t come a-busting in and spoil the fun

Subject: RE: paducah brown, shot for selling liquor
From: Beer
Date: 15 Dec 25 - 04:17 PM

Love the story.

Subject: RE: paducah brown, shot for selling liquor
From: GUEST,walter reitman
Date: 16 Dec 25 - 09:42 AM

Dear Phil,

I'm hooked.

Assuming for the moment I'm the Walter Reitman you're thinking of, would you please tell me what our connection is, and then something about yourself?

Thanks very much!

-- Walter

Subject: RE: paducah brown, shot for selling liquor
From: GUEST,walter reitman
Date: 16 Dec 25 - 09:50 AM

So do I. That's my gut reason for doing this. I'd just love to find and hear the whole thing again.

Subject: RE: paducah brown, shot for selling liquor
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 16 Dec 25 - 02:29 PM

Walter: Richard E. “Dick” Morley (RIP,) the founder of Bedford Assc. (later Modicon, Inc.) was a client. Dick went to M.I.T. but dropped out before he graduated. Not sure if he was ever a Reitman student proper but he was certainly a big fan.

We were both members of the old IEEE-Man-Machine Systems Group, (today it's the Systems, Man and Cybernetics Society.) Pretty sure that's where I first learned the Reitman name and school of thought.

PS: Showed your lyrics to the cousins. Two comments:
a. Prohibition era Paducah was already too big for the “one horse town” moniker but
b. Still too small for “fifty dollar bill” bribe. That would buy one the entire 1933 McCracken Country Sheriff's Dept., lock, stock and beer belly. (or so a friend of a friend of a friend tells them ;)

So probably not Paducah, KY. for the location.

Subject: RE: paducah brown, shot for selling liquor
From: GUEST,walter reitman
Date: 16 Dec 25 - 03:54 PM

Hi, Phil. Mildly surprised. Had a few good contacts with MIT AI, but this was 1984-1988, which I'm guessing was before your time there.

I did pick up on the $50 bribe bit. By my calculations, after a few years on the job, the dry cop's bribes would have let him buy at least one or two taverns of his own.

And now I'm 93, and long retired. How about you? What have you been doing?

Take care.

Walter

Subject: RE: paducah brown, shot for selling liquor
From: GUEST,walter reitman
Date: 18 Dec 25 - 03:13 PM

To anyone interested in following up on Paducah Brown: if you have recording equipment, I'd be glad to sing what I remember for you over the phone. I'd be guessing at the tempo, and it won't win any medals, but I can carry a tune. That could give you at least a rough idea of what it might have sounded like, coming from someone who loved this music and really knew what he was doing.

Subject: RE: paducah brown, shot for selling liquor
From: cnd
Date: 19 Dec 25 - 07:04 AM

I've looked up, down, and all around, and I can't find any trace whatsoever of this song.

How confident are you in the name being "Paducah Brown" specifically?

Subject: RE: paducah brown, shot for selling liquor
From: Paul Burke
Date: 19 Dec 25 - 10:30 AM

I've looked up, down, and all around,
And I can't find a trace of Paducah Brown,
And the folks on Mudcat only bikka
About a poor guy shot for selling likka..

Subject: RE: paducah brown, shot for selling liquor
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 19 Dec 25 - 05:16 PM

Walter: Anything else you can recall about the setting or media? Radio, recording, stage, artist &c&c?

Someone did mention the patois does sound a bit I.S. Cobb(ish) (aka the Duke of Paducah. Author of Red Likker; Ballad of Paducah Jail &c.)

Same results as cnd so far though... ie: zippo.

Subject: RE: paducah brown, shot for selling liquor
From: GUEST,Walter
Date: 19 Dec 25 - 10:59 PM

To cnd, Paul Burke, and Phil d'Conch: Thank you very much for the time and effort you've put into looking into this. I know 70 to 75 years is a long time to hold and trust a memory. But if we can accept that, Paducah Brown is a name I feel very confident of. The name, not necessarily the spelling. And if I come across anything at all that might prove relevant, I'll post about it right away.