Origins: Bread and Gravy

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 09 Jan 00 - 01:36 PM

I'm afraid midis are beyond me, Jeri. Wish I could afford to hire you as a consultant down here for awhile!

Sandy the Cyberklutz

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From: Jeri
Date: 09 Jan 00 - 01:11 PM

Sandy, I just sent Joe a MIDI. When it gets posted, maybe you could listen and tell us if it's the same as the one Grant Rogers sings, and if it sounds correct.

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 09 Jan 00 - 01:04 PM

No, Joe, the tune is not the same as the old "Rosin the Beau" used by "Acres of Clams," etc. Next time we get together, or chat on that antique device, the telephone, I'll show you how Grant Rogers sang it, since I don't have the tech know-how to post it.

Sandy

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From: Jeri
Date: 09 Jan 00 - 12:52 PM

A correction to the lyrics I posted - the second to last line should be:

"And on Saturday morn, just as sure as you're born."

Thanks.

Subject: Bread and Gravy
From: Joe Offer
Date: 08 Jan 00 - 04:52 PM

Hey, this song sure sounds familiar. From the first post, I gather it's a variation on Rosin the Beau (Bow)/Acres of Clams/The Old Settler's Song - is that the tune for it?
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 08 Jan 00 - 04:48 PM

The Captain Kangaroo thread is here. I see that my original post referred to the Bread and Gravy song, so there must be another thread about it from last spring, that I don't have time to track down.

Max, the Supersearch is Super!

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: Bread and Gravy
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 08 Jan 00 - 04:42 PM

I seem to recall hearing the "Bread and Gravy" song on television in the 50's or early 60's, which means it may have been recorded somewhere. For some reason I think it may have been on Captain Kangaroo, but Sing Along with Mitch also comes to mind. And, to further complicate things, the last two lines I recall, after "Thursday", are:

On that day we went to the principal, and asked for something instead
So on Friday for luncheon by way of a change...we had gravy without any bread.

That would make sense if it had been turned into a kids' song for the good Captain, since there's no school on Saturday. By the way, if this brings back any memories to young boomers out there, there was a fascinating thread about Captain Kangaroo some months back, that I started with a request for the song "A Lonely Little Petunia in an Onion Patch." You can use Max's fantastic new Forum Supersearch engine to find it. (How's that for thread creep?)

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From: Dale Rose
Date: 08 Jan 00 - 01:49 PM

Grandpa Jones did a version which was somewhat different ~~ haven't heard it since the early 50s or so. If memory serves, it went something like this.

On Monday we have bread and gravy
On Tuesday it's gravy and bread
On Wednesday and Thursday,it's gravy on toast
But that's only gravy and bread
On Friday it's rye bread and gravy
On Saturday it's whole wheat instead
But Sunday's a treat, 'cause we never get meat
We just have gravy without any bread!

Whatever else there may have been to his version, I've forgotten.

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From: Jeri
Date: 22 May 99 - 11:03 AM

Well - I screwed up (sorry). It's "E" Waters. (Excuse: the "M" fell over?) Maybe Ethel? I haven't been very successful in looking for more info. Discographies I can find don't have track listings.

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From: Blake
Date: 21 May 99 - 06:23 AM

Hello, I looked into that Hoagy Carmichael and it turns out that it is a Jazz song from the 30's. I am not sure if it was the right song. I could not find anything on M. Waters. I am still searching.Thank you again Jeri. Blake

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From: Jeri
Date: 17 May 99 - 10:00 AM

I don't know if it's the same song, but in the ASCAP database, there's a "Bread and Gravy" registered to Hoagy Carmichael. It doesn't appear he ever recorded it, though. There is an "M. Waters" listed as recording artist.

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From: Blake
Date: 17 May 99 - 08:11 AM

Just a quick note to say hello and to get my question to the top of the list.

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From: Blake
Date: 16 May 99 - 07:00 AM

I will check back with everyone on Monday and meanwhile I will try and do some research now that I can narrow the search to the 30s. Thanks guys and I hope to speak to you all Monday, Blake

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From: Banjer
Date: 15 May 99 - 07:33 AM

Neat little song, folk tradition in action.....

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From: Blake
Date: 15 May 99 - 06:02 AM

Thank you Jeri, I am 30 and it was a song my grandfather used to sing at family gatherings. The way he sang it was slow and smooth you know so others could join in. David is about 10+ years younger than my grandfather would have been so maybe it had been song even prior to the '30s when the song may have been popular not that it isn't now by the looks of things. I am from Southport CT. as was my grandfather and before him my great grandparents were from Ireland but I think the song is American. Thanks again Jeri and I look forward too seeing what else we can find. Blake

Subject: ADD: Bread and Gravy
From: Jeri
Date: 14 May 99 - 10:52 PM

Update:
Went to the session and asked my friend to sing the song, explained about the request. He did. (Major key, somewhat complicated tune for folk music, and a lot of gratuitous harmony since everyone here knows it.) Here's David's shorter version:

"on Mon we had bread and gravy,
On Tues was gravy and bread,
On Wed and Thu was gravy and toast,
Which is nothing but gravy and bread,
So on Fri I went to the landlord,
To get something else instead,
So on Sat morning by way of a change,
We had gravy without any bread.

David says it's a song his family has always sung - he learned it from his mom when he was little, and he's close to 70, if not already there, so the song goes back at least to the '30s. His mom still lives in the family house in Canada - Quebec, I think - and he said he'd ask her about the song next time he talks to her.

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From: Blake
Date: 14 May 99 - 12:51 PM

Thank You Sandy, Did you compile the Grant Rodgers LP yourself? That is great! Thank you sooooo much! This has really been a great experience for me and I will be back to talk with you again soon. I will definitely be back to here from Judy as well maybe on Monday. Thank You again please feel free to email me at [e-mail] or my web site http://ccbhenry.home.mindspring.com/ Maybe I will put in a link to this site. Blake

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 13 May 99 - 01:51 PM

If there's any more to the song, I've never heard it. I collected it, almost exactly as you have it, Blake, back in the 60s, from Grant Rogers, a great old singer and fiddler (and sometime quarry worker) in the Catskills. I included it on Grant Rogers, Songmaker of the Catskills, an LP that is now available as a "custom cassette" from Folk-Legacy Records.

Sandy

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From:
Date: 13 May 99 - 11:49 AM

That is wild I thought only our family new that old song ! If you can find any info like who wrote it who preformed it anything would be great. Thank You Jeri, Blake

Subject: RE: help me find this old song
From: Jeri
Date: 13 May 99 - 10:30 AM

We sing this in our friday session. I'll see if I can corner the guy who leads it and write down the lyrics.

Subject: ADD: Bread and Gravy
From:
Date: 12 May 99 - 09:02 AM

This is an old song that my family sings and I want to find out who did it and see if I can play it on my guitar.

--I've traveled this country all over and been to the best of hotels.
Some were good some were bad some were lowsy
and some were the best that they had.
The last place I stopped was a lulu so quiet so clean and so neat
But you'll wonder why I am alive today when I tell you what they gave us to eat.

On Monday was bread and gravy
on Tuesday was bread and gravy
and on Wed. and Thur. was gravy and toast
which is nothing but gravy and bread.
So on Friday I went to the landloard
and asked for a bit of a change
so on Staurday morning by way of a change
we had gravy w/o any bread.

That is all I have please help
Blake