ADD: What You Gonna Do When Your Meat Gives Out

Subject: RE: ADD: What You Gonna Do When Your Meat Gives Out
From: PHJim
Date: 10 Apr 20 - 10:54 PM

Many thanks cnd and Joe!

Subject: Origins: Sweet Thing
From: Joe Offer
Date: 09 Apr 20 - 02:09 AM

The version in the Digital Tradition is called "Sweet Thing." Note the tie to "Crawdad Song."

SWEET THING (Digital Tradition)

What you gonna do when the liquor gives out, sweet thing?
What you gonna do when the liquor gives out, sweet thing?
What you gonna do when the liquor gives out,
Stand around the corner with your mouth in a pout,
Sweet thing, sweet thing, sweet thing.

What you gonna do when your shoes give out, sweet thing? (twice)
When my shoes give out, I'm gonna quit the street,
Take a chair and put a fan at my feet,
Sweet thing, sweet thing, sweet thing.

What you gonna do when your chair gives out, sweet thing? (twice)
When I got no liquor, no chair, no shoes,
I'll lay cross the bed, with my head in the blues,
Sweet thing, sweet thing, sweet thing.

Slats on the bed go blamety-blam, in the mornin', (twice)
Slats on the bed go blamety-blam,
But I'll keep on a-sleepin' like I don't give a damn,
Sweet thing, sweet thing, sweet thing.

@drink
from Folksinger's Wordbook
filename[ SWTHING
SOF

The DT lyrics are identical to those in the Folksinger's Wordbook (page 235) and #35 in Best Loved American Folk Songs (Folk Song U.S.A.) (Lomax & Lomax, 1947)

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Here's the Traditional Ballad Index entry:

Sweet Thing (I)

DESCRIPTION: "What you gonna do when the pond goes dry, honey, What you gonna do when the pond goes dry, baby?" Sundry verses about catching fish, rural life, and (presumably) sexual innuendo
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (Cecil Sharp collection)
KEYWORDS: nonballad courting sex
FOUND IN: US(Ap,So)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Randolph 443, "Sweet Thing" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 349-350, "Sweet Thing" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 443)
Lomax-FSUSA 34, "Sweet Thing/Crawdad Song/Sugar Babe" (3 texts, 1 tune)
SharpAp 245, "Sugar Babe" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 62, "The Crow-Fish Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, p. 240, "What Kin' o Pants Does the Gambler Wear" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 235, "Sweet Thing" (1 text)
Roud #4853
RECORDINGS:
Callahan Brothers, "Sweet Thing" (Decca 5952, 1941)
Lulu Belle and Scotty, "Sugar Babe" (Melotone 6-08-58/Perfect 6-08-58, 1936)
[Tom] Darby and [Jimmie] Tarlton, “Pork Chops” (Columbia 15611-D, 1931, rec. 1930)
Lester McFarland & Robert Gardner, "Birmingham Jail" (Brunswick 293, 1929/Supertone S-2031, 1930)
Dad Pickard, "Birmingham Jail" (Banner 6401/Cameo 9197 [as Jimmie Price]/Domino 4349/Domino [Canada] 181171 [as The Gilbert Family] /Jewel 5617/Lincoln 3224 [as Jimmie Price]/Oriole 1594/Pathe 32476 [as Harry "Rocky" Wilson]/Perfect 12555 [as Harry "Rocky" Wilson] /Regal 8792/Romeo 999 [as Jimmie Price]/Homestead 16052/Paramount 12784 [as Col. Phillips, "Sweet Thing"]/Broadway 8123 [as Col. Phillips, "Sweet Thing"]/Apex [Canada] 41025/Crown [Canada] 81171 [as The Gilbert Family]/Sterling 28171 [as The Gilbert Family], 1929; Conqueror 7563, 1930)
Pickard Family, "Get Me Out of This Birmingham Jail" (Brunswick 385, 1929; Supertone S-2068, 1930)
Dock Walsh, "Going Back to Jericho" (Columbia 15094-D, 1926)
Doc Watson, Gaither Carlton & Ralph Rinzler, "I'm Going Back to Jericho" (on Ashley02)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Crawdad" (tune, lyrics, and everything else) and references there
cf. "Going Down This Road Feeling Bad" (floating lyrics)
SAME TUNE:
Bud & Joe Billings (pseud. for Frank Luther & Carson Robison) "Birmingham Jail #2" (Victor V-40082, 1929)
NOTES [165 words]: Songs with this tune and metrical pattern turn up throughout North American tradition; like the limerick, this skeleton seems to have become a favorite framework for humorous material. - PJS
This song poses a conundrum (hinted at in Paul's comment), because it merges continuously with the "Crawdad" family; they use the same tune (at least sometimes) and ALL of the same verses. Roud lumps them. Chances are that they are the same song. But the tenor of the song changes somewhat with the presence or absence of a crawdad; after initially lumping the song, the Ballad Index staff decided to split them, based solely on mention of a crawdad. Which meant, e.g., that "The Crow-Fish Man (I)" files here even though it's clearly derived from "Crawdad." So one should definitely check all versions of both to get the complete range of material. - RBW
Well, adding to the conundrum, the version of "The Crow-fish Man" in SharpAp *does* mention crawdads, so it gets filed under "Crawdad Song." - PJS
Last updated in version 4.3
File: R443A

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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: What you Gonna (Sometime)
From: cnd
Date: 08 Apr 20 - 11:56 PM

The Folkways album from which one version of the song is from writes that this song comes from a theatrical piece by Roark Bradford and Jacques Wolfe titled John Henry from 1939, where Josh worked as a "leading role" as a character named "Nigger Named Sam" (though eventually changed to "Man Named Sam" at Josh's insistence). The first verse comes from that play, while the rest come from traditional material (source).

A derivative of this song (or possibly vice versa) is called "Whatcha Gonna Do When Your Licker Runs Out" which you can read some discussion on here, at Mudcat. They briefly mention Josh White's version in the thread.

The Folkways version disagrees slightly with the version printed on the liner notes of the original, so I'll put both here. First, the Folkways one:

Transcribed by ear from here.

Whatcha Gonna Do (Sometime)

Whatcha gonna do when ya meat gives out, my baby?
Whatcha gonna do when ya meat gives out, my honey?
When the meat gives out, gonna quit the street
Take my chair an' put a fan at my feet
Sometime

Whatcha gonna do when ya shoes give out, my baby?
Whatcha gonna do when ya shoes give out, my honey?
When my shoes get thin I'm gonna quit the street
Take my chair an' put a fan at my feet
Sometime

Whatcha gonna do when ya chair gives out, my baby?
Whatcha gonna do when ya chair gives out, my honey?
When I got no chair, no meat, no shoes
Lay 'cross the bed, head in the blues
Sometime

Slats in the bed go blamm-t'-blam in the mornin'
Slats in the bed go blamm-t'-blam in the evenin'
Slats in the bed go blamm-t'-blam
But I'll keep on sleeping like I don't give a damn
Sometime

Whatcha gonna do when ya man gives out, my baby?
Whatcha gonna do when ya man gives out, my honey?
First I'll grab my money, 'n' kick him off the place
Then I'll use the other man I had around just in case
For sometime




Now, the liner notes on the album you mentioned, "The Josh White Stories, Vol. 1" - from this eBay ad. The only real difference is instead of repeating the chair and fan line, he instead uses a line about a mouth in a roast the first time.

Whatcha Gonna Do?

What you gonna do when your meat gives out, my baby?
What you gonna do when your meat gives out, my honey?
What you gonna do when your meat gives out
Stand 'round the corner
Mouth in a roast
For sometimes

What you gonna do when your shoes give out, my baby?
What you gonna do when your shoes give out, my honey?
My shoes get thin, I'm gonna quit the street
Take my chair and put a fan at my feet
For sometimes

What you gonna do when your chair gives out, my baby?
What you gonna do when your chair gives out, my honey?
When I got no chair, no meat, no shoes
Gonna lay 'cross the bed, head in the blues
For sometime

Slats in the bed go blammety-blam in the mornin'
Slats in the bed go blammety-blam in the evenin'
Slats in the bed go blammety-blam, but I'll keep on sleeping
Like I don't give a damn
For sometimes

What you gonna do when your man gives out, my baby?
What you gonna do when your man gives out, my honey?
First I'll grab my money, kick him off the place
Then I'll use the other man I had around--just in case
For sometime

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: What you Gonna Do When Your Meat Gives O
From: Deckman
Date: 08 Apr 20 - 11:39 PM

THE LATE WALT ROBERTSON OFTEN SANG THIS SONG WITH GREAT VIGAR! BOB(DECKMAN)NELSON

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: What you Gonna Do When Your Meat Gives O
From: GUEST,Starship
Date: 08 Apr 20 - 11:28 PM

The song is also called "Sometime" and "Sometime (What you Gonna Do When Your Meat Gives Out)"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X759gF6VEm0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X759gF6VEm0

I don't have time just now to transcribe the lyrics, but they are easy enough to make out on that cut.

Subject: Lyr Req: What you Gonna Do When Your Meat Gives O
From: PHJim
Date: 08 Apr 20 - 11:13 PM

When I was a kid I had an LP called "The Josh White Stories, vol.1" that had a song called "What You Gonna Do When Your Meat Gives Out?"
I haven't heard it for years, but I found myself playing it this afternoon. I did a Google search for the lyrics, but couldn't find them.
Any help would be appreciated.