Lyr Req: Skin Game Blues (Peg Leg Howell)

Subject: Lyr Req: peg leg howell's skin game blues
From: Roberto
Date: 08 Jan 06 - 02:01 PM

I'd like to get the text of this blues, recorded by Peg Leg Howell. Thank you. Roberto

Subject: Lyr Add: Skin Game Blues
From: masato sakurai
Date: 08 Jan 06 - 07:23 PM

From Michael Taft's Prewar Blues Lyric Poetry: an Anthology:

    Skin Game Blues
         Atlanta, 9 Nov. 1927
         (145185‑2) Co‑14473‑D RBF RF‑202

When I ??? game last night : thought I'd have some fun
Lost all the money that I had baby : pawned my special gun
Says I gambled all over Missouri : gambled all through Spain
Police come to arrest me babe : and they did not know my name
Gambled all over Missouri : gambled through Tennessee
Soon as I reach old Georgia : the niggers carried a handcuff to me

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: peg leg howell's skin game blues
From: 12-stringer
Date: 09 Jan 06 - 03:00 AM

There's a longer transcript here, about halfway down the page, in a post by "johnm". There are 6 or 7 pages of Peg Leg Howell lyrics in this thread.


http://weeniecampbell.com/mambo/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=74&topic=1459.0

Subject: Lyr Add: SKIN GAME BLUES (Peg Leg Howell)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 10 Jan 06 - 11:13 PM

Here are the lyrics copied from the Weenie Campbell site that 12-Stringer provided the link to above:

SKIN GAME BLUES
Peg Leg Howell

When I came to Georgia,
Money and clothes I had, babe,
All the money I had done gone,
My Sunday clothes in pawn,
Sunday clothes in pawn,
Sunday clothes in pawn, lovin' babe,
My Sunday clothes in pawn.

Says you better let a deal go down.
Skin game's comin' to a close,
And you better let the deal go down.

SPOKEN: Hold the cards! A dollar more! Two more halves!

A dollar more the deuce beat a nine.
A dollar more the deuce beat a nine, lovin' babe.
A dollar more the deuce beat a nine.

Went out to the skin game last night
Thought I'd have some fun
Lost all the money that I had made
Had to pawn my special gun
Had to pawn my special gun
Had to pawn my special gun, lovin' babe,
Had to pawn my special gun

Says you better let a deal go down
Skin game's comin' to a close,
and You better let the deal go down

Says gambled all over Missouri
Gambled all through Spain, babe,
Police come to arrest me, babe,
And they did not know my name
And they did not know my name
And they did not know my name, lovin' babe,
And they did not know my name

Better let a deal go down
Skin game's comin' to a close,
And you better let your deal go down

SPOKEN: Hold the cards! A dollar more the deuce beat a nine! Half more two! Put up over there, nigger!

Better let the deal go down
Says you better let the deal go down

Gambled all over Missouri
Gambled through Tennessee, babe,
Soon as I reached old Georgia
The niggers carried a handcuff to me
The niggers carried a handcuff to me, babe,
The niggers carried a handcuff to me, lovin' babe,
And the niggers carried a handcuff to me

Better let a deal go down
Skin game's comin' to a close
And you better let the deal go down.

Subject: Lyr Add: SKIN GAME BLUES (Lucille Bogan)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 10 Jan 06 - 11:33 PM

Here's another song with the same title. Transcribed from the sound file at The Red Hot Jazz Archive:

SKIN GAME BLUES
As recorded by Lucille Bogan, 1935.

Good morning, skin game. Holler skin game, please lay.
Good morning, skin game. Holler skin game, please lay.
I done staked my man to win and I hope my money will pay.

He's done pawned my house. He got my life, that day.
He's done pawned my house. Got my life, that day.
And I got to get it back with that money he gambled away.

He never lost no money until he drawed that black queen of spades.
Ooh, lost his money on that black queen of spades.
And my man was ... beggin'. He was in hard luck that very day.

When he come back to me, got a dollar-two.
Come back to me, got a dollar or two.
I want him to go back to that skin game and see what he can do.

If my man he could only win my money back,
If my man could only win my money back,
I would take a walk downtown, buy me a brand-new pair of shoes and hat.