Lyr Req: Loafer's Glory

Subject: Author of Loafer's Glory
From: GUEST,Fur Dixon
Date: 12 May 13 - 10:33 PM

Brantley Kearns sings Loafer's Glory on the album Trouble and Me with Rick Shea. In rehearsal Brantley told me that Maybelle Carter's husband Eck Carter wrote it. He is very thorough about these subjects, I would take his word for it.

Subject: ADD: Loafer's Glory
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 Sep 11 - 01:35 AM

I found the song on Spotify, on a 2002 album called Trouble and Me, by Rick Shea and Brantley Kearns. The lyrics are a little different from those posted by Janie.


LOAFER'S GLORY
(as recorded by Rick Shea and Brantley Kearns)

There came a man from Tennessee,; I must tell the story.
He built a house beside the road and he called it Loafer's Glory.

CHORUS:
Get away, go away, get away I say,
Don't trade at Loafer's Glory.

He cheated me of house and land; at trading he was able.
He kept a dog to lick the pots, and a goat to clear the table.
CHORUS

His wife Jan had one left hand; she was mighty savvy.
She hoed her taters every day, and wormed her rows of cabbage.
CHORUS

His brooding hen had ceased to lay; he thought he would help her.
He ran her backwards up the hill and he fed her corn and pepper.
CHORUS (twice)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Loafer's Glory
From: GUEST,Arkansas Red
Date: 03 Sep 11 - 01:11 AM

Would someone please post all of the words to Loafer's Glory. I didn't know Maybelle Carter wrote the song, and I'd love to learn it. Thanks.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Loafer's Glory
From: Skivee
Date: 28 Nov 06 - 03:47 PM

RE: Jim Dixon's comment: "There is a real place called Loafers Glory, in Mitchell County, near Bakersville, North Carolina. Topozone locates it at the intersection of Highways 80 and 226; Google Maps places it about a mile further south along Highway 80."
My old band partner, Hammered Dulcimist Jody Marshall had a dad named Ray Marshall. Ray grew up in Loafers Glory. He escaped to the DC area to get away from the mines in the 30s. He played just about every stringed instrument ever invented, and several mouthblown ones. He raised a family on the money his frantic music career brought. He would work three jobs a day and scramble all over town. He bought a house, supported a wife, and put three kids through college. The hardest working musician I've ever known came from Loafers Glory.
We played a gigue with a soundman named Pat Willis. While we chatted after the job Jody discovered that Pat was in a mountain roots music band called Loafers Glory.

Subject: Lyr Add: LOAFER'S GLORY
From: Janie
Date: 27 Nov 06 - 11:00 PM

Here are the lyrics Audrey Skeen sent me. The band he and Ed Light were in used this as their theme song. As best as he recalls, these are the Flatt & Scruggs lyrics.

There was a man from Tennessee, I must tell his story.
Built a house beside the road and he called it Loafer's Glory.

CHORUS:
Get away, get away, get away I say,
Don't crane at Loafer's Glory.

His wife Jan had one left hand, she was mighty savvy,
Hoed her taters every day, and she worked her rows of cabbage.

CHORUS

His brooding hen had ceased to lay, decided he would help her,
Ran her backwards up the hill and he fed her corn and pepper.

CHORUS

Janie

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Loafer's Glory
From: open mike
Date: 16 Oct 06 - 12:23 AM

the Keddie "Y is a place in the Western Pacific tracks
where there are huge high trestles and the road splits
off--to the north it goes to Klamath Falls and to the
west it heads through the feather river canyon to oroville.
the tracks there are so unstable due to granite and
serpentine rock falls that they do no longer allow
passengers to ride that route, although it used to
be the scenic route of the the california Zephyr,
with domeliners and schedules based on being in the most
beautiful spot during daylight hours for viewing.

(so don't ask me why they send the "nuke train"
carrying nuclear waste from the orient on this
route on its way to hanford nuclear facility in WA
or to some location in idaho where glowing stuff
is deposited.) the "white train" which carries
some sort of triggers for armaments from Honey well
in TX or somewhere to Washington

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Loafer's Glory
From: Janie
Date: 15 Oct 06 - 10:36 PM

Ed Light, whom some of you in the DC area know, used to do this song.
I'll send him an e-mail and ask him to post the lyrics he used.

Janie

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Loafer's Glory
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 15 Oct 06 - 09:10 PM

Rick Shea sings LOAFER'S GLORY on his album "Trouble and Me," 2003. I got this much from a sound sample:

There came a man from Tennessee.
I must tell the story.
He built a house beside the road
And he called it Loafer's Glory....

Flatt and Scruggs' recording of LOAFER'S GLORY appears on the 6-CD box set "1964-1969, Plus," 1992. A sound sample had these words:

He cheated me of house and land.
At trading he was able.
He kept a dog to lick the pox,
And the gold to clear the table.
Get away, go away, get away, I say,
Don't trade at Loafer's Glory.

There is a real place called Loafers Glory, in Mitchell County, near Bakersville, North Carolina. Topozone locates it at the intersection of Highways 80 and 226; Google Maps places it about a mile further south along Highway 80.

Several web sites mention a historic general store at Loafer's Glory—see this anecdote from The WPA Guides: Mapping America by Christine Bold. The song seems to be about the shopkeeper.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Loafer's Glory
From: SeanM
Date: 13 Jul 00 - 01:17 AM

Refresh

M

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Loafer's Glory
From: Stewie
Date: 12 Jul 00 - 04:07 AM

I have a little bit of information that may assist you in your search. On his CD with Mark Ross - 'Loafer's Glory' Red House CD 103 - Utah Phillips uses only the tune - to open and end the CD. The attribution is to A.P. Carter, Maybelle Carter, Dixie Deen, Scruggs Music Inc, BMI. CDDB indicates that it appears on Flatt & Scruggs '1964 - 1969' (Disc One). I haven't heard that - it may or may not have words. Unfortunately, I can't find any reference to it in John Atkins' Carter Family discography.

Phillips noted: 'Loafer's Glory is, by the way, the name of a hobo jungle under the Old Western Pacific water tower by Keddie, California, at the top of the Feather River canyon. For a while it was almost like a second home to me'.

--Stewie.

Subject: Loafer's Glory
From: GUEST,fiddling bill
Date: 11 Jul 00 - 02:09 PM

Does anyone know the lyrics to the fiddle tune called Loafer's Glory?

Subject: RE: Loafer's Glory
From: rangeroger
Date: 04 Jul 00 - 10:10 PM

Look for the CD "Loafer'Glory" by Utah and Mark Ross. Red House Records RHR CD 103.
rr

Subject: Loafer's Glory Lyrics
From: GUEST,bf1
Date: 04 Jul 00 - 02:49 AM

There's a great fiddle tune called "Lofer's Glory'" I know it has lots of words. Any body know them? It also happens to be the name of U Utah Phillip's radio show. I know Flatt and Scruggs had this song in their later repertoire, but I haven't been able to find their recording.