Lyr Add: Hansen's Livestock Grub

Subject: Lyr Add: HANSEN'S LIVESTOCK GRUB
From: GUEST,Scott Richards
Date: 21 Jul 00 - 10:45 AM

My grandfather used to sing a song to us when we were kids. He's dead now, and nobody in the family knows if he made the song up himself or if it is a known folk song. The tune is familiar. Anyone ever heard these lyrics before?


HANSEN LIVESTOCK GRUB

Come gather 'round and listen, a story I will tell
About the boarding house around the Hansen Corral
Where they made cast-iron biscuits as hard as any slug.
You would have died if you had tried Hansen's Livestock Grub

CHORUS:
The pudding had the jim-jams, the pies were in disguise
The beans came to the table with a hundred thousand flies
The meat was strong and jubrous, it danced about the floor
Till the spuds got on their dignity and walked right out the door

One day a stranger came to town, for Salt Lake he was bent
We offered him a meal to share with neighborly intent
We stuffed him and we gorged him, up to his very plug
With acrobatic paralatic Hansen's Livestock Grub

CHORUS

On a stretcher he arrived in town, so I've heard it said
His sympathetic friends gathered 'round his dying bed
The doctor came to see him, and staring at his mug,
Said, "Boys, it wasn't suicide, 'twas Hansen's Livestock Grub!"

CHORUS

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Subject: RE: Does anybody recognize these lyrics?
From: Jim Krause
Date: 21 Jul 00 - 02:08 PM

I like it! Alas, never heard it before. I guess you can't sing it to "Sweet Betsy From Pike" the rhythm of the lyrics doesn't fit. Seems to be in a different meter. If you find out, let us know. Soddy

Subject: RE: Does anybody recognize these lyrics?
From: Fortunato
Date: 21 Jul 00 - 02:15 PM

I'd have enjoyed knowing your grandfather, he sounds like a lovely man. I'm sorry I can't help with the song. regards, Fortunato

Subject: RE: Does anybody recognize these lyrics?
From: Snuffy
Date: 24 Jul 00 - 08:32 PM

I've never heard of this song, but it fits tunes such as The Grand Old Duke of York, or The Nutting Girl.

Wassail! V

Subject: RE: Does anybody recognize these lyrics?
From: Irish sergeant
Date: 24 Jul 00 - 09:12 PM

Marvelous lyrics! your grandfather must have been an amusing gent. Wish I could help. Neil

Subject: RE: Does anybody recognize these lyrics?
From: Amergin
Date: 24 Jul 00 - 09:22 PM

I can't help you either, but those are great lyrics...He may have made up or it could have been one of the many songs that escaped the attention of the song collectors and so faced near extinction....Thanks for posting them though...

Amergin

Subject: RE: Does anybody recognize these lyrics?
From: Amos
Date: 24 Jul 00 - 09:49 PM

Great song! I'll put a dollar down that he or a friend of his wrote it, and that it's never been widely circulated.

A.

Subject: RE: Does anybody recognize these lyrics?
From: JenEllen
Date: 24 Jul 00 - 09:59 PM

What a riot! There's a fella that knows his cowboy chow! Keep singing it and keep it alive,
~Elle

Subject: RE: Does anybody recognize these lyrics?
From: MMario
Date: 25 Jul 00 - 09:13 AM

There seem to be several standard tunes that fit this. Nice lyrics. Wonder when the Havesters will get around to noticing it??? (Hint)

Subject: RE: Does anybody recognize these lyrics?
From: richardw
Date: 25 Jul 00 - 11:13 AM

Sounds very similar to "The Old Go-Hungry Hash house."

The flapjacks they were leather, They'd stand up in any weather, .... etc.

Richard Wright

Subject: Lyr Add: APEX BOARDING HOUSE
From: raredance
Date: 28 Jul 00 - 10:24 PM

The song bears a striking similarity to one I found in the book "Songs of the American West" by lingenfelter, Dwyer and Cohen (1968 U of California Press). Lingenfelter et al don't say much about it except that: (A) the Apex Boarding House was in the vicinity of the Apex Copper Mine which was near St George in southwestern Utah; and (B) they copied the song from "Ballads and Songs From Utah" by Lester Hubbard (1961). If someone has Hubbard's book, maybe it has more information. Here is the song text from these sources. There is also a printed melody.

THE APEX BOARDING HOUSE

If you'll give your attention and listen to my rhyme,
I'll sing about a boarding house up to the Apex Mine,
Where they make us Zion biscuits just as hard as any slug;
You would of died had you of tried old Curly's awful grub.

The coffee has the dropsy' the tea it has the grippe.
The butter was consumptive, and the slapjacks they had fits;
The beef was strong as jubilant; it walked upon the floor,
The spuds got on their dignity and rolled right out the door.

The pudding had the jimjams; the pies was in disguise.
The beans came to the table with five hundred thousand flies.
The hash was simply murdered, just as hard as dobe mud.
We howl, we wail, our muscles fail on Baxter's awful grub.

A stranger came to our camp who was off to St George bend.
We invited him to share a meal and ably intend.
We blew him out , we filled his tank plumb up to the mug
On acrobatic, paralatic, democratic grub.

On a stretcher he arrived in town, well now I've heard it said,
With sympathetic friends arrived around his dying bed.
Doc Affleck came and shook his head while gazing at his mug;
He said it was not suicide, but Curly's awful grub.

rich r

Subject: RE: Does anybody recognize these lyrics?
From: Catrin
Date: 29 Jul 00 - 12:01 AM

I'm not sure why, but it made me think of...

'Come gather round you people and a story I will tell

'Bout Pretty Boy Floyd the outlaw, Oaklahoma knew him well'.....

Great song, good luck with your quest.

Catrin.

P.S. If you don't get the answer on Mudcat - you won't get it anywhere

Subject: RE: Does anybody recognize these lyrics?
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 29 Jul 00 - 12:26 AM

Well done, rich r! Lord, how I love this Mudcat!

Hubbard (Ballads and Songs from Utah, University of Utah Press, 1961) says (p.435):

"This repellant song satirizes the boarding house at the Apex Copper Mine, also known as the Dixie Copper Mine west of St. George. The similarities in texts suggest that the Utah song may be an adaptation of "Casey's Awful Grub" printed in Wehman Bros.' Irish Song Book, No. 2 p. 51. Sung by Vern Fullerton of St. George, August 8, 1947.

I wish I could read music well enough to give you an idea of the melody, but I could make a photocopy and post it to one of our resident geniuses. Any volunteers? St. George, by the way, is on the Virgin River, down in what they call the Dixie of Utah. Can't imagine why the idea of St. George being on the Virgin amuses me.

Sandy

Subject: RE: Does anybody recognize these lyrics?
From: raredance
Date: 29 Jul 00 - 01:32 AM

Well, Sandy, the obvious question. Have you a copy of the Wehman Bros. song book? I just went and plinked out the tune on the keyboard. It sounds like I may have heard it before, but I cannot place it. Besides I am really bad at tune recognition. The tune has a moderate range, extending from D up through the octave to E. It also contains a couple of wider than average intervals ( an arbitrary assessment) such as high D down to G, D up to B and D up to C.

rich r

Subject: RE: Does anybody recognize these lyrics?
From: NH Dave
Date: 29 Jul 00 - 02:22 AM

I can't speak to that particular set of lyrics or the tune you know, but the words could be sung to "Boomer Johnson" as sung by Margaret MacArthur. This tells the tale of a man who was gettting tired of doing the hard work cowboy type so he became a cook with more enthusiasm than ability, who kept forcing his food on others at the point of a gun until someone a bit meaner and faster cooled his ardour, along with the rest of his body.

Boomer Johnson is in the folk database, along with the tune that Margaret uses, if you search under that name.

Dave