Lyr Req: Chewing Gum (Carter Family)

Subject: Chewing Gum Lyrics
From: jabunch
Date: 09 Aug 98 - 11:07 PM

I am trying to learn the Carter Family Song "Chewing Gum"

I can't make out from the recording the verse regarding the farmer. Can anyone help? The verse goes something like...

I wouldn't have a farmer Tell you the reason why. He has so much food specially pumpkin pie.

That's what I hear, but it doesn't make sense.

Does anyone know more about the song? Who wrote it? Is there a published version?

Thanks jabunch in Silver Spring Md.

Subject: RE:
From:
Date: 10 Aug 98 - 08:33 AM

What you hear is pretty close to what I hear

I wouldn't marry a farmer
Tell you the reason why
Because he has so much to eat
especially pumpkin pie

I assume the meaning is that she would wind up eating too much pumpkin pie compared to other things.

Murray

Subject: RE:
From:
Date: 10 Aug 98 - 10:16 AM

I don't know who actually wrote the first two-three verses of the song but I do know that many of the verses, including that which is in question were penned by A.P. Carter. The entire song is copyrighted in his name. However, the Carter Family were not the first ones to record the song. Uncle Dave Macon, I believe was the first in 1925. Then came the Carter Family in 1927 with their rendition, the most memorable. Another good version comes from Asher Sizemore and Little Jimmie, stars of the Grand Ole Opry in the early thirties. My pick is the Carters.

Subject: RE: chewing gum
From: lingolucky
Date: 10 Aug 98 - 11:58 AM

I remember well hearing Uncle Dave Macon doing his Chewing Gum number on the Grand Old Opera on WLS Nashville. circa 1928 et seq. It seemed to be a novelty devised to let the banjo take over from vocals on the words "chewing Gum."

I've never seen the words in print and am not familiar with the Carter Family version. Some of the words go:

"Well, I'm gonna tell you 'bout my pretty little miss
She's just as pretty as a plum,
But everywhere she went, she would spend her last cent
on chewin' gum, chewin' gum. (banjo repeats)

She had feathers and finery and she had a pretty little chum
But everywhere she went, she would spend her last cent
on Chewing gum, etc.

Lane goldsmith (lingolucky)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Chewing Gum (Carter Family)
From: PHJim
Date: 05 May 14 - 09:53 AM

This reminds me of a verse to Old Joe Clark that always goes over well with kids:

Don't go down to Old Joe's house,
Tell you the reason why,
He blows his nose on old corn bread
And calls it pumpkin pie.   (Usually pronounced "punkin pie")

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Chewing Gum (Carter Family)
From: GUEST,#
Date: 05 May 14 - 10:09 AM

Roud 3594.

Subject: Lyr Add: CHEWING GUM (Carter Family)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 10 May 14 - 03:40 PM

The Traditional Ballad Index traces this song back to at least 1915. Looks like we have some more research to do. Here's the Ballad Index entry:

Fond of Chewing Gum

DESCRIPTION: The singer "fell in love with a pretty little girl" who was "fond of chewing gum." He describes their courting, always recalling the gum. When they are to be wed, she cannot say "I do" because her mouth was full of gum. Now he avoids gum-chewers
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1915 (Pound)
KEYWORDS: courting love marriage separation food humorous
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE,So)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Randolph 368, "Fond of Chewing Gum" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 297-299, "Fond of Chewing Gum" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 368A)
Boswell/Wolfe 87, pp. 138-139, "Chewing Gum" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 158, "Chewing Gum" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 239, "Chewing Gum" (1 text)
Roud #3714
RECORDINGS:
Carter Family, "Chewing Gum" (Victor 21517, 1928)
Lake Howard, "Chewing Chewing Gum" (Perfect 13128/Melotone M-13355/Oriole 8449, 1935; on CrowTold02)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Chewing Gum" (on NLCR10) (on NLCR12)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "A Railroader for Me (Soldier Boy for Me)" (floating verses)
NOTES: The Carter Family version of this song includes a number of floating verses ("I wouldn't have a lawyer/Now here's the reason why/Every time he opens his mouth/He tells a great big lie"; "Mama don't 'low me to whistle/Papa don't 'low me to sing/They don't want me to marry/I'll marry just the same"). Their absence in the Randolph text implies that they are intrusions. - RBW, (PJS)
Last updated in version 2.6
File: R368

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Here are the lyrics from the Digital Tradition. Any other verses or versions?

CHEWING GUM (DT Version)
(Carter Family)

Mama sent me to the spring, she told me not to stay
I fell in love with a pretty little girl, and could not get away

Chawin' chewing gum, chewing chawin' gum
Chawin' chewing gum, chewing chawin' gum

First she give me peaches, next she give me pears
Next she give me fifty cents, kissed me on the stairs

Mommy don't 'low me to whistle, poppy don't 'low me to sing
They don't 'low me to marry, I'll marry just the same

I wouldn't have a lawyer, I'll tell you the reason why
Every time he opens his mouth he tells a great big lie

I wouldn't have a doctor, I'll tell you the reason why
He rides all over the country and makes the people die

I wouldn't have a farmer, I'll tell you the reason why
Because he has so plenty to eat, 'specially pumpkin pie

I took my girl to church last night. How do you reckon she done?
She walked right up in the preacher's face and chewed her chewing gum

Recorded by The Carter Family, also New Lost City Ramblers
filename[ CHEWNGUM
GED

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Chewing Gum (Carter Family)
From: Louie Roy
Date: 10 May 14 - 07:06 PM

I wouldn't marry an old man
AND I'LL TELL YOU THE REASON WHY
AN OLD MAN SPITS TOBBACCO JUICE
AND HIS CHIN IS NEVER DRY


GIRLS ALWAYS MARRY A YOUNG MAN
AND I'LL TELL YOU THE REASON WHY
A YOUNG MAN'S HEART IS FULL OF LOVE
AND HE'LL NEVER MAKE YOU CRY


THESE TWO VERSES WERE THEONES MY MOTHER SANG

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Chewing Gum (Carter Family)
From: and e
Date: 08 Jun 23 - 04:55 PM

GUM
(Frank Grant, Eden [Idaho])

When I was only twenty,
I was wild and full of fun;
I flirted with every girl I met--
Unless she was chewing gum!

I met a fair young maiden--
She seemed a perfect chum;
But I tell you now I didn't know then
She was fond of chewing gum!

I took her to a ball one night;
They all thought she was dumb,
For she stopped right in the middle of a dance
And took a chew of gum!

One day I kissed her big red lips,
Just to see if she would run;
But I got my little black mustache
All tangled up in her gum!

I proposed and she accepted,
The wedding day to come;
The priest was there to tie the knot--
But her mouth was full of gum!

I finally got disgusted
And went off on the bum;
I swore I'd never marry a girl
That was fond of chewing gum.

From Songs and Ballads: Folk Material and Old Favorites, Collected by [James] Kenneth Larson in McCammon, Idaho. Undated [c1933], typescript. Tune not indicated.

See online here:

https://archive.org/details/1933-1972jameskennethlarson/page/n15/mode/1up