ADD: We're Up against It Now (Uncle Dave Macon?)

Subject: Lyr Add: WE'RE UP AGAINST IT NOW
From: Jon W.
Date: 21 Apr 99 - 11:41 AM

I'm submitting this song because every time I read the paper or watch the news, the first verse and chorus of this go through my mind.

WE'RE UP AGAINST IT NOW
From Mike Seeger: Southern Banjo Sounds

The world is turned upside down, it surely must be true
The way that things are running now proves that to me and you.

Chorus:
We're up against it now,
There's no use to raise a row,
But of all the times I've ever seen
We're sure up against it now.

Since the highway's come, they've taxed the farmer down
The road's so slick his team can't travel and he has to walk to town.

Since the auto's come, mules and horses won't sell,
The farmer's land is mortgaged down and the country's gone to (strum)

A farmer bought him a tractor, he raised quite an alarm,
He only broke one little piece and he had to sell his farm.

(alt chorus:)
We're up against it now,
There's no use to raise a row,
But the safest rig I've ever seen
Is a mule and a bull-tongue plow.

He once was happy as a lark, but now he's down and out.
The auto is the thing they say, that brought this all about.

The farmer who's the one we know, on whom we must depend.
Is up against it with the rest, with troubles to amend.

Mike Seeger indicates in the liner notes that he believes this song was written by Uncle Dave Macon. He (Seeger) got it from a 1920's recording by Macon.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: We're up against it now
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 24 Jun 04 - 05:01 PM

I don't see signs that this has been harvested, despite its age.

Also, as I hear Mike Seeger's singing, it's

(alt chorus:)
We're up against it now,
There's no use to raise a row,
But the safest rig I've ever seen
Is a mule and a Fullerton plow.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: We're up against it now
From: GUEST,Arkie
Date: 24 Jun 04 - 09:37 PM

Is this the same song as the Wreck of the Tennessee Gravy Train?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: We're up against it now
From: michaelr
Date: 24 Jun 04 - 10:09 PM

If it's not the same, it surely is derived from it.

Cheers,
Michael

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: We're up against it now
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 25 Jun 04 - 10:22 PM

Wreck Of The Tennessee Gravy Train will be on my new CD from concert tapes --- all songs and jokelore that was never ever on any of my issued recordings.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: We're up against it now
From: Charley Noble
Date: 26 Jun 04 - 10:16 PM

There is a whole family of these songs, including one we wrote in Michigan back in the recession of 1979 called "The Wreck of the Michigan Gravy Train." I could did it up, I'm sure, if anyone wants to add it to their collection.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble