Origins: Mule Skinner Blues

Subject: Mule Skinner Blues lyric request
From:
Date: 20 Oct 99 - 07:50 PM

Anyone got the lyrics to this classic?

-Warren

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mule Skinner Blues lyric request
From: Gene
Date: 20 Oct 99 - 09:06 PM

For one version check - * Japanese Bluegrass Songbook *

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mule Skinner Blues lyric request
From: Warren
Date: 21 Oct 99 - 12:09 AM

Thank you very much Gene. I really appreciated it.

-Warren

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mule Skinner Blues lyric request
From: JedMarum
Date: 21 Oct 99 - 09:01 AM

I remember two verses:

Well it's good mornin' captain, good mornin' son (2X)
need another mule skinner, on your new road line?

well I'm workin' on that new road line for a dollar and a dime a day (2X)
I got 6 women waitin' just to draw my pay

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mule Skinner Blues lyric request
From: unclenort
Date: 21 Oct 99 - 11:27 AM

here's another verse that i don't see here.
i'm an old muleskinner
from old kentucky way
i can make any mule listen
or i won't exept your pay......e..hay
oh da le he he..............

Subject: Lyr Add: MULE SKINNER BLUES (from Bill Monroe)
From: Gene
Date: 21 Oct 99 - 01:29 PM

While BM may have recorded different versions
here is one from 1962.


MULE SKINNER BLUES
Recorded by: Bill Monroe
Writers: Jimmie Rodgers & George Vaughn
Good morn-in' captain
Good mornin' shi-hine
Do you need another mule skinner
Out on your new mud li-ine.

Yo-del-ay-hee-eee---ay-hee-hee-ee.

I li-ike workin'
I'm rollin' all the ti-ime
I can pop my initials
On mule any old ti-ime. [Yodel]

I'm go-in' to town
Whadaya want me to bring you ba-ack
Bring a walkin' cane
And a John B. Stetson ha-at. [Yodel]

Hey-little water boy
Bring that bucket aro-ound
If you don't like your job
Set your water bucket dow-own. [Yodel]


SOURCE:
BILL MONROE/THE FATHER OF BLUEGRASS
And his Blue Grass Boys
1962 RCA Camden CAL-719

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mule Skinner Blues lyric request
From: Allan.S
Date: 21 Oct 99 - 07:03 PM

I heard the verse as "I can pop my initials on a mules behind"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mule Skinner Blues lyric request
From: Gene
Date: 21 Oct 99 - 08:04 PM

FWIW
Apparently BM omitted the lines about
popping the initials on the mule's behind
and bringing back a pint of rye from town
in the referenced recording.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mule Skinner Blues lyric request
From: Roger the skiffler
Date: 22 Oct 99 - 05:18 AM

There are also versions by Jack Elliott and Lonnie Donegan amongst my collection if you want alternatives!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mule Skinner Blues lyric request
From:
Date: 09 Feb 00 - 03:00 PM

How about the tablature/chords and mandolin intro for this song? Anyone have it or know it off hand?

Thanks..

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mule Skinner Blues lyric request
From: Metchosin
Date: 09 Feb 00 - 03:18 PM

I also have a version on an early Roy Acuff 78 RPM and another version (total departure) by the Fenderman in the early 60's if you're interested.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mule Skinner Blues lyric request
From: Amos
Date: 09 Feb 00 - 03:24 PM

Chords are straight E, A and B7; I've sung it for years, and know the line as "I can pop my initials, down on a mule's behind", likewise. Just don't tell the Minnie Mouse Protective League.

A

Subject: Lyr Add: MULE SKINNER BLUES (from Roy Acuff)
From: Metchosin
Date: 09 Feb 00 - 04:51 PM

Acuff's version:

MULE SKINNER BLUES (BLUE YODEL #8)
(Words by Rodgers)

Good mornin' captain
Good mornin' shine
Do you need any skinners
Down on that new mud line?
Chorus:
Yodel lay he hoo
Hee hee hoo

Workin' on the railroad
Dollar and a dime a day,
My little girls in town each Saturday night
To draw my little pay.
Chorus:
Goin' downtown, honey
What you want me to bring you back?
A walkin' cane,
A brand-new Stetson hat.
Chorus:
Oh, little water boy
Bring that water 'round,
If you don't like your job
You can throw your bucket down.
Chorus:
I like to work
I'm rollin' all the time
I can pop my 'nitials on a mule
Most any old time
Chorus:

another version I have has the lines

I smell your bread a burnin
Turn your damper down
If you don't have a damper
Good gal, turn your bread around.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mule Skinner Blues lyric request
From: GUEST,Tanya
Date: 16 Aug 07 - 04:46 PM

Hi My uncle used to sing Mule skinner and my son and I are trying to find the chords to it all the chords from begining to end. We sing the jimme rodgers-george vaughn version if anyone can help it would be greatly appreciated!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mule Skinner Blues lyric request
From: 12-stringer
Date: 16 Aug 07 - 06:44 PM

The chords are quite simple, no matter which of the two distinct versions you're looking for. Transpose to your favorite key.

Rodgers sang it as a 3-line blues, with the third line yodeled:

[C]Good morning, Captain, Good morning, Shine
[C7] Do you [F] need another mule skinner out on your [C] new mud line?
Yodel-ay-hee [G7]hee, yodel ay hee ay hee [C] hee.

The more common post-Jimmie versions do it as a 3-line blues, but set up like this, with the first line repeated as in standard blues format:

[C]Good morning, Captain, Good morning, Shine
Good [F] morning, Captain, Good morning [C] Shine
Do you [G7] need another mule skinner, out on your [C] new mud line.

In this version, the yodel (if it's used at all) comes after the third line and uses the same structure as the yodel in the first version. For some variety, an extra yodel can be thrown in between verses, on the order of:

[C7]Yodel ay-[F] hee hee hee
Yodel [C] ay-hee-hee hee
Yodel[G7] ay-hee ay-hee oh-lay-[C] ee.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mule Skinner Blues lyric request
From: Leadbelly
Date: 17 Aug 07 - 04:49 AM

Do you remember the great version of Rusty Draper?

Manfred

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mule Skinner Blues lyric request
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 17 Aug 07 - 11:48 AM

I remember Ramblin' Jack Elliott singing Mule Skinner Blueson a UK tv folk music show back in the mid-60s. I think I made a recording of it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mule Skinner Blues lyric request
From: cptsnapper
Date: 17 Aug 07 - 02:19 PM

Anyone remember the Fendermen's version?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mule Skinner Blues lyric request
From: Leadbelly
Date: 17 Aug 07 - 03:19 PM

You're quite right,Tunesmith. I'm justlistening to his version which he recorded with Derrol Adams. Nice voices and a lot of banjo playing, too.

Manfred

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mule Skinner Blues lyric request
From: ad1943
Date: 17 Aug 07 - 08:14 PM

Aaah Yes Mr Snapper


The Fendermen's version of Muleskinner Blues was wonderful.

I have the record here at home in Sydney Autralia

Best wishes

Allen in OZ

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mule Skinner Blues lyric request
From: Mr Red
Date: 18 Aug 07 - 11:43 AM

Why is my memory of lines like

Dang me, dang me, they oughta get a rope and hang me
Hang me from a high oak treeeeeee, woman will you weep for me
dupe dupe etc


plus yodelling that Jimmy Rodgers would have done.

Now what was that song called if it was not Mule Skinner Blues?

I am too young to loose my memory like this.......

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mule Skinner Blues lyric request
From: cptsnapper
Date: 18 Aug 07 - 10:43 PM

Mr. Red, I think that that may be " Dang Me " by Roger Miller.

Subject: Lyr Add: BLUE YODEL No. 8 (MULE SKINNER BLUES)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 01 Oct 19 - 09:39 AM

It looks like we have never collected Jimmie Rodgers' version, which should be definitive:


BLUE YODEL No. 8 (MULE SKINNER BLUES)
Words and music by Jimmie Rodgers and George Vaughan
As recorded by Jimmie Rodgers, 1930.

1. Good mornin', captain. Good mornin', shine.
Do you need another mule skinner out on your new mud line?
YODEL

2. I like to work; I'm rollin' all the time.
I can pop my 'nitials on a mule's behin'.
YODEL

3. Hey, little water boy, bring that water roun'.
If you don't like your job, set that water bucket down.
YODEL

4. Workin' on the good roads, dollar an' a half a day,
My good gal's waitin' on Sat'day night, just to draw my pay.
GUITAR SOLO

5. I'm goin' to town, honey; what you want me to bring you back?
Bring a pint o' booze an' a John B. Stetson hat. (Bring it to me, honey.)
YODEL

6. I smell your bread a-burnin; turn your damper down.
If you ain't got a damper, good gal, turn your bread aroun'.
YODEL

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mule Skinner Blues
From: gillymor
Date: 01 Oct 19 - 10:14 AM

I always wondered who or what "shine" referred to in the first line.

For me Bill Monroe did some of my favorite versions of this but Tony Rice did a bangup version of it on his Cold on the Shoulder LP as well.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mule Skinner Blues
From: GUEST,Hootenanny
Date: 01 Oct 19 - 10:23 AM

Is it not rightly so, now a NON PC word ?

Louis Armstrong once sang about it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mule Skinner Blues
From: gillymor
Date: 01 Oct 19 - 10:45 AM

Here's the entry from the Wiki list of ethnic slurs-

Shine- (U.S.) a black person (from shoeshiner)

I had forgotten that it had been used like that at one time, although it's hard, for me anyway, to be certain from the context what Rodgers had in mind by using the term.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mule Skinner Blues
From: gillymor
Date: 01 Oct 19 - 03:32 PM

Wikipedia It seems JR borrowed that lyric from the 1928 recording "Tom Dickson Blues" where shine did refer to an African-American.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mule Skinner Blues
From: GUEST,Hootenanny
Date: 01 Oct 19 - 05:36 PM

When JR was around people weren't quite so "sensitive" and I am sure that the word would be used without much thought much as the "N" word was.

The song by Louis Armstrong which I referred to above was called Shine and The words include lines such as "that's why they call me Shine".

I was a little surprised when I found out that the song "All Coons Look alike to me" was written by a coloured gentleman.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mule Skinner Blues
From: gillymor
Date: 01 Oct 19 - 06:33 PM

It seems that Tom Dickson was black as well.
The great Dooley Wilson sang a snatch of Shine in Casablanca as I recall.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mule Skinner Blues
From: Mark Ross
Date: 03 Oct 19 - 10:23 AM

SHINE was a Bert Williams song. He was a star in Vaudeville. Even though he was African-American, he would appear in blackface makeup.
Ry Cooder did a great version on his recording JAZZ.

Mark Ross

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mule Skinner Blues
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Jul 25 - 05:07 AM

sThere is a patreon bonus story of the Mule Skinner Blues song by the Fendermen. It tells not just about the Fendermen's history, but how short jimmy rogers' life could have lived a better life if he had not died too young in 1933. thanks for all of what you had to say from joe.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mule Skinner Blues
From: The Sandman
Date: 19 Jul 25 - 01:40 AM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRuxHwITbyk ramblin jack
a href=" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRuxHwITbyk "> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRuxHwITbyk