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Lyr ADD: Don't Try It for It Can't Be Done
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Subject: Lyrics - Don't Try - Riley Puckett From: GUEST,Jim Date: 12 Apr 08 - 04:32 PM Can anyone complete the first line of the third verse? 'Don't Try It For It Can't Be Done' Riley Puckett < http://www.juneberry78s.com/sounds/j15056-18.mp3 > Don't never say, that I am the best There's nothing, that I can't do. You'll find that there's many things put to a test, Just listen I'll tell you a few. You can't hit a ball with the bat of your eye Don't try it for it can't be done. You can't pick a goose and make gooseberry pie Don't try it for it can't be done. You might bring/drink ............................................ You might raise a chicken without laying an egg But you can't raise a cow from the calf of your leg Don't try it for it can't be done. You can't sail a ship without getting aboard Don't try it for it can't be done. You can't take the rattle all out of a gourd Don't try it for it can't be done. You might find a barber who tell you just how you can get a good shave from the blade of a plow. But you cannot get milk from a gentleman cow. Don't try it for it can't be done. |
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Subject: RE: LYR REQ: Don't Try - Riley Puckett From: Peace Date: 12 Apr 08 - 04:48 PM Sent this thread title to two Mudcat members who are virtual wizards at this kind of search. Don't give up yet. |
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Subject: Lyr Add: DON'T TRY IT FOR IT CAN'T BE DONE From: deleuran Date: 12 Apr 08 - 05:04 PM I have found some old Riley Puckett songs, and would like to learn one of them. I have been unable to find the lyrics anywhere, so I have tried to write it down from the recording, but as it is an old 78' from the 20's, and english is not my native language, I have been stuck with one line. Here comes the lyrics and I'll mark the words I don't understand. I have written them as I hear them, but they don't make sense. Hope someone can help me. The title is: Don't Try It For It Can't Be Done. Folks never say, that I am the best There's nothing, that I can't do. You'll find that there's many things put to a test, Just listen I'll tell you a few. You can't hit a ball with the bat of your eye Don't try it for it can't be done. You can't pick a goose and make gooseberry pie Don't try it for it can't be done. You might bring water for hunting their back??(This is the words I don't get) You might raise a chicken without laying an egg But you can't raise a cow from the calf of your leg Don't try it for it can't be done. You can't sail a ship without getting aboard Don't try it for it can't be done. You can't take the rattle all out of a gourd Don't try it for it can't be done. You might find a barber who tell you just how you can get a good shave from the blade of a plow. But you cannot get milk from a gentleman cow Don't try it for it can't be done. The song can be heard here: |
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Subject: RE: Req: Riley Puckett lyrics - Don't Try It... From: GUEST,dani Date: 12 Apr 08 - 05:26 PM Janie should be by any minute, now.... Dani |
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Subject: RE: LYR REQ: Don't Try - Riley Puckett From: Jim Dixon Date: 12 Apr 08 - 05:46 PM I've listened, and I can't make sense of that line either. Furthermore, I find it rather strange that Puckett sings the rest of the song quite clearly, but mumbles this one line. My theory is, he forgot the lyrics himself and just bluffed his way through! I did find a suitable line with Google Book Search, however: "You might find a beggar that never does beg." It's not what Puckett sings in the recording, but it does make sense, and it fits the meter and rhyme scheme, so if you want to sing the song, I recommend you sing that. That line comes from Prairie Farmer and WLS: The Burridge D. Butler Years, by James F. Evans, 1969, page 218. Since the book is still under copyright, only a "snippet" is viewable online, so I don't have much context, but the song quote seems to accompany a story about Kincaid performing on radio station WLS in Chicago, so it might be the authentic Kincaid composition. WorldCat might tell you where to find the book in a library near you. |
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Subject: RE: LYR REQ: Don't Try - Riley Puckett From: deleuran Date: 12 Apr 08 - 06:13 PM Thank you very much. I have been driven to insanity for three days now :-) I think this song is very funny, and wanted to sing it. I had considered bluffing my way through that line, as you suggest Puckett has done, but the line you suggest makes perfectly sense, fits the meter as you say, and it rhymes on "eggs" in the next line. I'll go for that. Thank you again. Now I can sleep tonight :-) Can you tell me something about Kincaid? Or maybe a link? I don't know him, but would like to get some details. |
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Subject: RE: LYR REQ: Don't Try - Riley Puckett From: Jeri Date: 12 Apr 08 - 08:34 PM This is what I get, with a couple of differences I'm sure about and that line that I'm not: Folks never say, that I am the best There's nothing, that I can't do. You'll find that there's many when put to a test, Just listen I'll tell you a few. You can't hit a ball with the bat of your eye Don't try it for it can't be done. You can't pick a goose and make gooseberry pie Don't try it for it can't be done. You might bring water, folks, punching the bag You might raise a chicken without laying an egg But you can't raise a cow from the calf of your leg Don't try it for it can't be done. You can't sail a ship without getting aboard Don't try it, it can't be done. You can't take the rattle all out of a gourd Don't try it for it can't be done. You might find a barber who tell you just how you can get a good shave from the blade of a plow. But you cannot get milk from a gentleman cow Don't try it for it can't be done. |
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Subject: RE: LYR REQ: Don't Try - Riley Puckett From: Jim Dixon Date: 12 Apr 08 - 09:09 PM Whoops! I forgot to give Bradley Kincaid's full name. Wikipedia is a good place to start. A few more corrections: "Folks, never say that I am the best." "You'll find that there's many when put to a test." "You can't take the rattle all out of a Ford." |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Try - Riley Puckett From: Janie Date: 13 Apr 08 - 12:53 AM I can't tell either. I also wonder if he flubbed the words there. "You might spring water, would make a bit more sense than "drink" or "bring" Janie (who Dani knows too well>) |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Try - Riley Puckett From: GUEST,Ptarmigan Date: 13 Apr 08 - 05:56 AM OK So if we've established that nobody here actually KNOWS what the original line was, then why don't we just see who can come up with the best, most amusing, most appropriate substitute line? Here goes: "You might bring water in a brown paper bag," Cheers Dick |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Try - Riley Puckett From: deleuran Date: 13 Apr 08 - 07:51 AM As I wrote above, english is not my native language, so I am grateful for all the help I can get here. You folks have certainly done some serious work. As far as I can hear, the line: "You might spring water, folks, punching the bag" is the closest to what Puckett sings. And it gives good meaning, in the context and the concept of the song. I guess that "spring water" means breaking a sweat, or what? This is one of the lines about what you might possibly be able to do, as opposed to the things you can't do. It is the best guess yet. The line: "You might find a beggar that never does beg." was a good one too. Not what Puckett sing, but it gives meaning and it works. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Try - Riley Puckett From: deleuran Date: 13 Apr 08 - 08:05 AM Hey Ptarmigan! I didn't see it was you until now. Nice to meet you here too :-) But sorry, I don't go for the brown paper bag. And Jim Dixon. Thanks for the corrections. It's getting better and better :-) Not only I have got the lyrics correct (or almost) I also have got the composers name. I will take a closer look at Bradley Kinkaid. He seems to be an influential and interesting character. I would like to lay my hands on his book "My Favorite Mountain Ballads". But I guess it would be hard to find these days. At least over here in Denmark. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Try - Riley Puckett From: GUEST Date: 13 Apr 08 - 08:34 AM Yeah I know, it's not a great idea is it. I just thought it might trigger a few more ideas. I didn't think it really had much going for it anyway ....... given that most folks think of [i]sick[/i] when they think of a brown paper back! :-( Cheers Dick |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Try - Riley Puckett From: deleuran Date: 13 Apr 08 - 08:49 AM It's not a bad Idea, Dick, and it could be fun to see some creative thinking, finding alternative lines, but I go for the line: "You might spring water, folks, punching the bag" It sounds like it is what Puckett sings. Another thing is, that we don't always have to go for the correct lyrics. We can make our own. It has been done a lot in the old days. Yesterday I got a CD, with recordings from the medicine shows in the 20's and 30's. There was a great one with Gid Tanner & His Skilled Lickers: "It ain't Gonne Rain No More" I liked it and looked up the lyrics on the internet, and found it, I thought. The melody is the same, the chorus is the same, but the verses has completely different words. And funny too. So your idea of triggering new ideas is not bad. On the contrary. It could be fun. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Try - Riley Puckett From: GUEST Date: 13 Apr 08 - 10:15 AM OK ... howsabout: 1 - "You might wake up rich & not have to beg." ......... Well, one can dream, can't one? :-) Cheers Dick |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Try It for It Can't Be Done From: deleuran Date: 15 Apr 08 - 03:42 PM I thank all you people who have helped me find out the lyrics for this song. I have made a little recording of it. Playing on a parlor guitar. You can hear it here: http://www.jesperdeleuran.dk/media/Musik/RAIN2_02.MP3 |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Try It for It Can't Be Done From: deleuran Date: 15 Apr 08 - 03:43 PM Sorry! Wrong song. http://www.jesperdeleuran.dk/media/Musik/DONTTRY3.MP3 |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Try It for It Can't Be Done From: GUEST,DWR Date: 15 Apr 08 - 09:05 PM I had the luxury of listening to two other versions, most recently recorded by The Gillette Brothers, Live From The Camp Street Cafe & Store, Big Daddy Records, 2001. Pipp and Guy credit Otto Gray and His Oklahoma Cowboys as their source. A check shows that they recorded the song January 17, 1928 on Gennett 6376. Anyway, the Gillette Brothers sing FORD as Jim suggests, and for the questionable line they have "Now you might find a beggar who never does beg." The other version is a bit less common, recorded by Ozark musician Arkansas Red. He also sings FORD but his take on the disputed line is "You might feel wonderful punching a bag." Other differences are of a minor nature. My guess is that later versions have the same problems, trying to decipher early recordings. I think I'd try to find the Otto Gray version if I could. It has been reissued on BACM 139. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Try It for It Can't Be Done From: Janie Date: 15 Apr 08 - 09:16 PM "How about a clicky for deleuran's recording of the song?" "Ok. Sounds like a good idea to me:>)" http://www.jesperdeleuran.dk/media/Musik/DONTTRY3.MP3 |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Try It for It Can't Be Done From: 12-stringer Date: 16 Apr 08 - 12:06 AM DWR wrote: The other version is a bit less common, recorded by Ozark musician Arkansas Red. He also sings FORD but his take on the disputed line is "You might feel wonderful punching a bag." Ya know, I used to do this song 'way back in the 60s (one of several I learned off the GHP album, the first Riley Puckett reissue), and what I made of that line was "You might dream wonderful punching a bag." Made no sense on God's green earth but that's the way I did it back then. I doubt I've even started this song since the Nixon administration, but listening to an mp3 at Juneberry the other night, that's still what I hear him saying. And it's definitely Ford (notorious rattletraps), not 'gourd.' |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Try It for It Can't Be Done From: GUEST,Pete Date: 16 Apr 08 - 04:17 AM I really like the song. Could anyone also supply the chords? Thanks |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Try It for It Can't Be Done From: deleuran Date: 16 Apr 08 - 05:27 AM I play it this way: |C--|C--|D7--|D7--|G--|G--|C--|C--| |C--|C--|D7--|D7--|G--|G--|C--|C--| |Am--|E--|Am--|Am--|D7--|D7--|G--|G--| |C--|C--|D7--|D7--|G--|G--|C--|C--| |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Try It for It Can't Be Done From: GUEST,Uncle Wiggley Date: 30 Sep 10 - 06:38 AM The verse you are asking about goes like this: You might go to sleep without punching the bag. You might raise a chicken without laying an egg But you can't raise a cow from the calf of your leg Don't try it for it can't be done. Turns out that folks used to use the following expressions for going to sleep: "I am going to punch the ol' bag." "I am hitting the bag" "I think I will punch the sack." "I am going to punch the sack." Also the very first verse begins: "Folks, never say - I am the best" |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Try It for It Can't Be Done From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 30 Sep 10 - 10:26 AM "You can't hit a ball with THE bat of your eye" is wrong. It should be: You can't hit a ball with A bat of your eye. To bat one's eyes is to lower the eyelids flirtatiously. ============ I think the mystery line is "You can't bring water for punching a bag." It doesn't make much sense, but "punching the bag" either refers to boxing practice where fighters punch a hanging bag at the gym, or to going to sleep, as Uncle Wiggley says. I believe boxing was much more on people's minds in the 1920's than it is today. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Try It for It Can't Be Done From: Jim Dixon Date: 30 Sep 10 - 03:00 PM To "bat" one's eye was in my father's vocabulary. It simply meant "blink." It could be voluntary or involuntary. One could bat one's eyes "at" someone, which was a flirtatious gesture by a woman to a man, or it could also be done by a child trying to appear "sweet" in order to get some favor from an adult. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Try It for It Can't Be Done From: Mark Ross Date: 30 Sep 10 - 07:15 PM Bob Bovee does a great version of this. Mark Ross |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Try It for It Can't Be Done From: Seamus Kennedy Date: 30 Sep 10 - 11:31 PM "You can't bring water or punch in a bag" i.e. you can't carry two liquids in a bag? |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Try It for It Can't Be Done From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 01 Oct 10 - 09:22 AM Could be, I s'pose. |
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Subject: Lyr Add: DON'T TRY IT ('CAUSE IT CAN'T BE DONE) From: Gene Date: 02 Oct 10 - 12:40 AM Here's a variation: Don't Try It ('Cause It Can't Be Done) Volo Bogtrotters Now folks never say to yourself I'm the best There's nothing that I cannot do You'll find there are many when put [thru/to] the test Just listen I'll tell you a few You can't hit a ball with a bat of your eye Don't try it 'cause it can't be done You can't take a goose and make gooseberry pie Don't try it 'cause it can't be done You might find a beggar who never does beg You might raise a chicken without laying an egg But you can't raise a cow from the calf of your leg Don't try it 'cause it can't be done You can't sail a ship without getting aboard Don't try it 'cause it can't be done You can't take the rattle all out of a Ford Don't try it 'cause it can't be done You might find a barber who'll tell you just how You get a good shave from the blade of a plow But you cannot get milk from a gentleman cow Don't try it 'cause it can't be done For mp3 - PM or email me: cn8gv9@aim.com Gene |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Try It for It Can't Be Done From: GUEST Date: 27 Dec 10 - 08:37 PM You might find a baker who never did bake, is the correct line. And you can't take the rattles out of a Ford. Dave Raun |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Try It for It Can't Be Done From: GUEST Date: 19 Jun 11 - 02:44 PM It's "you can't get chocolate mild straight out of a cow" on that last line. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Try It for It Can't Be Done From: GUEST Date: 19 Jun 11 - 02:46 PM ^ Correction. *Chocolate MILK (not mild) |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Try It for It Can't Be Done From: Gurney Date: 20 Jun 11 - 12:48 AM Good. Chocolate mild sounds a vile mixture. On a similar theme, does anyone have the words to a poem, much quoted in the industrial English Midlands long ago, which starts They told him the job couldn't be done! He said "Let ME try." They said; "Others before you have tried and failed!" He said 'Others, yes. But not I." Please? |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Try It for It Can't Be Done From: GUEST,Gerry Date: 20 Jun 11 - 01:43 AM Gurney, there's an Edgar Guest poem, It Couldn't Be Done, set to music by Vin Garbutt, words available all over the web - is that what you're thinking of? |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Try It for It Can't Be Done From: Gurney Date: 21 Jun 11 - 12:42 AM No, Gerry. This one is about youthful arrogance and a 'can do' attitude that isn't backed up by skills, told by an older and wiser head. The last two lines are- So he tackled this job that 'couldn't be done.' And he COULDN'T BLOODY DO IT! Most of the rest is the lad pleading to be allowed to try. I was the butt of it at the time, of course. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Try It for It Can't Be Done From: GUEST,Grishka Date: 21 Jun 11 - 09:57 AM Gurney, no doubt it's a parody of Edgar Guest's "It Couldn't Be Done". See this thread. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Try It for It Can't Be Done From: Gurney Date: 21 Jun 11 - 04:41 PM Just possibly inspired by, Grishka, but it is very different in all ways except the title. And maybe I have the title wrong! And since I am now at an age when I could be expected to be 'older-an-wiser-' I'd like to pass it on. Ha. Me, wiser. Not likely. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Try It for It Can't Be Done From: GUEST,Grishka Date: 21 Jun 11 - 06:10 PM Gurney, of course I have no wisdom in this matter except it were given me from the internet. It seems evident to me that your lines So he tackled this job that 'couldn't be done.'are not only inspired by, but a direct parodistic derivation (in almost the same metre) of Guest's He started to sing as he tackled the thingIn the thread I linked to ClaireBear (30 Aug 06 - 01:14 PM) posted: My father used to recite a shorter, possibly more realistic version of "It Couldn't Be Done": |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Try It for It Can't Be Done From: GUEST,Grouser Date: 05 Mar 16 - 11:48 AM The line in question doesn't seem to make much sense and is either a blown line as suggested or an arcane idiom. I hear "punching a/the bag" at the close of the line and the garbled words to me sound like either "bring water for", or "dream wonderful", but I've been going with this: "you might raise wonder for punching a bag" since the next two claims in the stanza use the word "raise". The last stanza says Ford, though gourd makes sense as well. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Try It for It Can't Be Done From: Jim Dixon Date: 09 Mar 16 - 12:31 AM The Internet Archive has a recording of DON'T TRY IT; IT CAN'T BE DONE recorded by Pie Plant Pete in 1934. The lyrics are nearly the same as those posted by Gene above, from the Volo Bogtrotters. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Try It for It Can't Be Done From: GUEST Date: 28 Jul 21 - 04:49 PM Try the Pie Plant Pete version, he says, You might find a begger who never does beg, which rhymes with egg and leg. He also says you cant take a rattle all out of a Ford |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Try It for It Can't Be Done From: GUEST,anonymous Date: 16 Apr 22 - 01:30 PM the line is “you might dream a woman without punching the bag” it’s pretty clear, and the misogynist joke is pretty clear, too. none of the other “translations” work because they aren’t good puns. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Try It for It Can't Be Done From: GUEST Date: 28 Jul 22 - 04:18 PM “raise” a woman without punching the bag. the other two items in that chorus are being “raised” as well. so it’s a little bit about child abuse, too. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr ADD: Don't Try It for It Can't Be Done From: cnd Date: 29 Jul 22 - 11:21 AM It's my opinion that in the Riley Puckett version, the mystery line that spurred this thread all those years ago is "You might dream of wonder for punching the bag" That's how I hear it based on this recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jlm5b6XzFtk |
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