Lyr Req/Add: Pistol Packin' Mama (Al Dexter)

Subject: Pistol Packin' Mama: Lyrics wanted.
From: Ambrose
Date: 24 Jul 97 - 12:23 AM

Used to sing this in the service during WWII. The chorus goes:

Lay that pistol down, babe... Lay that pistol down. Pistol packin' Mama, Lay that pistol down.

One of the verses begins....

Drinkin' beer in a caberet, and was I havin' fun. Along came a woman and she put me on the run. etc., etc.

Lyrics appreciated. Thanks.

Subject: Lyr Add: PISTOL PACKIN' MAMA (Al Dexter)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 Jul 97 - 12:40 AM

PISTOL PACKIN' MAMA
Words and music by Al Dexter, 1942

[F] Drinking beer in a cabaret and was I having [C7] fun
Until one night she caught me right and now I'm on the [F] run.

Refrain:
[F] Lay that pistol down, babe - lay that pistol [C7] down
Pistol Packin' Mama, lay that pistol [F] down.

She kicked out my windshield - she hit me over the head
She cussed and cried and said I'd lied and wished that I was dead.

Refrain:

Drinking beer in a cabaret and dancin' with a blond
Until one night she shot out the light - Bang! that blond was gone.

Refrain:

I'll see you ev'ry night, babe - I'll woo you ev'ry day
I'll be your regular daddy - if you'll put that gun away.

Refrain:

Now I went home this morning - the clock was tickin' four
Gun in her hand, says "You're my man, but I don't need you no more."

Refrain:

Now there was old Al Dexter - he always had his fun
But with some lead, she shot him dead - his honkin' days are done.

Refrain:

Copied from Cowpie, the best source for country songs.
http://www.roughstock.com/cowpie/
(but I think of it as a folk song)
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Pistol Packin' Mama
From: Ferrara
Date: 24 Jul 97 - 12:08 PM

Thanks, my mother used to sing this in the forties. By the way, the tune (the chorus anyway ) is "Boil them Cabbage Down," an old string band tune. At least, the Mill Run Dulcimer Band sing it that way. The words are,

Boil them cabbage down, babe, Boil them cabbage down.
Only tune I ever learned was Boil Them Cabbage Down.

Subject: RE: Pistol Packin' Mama
From: ferrara
Date: 24 Jul 97 - 02:10 PM

Oh drat I've done it again ... surest way to remember the words of a song is to type them in and send the message: then, ten minutes later, I'll remember the *real* words. Chorus of "Bile them cabbage down" starts, "bile them cabbage down, boys, turn those hoecakes round," or roughly that. I was learning Joe's words to Pistol Packin' Mama when this important enlightenment occurred to me, so thought I'd share it. The database doesn't have the words but says it's an old hoedown tune.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pistol Packin' Mama
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 12 Apr 07 - 10:51 PM

Click here to play an archived radio program that contains PISTOL PACKIN' MAMA sung by Al Dexter and his Troopers on "Columbia Country Classics Vol. 1." The song begins 26 minutes 30 seconds from the beginning of the program. The playlist is here.

The lyrics are identical to those posted by Joe Offer above EXCEPT that, instead of singing the verse that begins "Now I went home this morning," he repeats the first verse.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pistol Packin' Mama
From: Rasener
Date: 13 Apr 07 - 02:58 AM

Nice on Jim

Joe calls it country folk, but it sounds more like trad jazz. I like the next song on from that "David Rawlings" by Gillian Welsh. The song after that is one of my favourite Eric Clapton songs "Travelling Riverside Blues" by Robert johnson. Great link there Jim.

I prefer the Gene Vincent version of Pistol Packin Momma, myself. Can't beat a good old bit of Rock & Roll.

Subject: RE: Req/ADD: Pistol Packin' Mama (Al Dexter)
From: Rasener
Date: 13 Apr 07 - 03:20 AM

Oops that was Gillian Welch.