Subject: Lyr Add: MONKEY ON A STRING (Charlie Poole)
From:
Dale Rose
Date: 10 Sep 99 - 11:10 AM
I agree with Pete. It is always hard to figure out what Charlie is singing, but with Monkey On A String, it is just about impossible. I hadn't answered before because I didn't think I could face up to the project. Maybe if Pete prints the words from the book, gives his ideas, and I give mine, maybe we can arrive at a concensus.
It is my understanding that the biography has been made available again, by the way.
I just had a thought (I do that once in a while) After thinking about the task for a bit, I decided to visit the rec.mus.country.old-time newsgroup and do a power search. For those of you who have never been there, most of the people who populate the RMCOT are highly knowledgeable on old time music. Here is an interpretation from Jerry Dallel, posted late last year. Note that he prefaced his version with this disclaimer: (and here I will insert mydisclaimer and apology if the html does not work out right!) This is the best I can do.
Corrections are gratefully appreciated.
What *can* you make out? :-)
Rorrer gives lines 5/6 as
And an organ that he plays around
At the corner grocery store
Yeah, right!
Monkey On A String Most every year when the springtime comes
And the birds begin to sing
An Italian comes around this town
With a monkey on a string
And an organ set that monkey set
Was in the grocery store
The foolish things that monkey does
he sets me in a roar
Now that's the time the fun begins
Heh-ha-ha-ha-ha
Oh how that monkey hops and grins
Heh-ha-ha-ha-ha
Some says he looks like Sally Smith
Some say like Deacon Brown
It's laugh, by gosh, the whole day long
When that darn monk's in town
[Laugh]
Some say he looks like Sally Smith
Some say like Deacon Brown
And its laugh, by gosh, the whole day long
When that darn monk's in town
Some said that the monk was made one night
When I would see the way
And that the monk was made from an Italian
On the great creation day
But a monk was made from an Irishman
And I would see the way
That a monk was made from an Italian
To pass the time away
And this is a quote from the RMCOT by noted musician and old time scholar, Kerry Blech.
I recall asking Lonnie Austin what in the world Charlie Poole sang as lyrics for this song. Lonnie replied, "I stood no more than three feet from him when he sang that many a time and I have no idea what he was saying. He usually was drunk when he sang that one." Offhand, I cannot recall if it was Lonnie on fiddle for the recording or it it was Posey Rorer, but Lonnie toured quite a bit with Charlie and would have heard that song a lot, as it was one of the most-requested numbers. We'll probably never really know... Regards,
Kerry
I think that Kerry just about sums it up there in his last sentence. If anyone wants to tackle the project, there's Jerry's interpretation, and Charlie's version is available on Charlie Poole, volume 1, County CD 3501, 1993. Start listening ~~ again and again . . .
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sj
